IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs SSIS comparison

IBM and Microsoft are both solutions in the Data Integration category. IBM is ranked #25 with an average rating of 8.0, while Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.8. IBM holds a 1.8% mindshare in DI, compared to Microsoft’s 7.9% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 79% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Read 13 IBM Cloud Pak for Data reviews

2,646 Views
1,868 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

SSIS

Read 73 SSIS reviews

11,569 Views
8,414 Comparison Views

79% willing to recommend

IBM Cloud Pak for Data

SSIS

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

SSIS and IBM Cloud Pak for Data are competing in the data integration and analytics category. IBM Cloud Pak for Data has the upper hand due to its advanced analytics capabilities and scalability, while SSIS offers benefits like lower setup costs and seamless Microsoft integration.

Features: SSIS provides strong ETL capabilities, seamless integration with SQL Server, and flexibility to add custom code through its scripting component. IBM Cloud Pak for Data offers extensive AI and machine learning features, data virtualization, and data governance with Watson Knowledge Catalog.

Room for Improvement: SSIS could improve in handling large data volumes, further enhancing cloud integration, and simplifying work with non-Microsoft environments. IBM Cloud Pak for Data can enhance user-friendliness, reduce high pricing for smaller firms, and streamline initial setup processes to be less complex.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SSIS is easier to deploy for those familiar with Microsoft systems, providing straightforward integration with SQL Server. IBM Cloud Pak for Data caters to enterprise needs with a scalable, hybrid-cloud-friendly model. IBM's customer service is adept at handling complex, diverse environments, offering tailored support.

Pricing and ROI: SSIS offers a cost-effective solution, especially for businesses already invested in Microsoft products, with affordable setup costs. IBM Cloud Pak for Data, although more expensive, promises higher ROI via deep data insights and analytics. The pricing models vary, with SSIS being budget-friendly initially, while IBM presents higher strategic value over time.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs. SSIS Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs. SSIS

April 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

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)

SSIS

Ranking in Data Integration

4th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 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 SSIS is 7.9%, up from 7.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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.

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BobAmy

Sr. Architect - Data warehousing & BI at Molina Healthcare, Inc.

Robust and does a good job of handling overload conditions

We purchase an add-on called task factory primarily to allow bulk delete, update, and upsert capability. I'd like to see this be part of the standard package. I believe there are ways to build a model and set variables so that it can be a generic process. In my next system, I would like to have a generic process that would handle all the logging and processing in a model that can be modified and enhanced as the need for a better process, or different statistics to be logged is discovered. I'd want this in a way that the model can be changed and all the processes, with their unique parameters, could all be changed with the model upgraded. I believe they should add some features that help to create the code using a model. This would allow for continuous improvement of the model uses and easy replication of all the different programs that use the model.

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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 is a very, very, very good system."

"I love the way that I can start at a very basic level with my data management journey by capturing my policies, justifying my data, and putting them into different categories to say this is data relating to individuals, for example, or data relating to geography."

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

"Its data preparation capabilities are highly valuable."

"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."

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

"What I found most helpful in IBM Cloud Pak for Data is containerization, which means it's easy to shift and leave in terms of moving to other clouds. That's an advantage of IBM Cloud Pak for Data."

More IBM Cloud Pak for Data pros

"SSIS provides you with lookup and transformation functions, and you have the flexibility to write your own custom code."

"It is also easy to learn and user-friendly. Microsoft is also good in terms of technical support. They have built a large community all over the world."

"This solution is easy to implement, has a wide variety of connectors, has support for Visual Basic, and supports the C language."

"The solution is easy to use and developer friendly."

"It is easy to set up the product."

"The workflow features have been very valuable. You can have automated workflows and all the steps are controlled. The workflow functionality of integration services is excellent."

"The data reader is the most valuable feature."

"The most valuable thing is that it is easy to connect with Microsoft tools. In Europe, particularly in France, a lot of companies use Excel, SQL Server, and other Microsoft tools, and it is easier to connect SSIS with Microsoft tools than other products."

More SSIS pros

Cons

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

"The solution's catalog searching or map search needs to be improved."

"The technical support could be a little better."

"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."

"The solution could have more connectors."

"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 is a solution that is part of IBM Cloud Pak for Data called Watson OpenScale. It is used to monitor the deployed models for the quality and fairness of the results. This is one area that needs a lot of improvement."

"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."

More IBM Cloud Pak for Data cons

"We In upgrading SSIS, we encountered challenges fixing SQL Server and performance issues, including problems during a failover in our data warehouse."

"The creation of the measure in the DAC's model could be improved."

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

"At one point, we did have to purchase an add-on."

"Generic processes should be used instead of custom code for each table."

"This solution needs full support for real-time processing."

"It's difficult to refactor SSIS. It gets cumbersome to reuse the solution."

"There were some issues when we tried to connect it to data storage. It was a connection issue."

More SSIS cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."

"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."

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

"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."

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

"It's quite expensive."

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

"People have to opt for a perpetual-based licensing model."

"We purchased the standard edition of SQL Server and SSIS came with it free of charge."

"t's incredibly cost effective, easy to learn the basics quickly (although like all ETL tools requires the traditional learning curve to get good at) and has an immense user base."

"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."

"It comes bundled with other solutions, which makes it difficult to get the price on the specific product."

"If you don't want to pay a lot of money, you can go for SSIS, as its open-source version is available. When it comes to licensing, SSIS can be expensive."

"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."

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

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

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Financial Services Firm

19%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Cloud Pak for Data?

DataStage allows me to connect to different data sources.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Cloud Pak for Data?

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

IBM InfoSphere DataStage vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Compared 41% of the time

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

Compared 17% of the time

Azure Data Factory vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Compared 12% of the time

Denodo vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Compared 11% of the time

Palantir Foundry vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Compared 8% of the time

More IBM Cloud Pak for Data Competitors

Informatica PowerCenter vs SSIS

Compared 19% of the time

Talend Open Studio vs SSIS

Compared 12% of the time

IBM InfoSphere DataStage vs SSIS

Compared 8% of the time

Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) vs SSIS

Compared 7% of the time

dbt vs SSIS

Compared 6% of the time

More SSIS Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cloud Pak for Data

April 2025

Download IBM Cloud Pak for Data product report

Buyer's Guide

SSIS

April 2025

Download SSIS product report

Also Known As

Cloud Pak for Data

SQL Server Integration Services

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

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

Qatar Development Bank, GuideWell, Skanderborg Music Festival

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

IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs. SSIS

April 2025

Free Report: IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs. SSIS

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs. SSIS and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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