FME vs SSIS comparison

Safe Software and Microsoft are both solutions in the Data Integration category. Safe Software is ranked #23 with an average rating of 8.0, while Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 7.6. Safe Software holds a 1.5% mindshare in DI, compared to Microsoft’s 5.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Safe Software users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

FME

Read 7 FME reviews

2,737 Views
2,135 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SSIS

Read 75 SSIS reviews

13,499 Views
11,069 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

FME

SSIS

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

SSIS and FME are competing in the data integration tool category. FME appears to have the upper hand due to its advanced data transformation capabilities.

Features: SSIS offers seamless integration with Microsoft products, robust ETL capabilities, and user-friendly interface. FME supports extensive spatial data, handles a wide variety of data formats, and provides advanced data transformation features.

Room for Improvement: SSIS could improve in handling mixed environments, offering broader data format support, and simplifying its advanced features for new users. FME might enhance its affordability, extend its integration with Microsoft ecosystems, and streamline its interface for beginners.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SSIS benefits from easy deployment within Microsoft environments but may be complex in diverse settings. Its customer service includes traditional support options. FME demonstrates versatile deployment capabilities across various data environments and is known for excellent customer support with technical expertise.

Pricing and ROI: SSIS is budget-friendly, appealing to businesses using Microsoft technologies and providing a strong ROI. FME, despite its higher upfront costs, offers significant long-term value, particularly for organizations requiring advanced data transformation and spatial data management.

To learn more, read our detailed FME vs. SSIS Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

FME vs. SSIS

September 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

FME

Ranking in Data Integration

23rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SSIS

Ranking in Data Integration

2nd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of FME is 1.5%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SSIS is 5.9%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Integration Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
SSIS	5.9%
FME	1.5%
Other	92.6%

Data Integration

Featured Reviews

Alan Bloor

Geographic Information System Developer at Public Sector

Great for handling large volumes of data, but it is priced a bit high

When I do coding, I think about every single function. Some of these functions can be very elementary, like doing a substring or some capitalization. But FME removes all that coding because it's a transformer, so the time to develop an application to get to a point where you're producing results is decreased massively. It used to take weeks and months to develop software, and now I can use something like FME, and within one day, we get results. We can look at and validate data. We make minor subtle changes to the workbenches to improve it. We can share the workbenches. We don't have to use GitHub or anything else.

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Chris Farris

Manager, Data Operations at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

User-friendly interface facilitates efficient data migration and reduces operational overhead

Its usability and ease of use are standout features. It is really easy to use - almost too easy at times. Users don't have to be experts to use their tool set and utilize the clicking mechanisms, drop down boxes, and other features to build a package and run it. The configuration is very easy and the system is very stable. I would rate it at a 10 as it is highly reliable; we have never had any problems with it. Very little maintenance is required on my side. While you need to keep the product up to date, the maintenance requirements are minimal. SSIS integrates with all Microsoft tools seamlessly. We have used it against Oracle, DB2 and SQL. It integrates and can move data around from any data platforms, making it very diverse in that standpoint. It is a very robust tool that can work with many data sources, and its main strength is that it is extremely easy to use.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"All spatial features are unrivaled, and the possibility to execute them based on a scheduled trigger, manual, e-mail, Websocket, tweet, file/directory change or virtually any trigger is most valuable."

"It has standard plug-ins available for different data sources."

"It has a very friendly user interface. You don't need to use a lot of code. For us that's the most important aspect about it. Also, it has a lot of connectors and few forms. It has a strong facial aspect. It can do a lot of facial analysis."

"FME is spatially aware and understands how to deal with the conversion of spatial objects and their attributes."

"We make minor subtle changes to the workbenches to improve it. We can share the workbenches. We don't have to use GitHub or anything else."

"The most valuable feature of FME is the graphical user interface. There is nothing better. It is very easy to debug because you can see all steps where there are failures. Overall the software is easy to optimize a process."

"From my reseller perspective, the best features in FME are the ease of operation and the fact that it works."

"It's a competent product."

"The most valuable feature of SSIS is that it can handle real complex transformations."

"The performance is better than doing it in some alternative ways. We don't have to worry about so much manual work."

"The UI is very user-friendly."

"I like that this solution is very scalable, accommodating large datasets and various types of servers. It integrates with most common database servers and allows for customization through coding, including complex scripts. Compared to Alteryx Designer, SSIS offers more customization. Its data cleaning capabilities are highly accurate because we can run tests as data is loaded, ensuring it meets all requirements before reaching the final destination. The ability to write custom SQL and C# code within SSIS packages is its greatest feature."

"The setup is straightforward. It's very easy to install."

"The most valuable features for our company are the flexibility and the quick turn around time in producing simple ETL solutions."

"Despite the complexity when dealing with advanced transformations, it is straightforward for simple data movements, and the performance is excellent."

More SSIS pros

Cons

"The one thing that always appears in the community is the ability to make really easy loops to loop through data efficiently. That needs to be added at some point."

"We are looking at the possibility of using Glue instead of FME, using the native AWS product."

"FME's price needs improvement for the African market."

"FME can improve the geographical transformation. I've had some problems with the geographical transformations, but it's probably mostly because I'm not the most skilled geographer in-house. The solution requires some in-depth knowledge to perform some functions."

"To get a higher rating, it would have to improve the price and the associated scalability. These are the main issues."

"Improvements could be made to mapping presentations."

"It needs more integration tools, so you can connect to different sources."

"The performance of SSIS could improve when comparing it to Oracle Database."

"You have to write push down join & lookup SQL to the database yourself via stored procedures or use of the SQL Task to get very high performance. That said, this is a common complaint for nearly all ETL tools on the market and those that offer an alternative such as Informatica offer them at a very expensive add-on price."

"The solution should work on the GPU, graphical processing unit. There should also be piping integration available."

"Microsoft's technical support has decreased in quality over the last few years, becoming less responsive and tending to pass problems on instead of solving them."

"We've had issues in terms of the amount of data that is transferred when we are scheduling."

"It should have other programming languages supported as well from a scripting perspective. Currently, only C# and VB.NET are supported, which limits it to .NET. It should have Java support as well."

"The logging capabilities could be improved, particularly for error logging."

More SSIS cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"FME Server used to cost £10,000; now it can cost over £100,000."

"We used the standard licensing for our use of FME. The cost was approximately €15,000 annually. We always welcome less expensive solutions, if the solution could be less expensive it would be helpful."

"The product's price is reasonable."

"This solution is a free of charge addition to our SQL licence. However, the only way this tool can be utilized is as a feature of the SQL licence, which may make it unattractive to organizations who don't wish to purchase the wider-ranging licence."

"I'm not involved in licensing details, but SSIS provides value to our organization by simplifying data management tasks."

"Depending on the arrangement that a certain company has with Microsoft, it may supply the permanent license that is included in the SQL server license, or it may be a time-bound license if it is a partner license or other enterprise license."

"SSIS is a cheaper option compared to the cost of other ETL tools."

"All of my clients have this product included as part of their Microsoft license."

"This solution has provided an inexpensive tool, and it is easy to find experienced developers."

"The solution is available at a lesser price than that of Informatica."

"Our license with SSIS is annual."

More SSIS pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user90069

BI Expert at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Feb 20, 2014

Informatica PowerCenter vs. Microsoft SSIS - each technology has its advantages but also have similarities

Technology has made it easier for businesses to organize and manipulate data to get a clearer picture of what’s going on with their business. Notably, ETL tools have made managing huge amounts of data significantly easier and faster, boosting many organizations’ business intelligence operations…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

33%

Energy/Utilities Company

12%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	57

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about FME?

We make minor subtle changes to the workbenches to improve it. We can share the workbenches. We don't have to use GitHub or anything else.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FME?

The pricing is really bad. Last year, they rebranded the whole pricing structure. It used to be moderately priced at about £400 per user per year. Now they've changed the whole thing, and it's expe...

See all answers

What needs improvement with FME?

I haven't had any input or requirements from any customers that are not currently covered, so I don't have any additional needs that were identified or raised to me. Regarding pricing, with the mod...

See all answers

Which is better - SSIS or Informatica PowerCenter?

SSIS PowerPack is a group of drag and drop connectors for Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services, commonly called SSIS. The collection helps organizations boost productivity with code-free compo...

See all answers

What do you like most about SSIS?

The product's deployment phase is easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SSIS?

Utilizing SSIS involves no extra charges beyond the SQL Server license. It's an economical choice for my clients.

See all answers

Comparisons

Azure Data Factory vs FME

Compared 24% of the time

Talend Open Studio vs FME

Compared 10% of the time

Alteryx Designer vs FME

Compared 9% of the time

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs FME

Compared 7% of the time

Boomi iPaaS vs FME

Compared 6% of the time

More FME Competitors

Informatica PowerCenter vs SSIS

Compared 13% of the time

Talend Open Studio vs SSIS

Compared 9% of the time

dbt vs SSIS

Compared 7% of the time

Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) vs SSIS

Compared 7% of the time

Qlik Replicate vs SSIS

Compared 2% of the time

More SSIS Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

FME

September 2025

Download FME product report

Buyer's Guide

SSIS

August 2025

Download SSIS product report

Also Known As

No data available

SQL Server Integration Services

Overview

FME is the data integration platform with the best support for spatial data. Run workflows on the desktop or deploy them in a server or cloud environment.

Safe Software

SSIS is a versatile tool for data integration tasks like ETL processes, data migration, and real-time data processing. Users appreciate its ease of use, data transformation tools, scheduling capabilities, and extensive connectivity options. It enhances productivity and efficiency within organizations by streamlining data-related processes and improving data quality and consistency.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Shell, US Department of Commerce, PG&E, BC Hydro, City of Vancouver, Enel, Iowa DoT, San Antonio Water System

1. Amazon.com 2. Bank of America 3. Capital One 4. Coca-Cola 5. Dell 6. E*TRADE 7. FedEx 8. Ford Motor Company 9. Google 10. Home Depot 11. IBM 12. Intel 13. JPMorgan Chase 14. Kraft Foods 15. Lockheed Martin 16. McDonald's 17. Microsoft 18. Morgan Stanley 19. Nike 20. Oracle 21. PepsiCo 22. Procter & Gamble 23. Prudential Financial 24. RBC Capital Markets 25. SAP 26. Siemens 27. Sony 28. Toyota 29. UnitedHealth Group 30. Visa 31. Walmart 32. Wells Fargo

Buyer's Guide

FME vs. SSIS

September 2025

Free Report: FME vs. SSIS

Find out what your peers are saying about FME vs. SSIS and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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