IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) comparison

IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs. Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC)

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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

IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Ranking in Data Integration

25th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Virtualization (3rd)

Informatica Intelligent Dat...

Ranking in Data Integration

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

186

Ranking in other categories

Data Quality (1st), Business Process Management (BPM) (11th), Business-to-Business Middleware (6th), API Management (7th), Cloud Data Integration (3rd), Data Governance (2nd), Test Data Management (3rd), Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) Solutions (1st), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (2nd), Data Masking (1st), Metadata Management (1st), Test Data Management Services (3rd), Product Information Management (PIM) (1st), Data Observability (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of IBM Cloud Pak for Data is 1.8%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) is 3.6%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Integration Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC)	3.6%
IBM Cloud Pak for Data	1.8%
Other	94.6%

Data Integration

Featured Reviews

Michelle Leslie

Data asset management engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

Starts strong with data management capabilities but needs a demo database

What I would love to see is an end-to-end, almost a training demo database of some sort, where one of the biggest problems with data management is demonstrated. There are so many components to data management, and more often than not, people understand one thing really well. They may understand DataStage and how to move data around, but they do not see the impact of moving data incorrectly. They also do not see the impact of everyone understanding a piece of data in the same way. I would love Cloud Pak to come with a demo database that illustrates the different components of data management in a logical way, so I can see the whole picture instead of just the area I'm specializing in. It would be great if Cloud Pak, from a data modeling point of view, allowed us to import our PDMs, for example. It would be ideal to import and create business terms in Cloud Pak. The PEA would be great to create the technical data. The association between the business and the technical metadata could then be automated by pulling it through from your ACE models. The data modeling component is available in Cloud Pak. Additionally, when it comes to Cloud Pak, even though it has the NextGen DataStage built into it, there is Cloud Pak for data integration as well. Currently, I do not think we have a full enough understanding of how CP4D and CP4I can enhance each other.

Read full review

SaurabhGaonshindhe

Principle Cloud Engineer at Sector 125

Modular structure and AI features stream new reporting processes

One of my clients has a requirement; they want to integrate metadata into the process, which means, for example, if I just want to implement a new field into my database, that field needs to be reflected throughout, let's say, 200 mappings. This highlights the need for a data-driven approach. My experience with technical support from Informatica is quite interesting; I would rate it as nine out of ten for Informatica PowerCenter kind of products or the Informatica integration products, because my team can do some hands-on using their free licenses or one-month kind of products. However, for products Master Data Management or related to MDM or Data Governance, there is no way by which we can directly practice, and my team struggles at that point.

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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

"It is a scalable solution, and we have had no issues with its scalability in our company. I rate the solution's scalability a nine out of ten."

"Cloud Pak's most valuable features are IBM MQ, IBM App Connect, IBM API Connect, and ISPF."

"One of Cloud Pak's best features is the Watson Knowledge Catalog, which helps you implement data governance."

"You can model the data there, connect the data models with the business processes and create data lineage processes."

"The most valuable feature of IBM Cloud Pak for Data is the Modeler flows. The ability to develop models using a graphical approach and the capability to connect to various sources, as well as the data virtualization capabilities, allow me to easily access and utilize data that is dispersed across different sources."

"IBM Watson Catalog and data pipelines are the most valuable features of the solution."

"The most valuable features are data virtualization and reporting."

"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten."

More IBM Cloud Pak for Data pros

"It is a very stable solution. I rate its stability a ten out of ten...It is a scalable solution...Informatica Axon's technical support is good."

"Seeing the data in the mapping itself is really nice."

"The technical support services are good."

"The tool does give a good ROI."

"Informatica provides a comprehensive solution for on-the-fly or real-time data masking."

"This is where I think MDM shines - with its strong fuzzy matching algorithm. This is the essence of Informatica MDM. Based on these results, I can write our match conditions and then perform the corresponding data management activities."

"I do find Informatica Data Quality is stable. It generally maintains a high level of reliability and stability, making it an asset."

"Axon has something called Overlay, which can be used to extend the technical lineage."

More Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) pros

Cons

"The setup cost is very expensive. The cost depends on the pieces of the solution I'm using, how much data I have, and whether it's on the cloud or on-prem."

"The tool depends on the control plane, an OpenShift container platform utilized as an orchestration layer...So, we have communicated this issue to IBM and asked if it is feasible to adapt the solution to work on a Kubernetes platform that we support."

"The product is trying to be more maturity in terms of connectors. That, I believe, is an area where Cloud Pak can improve."

"One thing that bugs me is how much infrastructure Cloud Pak requires for the initial deployment. It doesn't allow you to start small. The smallest permitted deployment is too big. It's a huge problem that prevents us from implementing the solution in many scenarios."

"What I would love to see is an end-to-end, almost a training demo database of some sort, where one of the biggest problems with data management is demonstrated."

"The solution's user experience is an area that has room for improvement."

"One challenge I'm facing with IBM Cloud Pak for Data is native features have been decommissioned, such as XML input and output. Too many changes have been made, and my company has around one hundred thousand mappings, so my team has been putting more effort into alternative ways to do things. Another area for improvement in IBM Cloud Pak for Data is that it's more complicated to shift from on-premise to the cloud. Other vendors provide secure agents that easily connect with your existing setup. Still, with IBM Cloud Pak for Data, you have to perform connection migration steps, upgrade to the latest version, etc., which makes it more complicated, especially as my company has XML-based mappings. Still, the XML input and output capabilities of IBM Cloud Pak for Data have been discontinued, so I'd like IBM to bring that back."

"The product must improve its performance."

More IBM Cloud Pak for Data cons

"There's no direct way to connect to Amazon APIs from Informatica Cloud."

"Enhancements on the UI front, such as multiple templates and improved grid views, would be beneficial."

"The price modeling could be more flexible."

"Certain applications are not being synced with the ION."

"This is a costly solution. We have several customers who evaluate it but then look for other solutions because of the cost. At present, Informatica MDM comes as an on-premises or cloud-based solution. I would like to see them offer a SaaS-based MDM model. I think they are working on it."

"Once the data is masked, we won't be able to reverse it back to its original value."

"New machine learning could be added to Informatica MDM because the solution is outdated and is not moving with the current trends. The solution is good, but it definitely needs a lot of improvement and needs to speed up as per the market."

"There is room for improvement in the support. The response time could be faster."

More Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's quite expensive."

"I think that this product is too expensive for smaller companies."

"Cloud Pak's cost is a little high."

"The solution is expensive."

"For the licensing of the solution, there is a yearly payment that needs to be made. Also, since it is expensive, cost-wise, I rate the solution an eight or nine out of ten."

"I don't have the exact licensing cost for IBM Cloud Pak for Data, as my company is still finalizing requirements, including monthly, yearly, and three-year licensing fees. Still, on a scale of one to five, I'd rate it a three because, compared to other vendors, it's more complicated."

"IBM Cloud Pak for Data is expensive. If we include the training time and the machine learning, it's expensive. The cost of the execution is more reasonable."

"The solution's pricing is competitive with that of other vendors."

"Our customers sometimes are able to negotiate a much better price for Informatica Cloud Data Integration based on their relationship with the vendor."

"My understanding is that Informatica is quite expensive compare to other tools that are available in the market."

"I have heard from customers that the product comes with a huge license cost."

"The pricing is quite flexible."

"The price is comparable."

"I rate the product's pricing a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is the lowest price and ten is the highest price."

"The solution is very expensive."

"The product is not very pocket-friendly for small and medium-sized businesses, and it is understandable because of the kind of features the tool gives."

More Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

30%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	42
Midsize Enterprise	24
Large Enterprise	134

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Cloud Pak for Data?

The setup cost is very expensive. The cost depends on the pieces of the solution I'm using, how much data I have, and whether it's on the cloud or on-prem.

What needs improvement with IBM Cloud Pak for Data?

What is your primary use case for IBM Cloud Pak for Data?

My primary use case for Cloud Pak is that I am the reference Data steward for the Africa regions in the banks where I work. My main objective is to capture the reference data in Caltech or Data and...

How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica Cloud Data Integration?

Azure Data Factory is a solid product offering many transformation functions; It has pre-load and post-load transformations, allowing users to apply transformations either in code by using Power Q...

Which Informatica product would you choose - PowerCenter or Cloud Data Integration?

Complex transformations can easily be achieved using PowerCenter, which has all the features and tools to establish a real data governance strategy. Additionally, PowerCenter is able to manage huge...

What are the biggest benefits of using Informatica Cloud Data Integration?

When it comes to cloud data integration, this solution can provide you with multiple benefits, including: Overhead reduction by integrating data on any cloud in various ways Effective integration ...

IBM InfoSphere DataStage vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

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Product Reports

IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Download IBM Cloud Pak for Data product report

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC)

Download Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) product report

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) report

Also Known As

Cloud Pak for Data

ActiveVOS, Active Endpoints, BPM, Address Verification, Persistent Data Masking, Cloud Test Data Management, PIM, , Enterprise Data Catalog, Data Integration Hub, Cloud Data Integration, Data Quality, Cloud API and App Integration

Overview

IBM Cloud Pak® for Data is a fully-integrated data and AI platform that modernizes how businesses collect, organize and analyze data to infuse AI throughout their organizations. Cloud-native by design, the platform unifies market-leading services spanning the entire analytics lifecycle. From data management, DataOps, governance, business analytics and automated AI, IBM Cloud Pak for Data helps eliminate the need for costly, and often competing, point solutions while providing the information architecture you need to implement AI successfully.

Building on the streamlined hybrid-cloud foundation of Red Hat® OpenShift®, IBM Cloud Pak for Data takes advantage of the underlying resource and infrastructure optimization and management. The solution fully supports multicloud environments such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud™ and private cloud deployments. Find out how IBM Cloud Pak for Data can lower your total cost of ownership and accelerate innovation.

IBM

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) integrates data quality, governance, and integration with flexible architecture. It supports multiple domains and a data models repository, delivering AI-enhanced data management across cloud-native platforms.

IDMC provides seamless integration and governance capabilities that support diverse data environments. Its comprehensive suite includes customizable workflows, data profiling, and metadata management. AI features, a data marketplace, and performance scalability enhance data management. While its interface poses challenges, its robust matching and cloud-native integration facilities are essential for complex data ecosystems. Users employ IDMC for connecting systems, ensuring data quality, and supporting data compliance but seek better pre-built rules, services, and improved connectivity, especially with platforms like Salesforce. Licensing, cost, and added AI functionalities are areas for potential refinement.

What are the key features of IDMC?

Data Quality and Integration: Seamless integration ensures data accuracy across platforms.
Metadata Management: Comprehensive metadata management supports data governance.
AI Capabilities: AI features enhance automation and decision-making processes.
Data Marketplace: Facilitates easy access to data across the organization.
Performance Scalability: Scales performance efficiently to meet growing data demands.

What benefits should be expected from IDMC?

Enhanced Data Management: Offers robust tools for data governance and quality.
Improved Integration: Connects disparate systems seamlessly, reducing data silos.
Cost Efficiency: Streamlines data processes, potentially reducing operational costs.
Data Compliance: Supports compliance with data privacy regulations.
Agility and Scalability: Adapts quickly to changing data environments.

IDMC is implemented across industries for data integration, metadata management, and governance. Organizations use it to connect systems, migrate data to cloud environments, and maintain data quality. They manage master data and automate business processes, facilitating data lineage and ensuring compliance with privacy regulations.

Informatica

Sample Customers

Qatar Development Bank, GuideWell, Skanderborg Music Festival

The Travel Company, Carbonite

IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs. Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC)