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IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs Talend Open Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

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
24th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Data Virtualization (3rd)
Talend Open Studio
Ranking in Data Integration
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of IBM Cloud Pak for Data is 1.9%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Talend Open Studio is 4.7%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

Michelle Leslie - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Costin Marzea - PeerSpot reviewer
Allows you to develop your own components and can be used as an OEM
Sometimes, scalability is part of planning. It depends on what you mean by scalability. People talk a lot about it, but scalability is not always about system functionality. Sometimes, it may be planning the job you're doing. If you want to split it into several jobs or servers, you don't actually have to have it built in as a functionality. You can create a job using a loop, which runs and controls several jobs in a loop that may be controlled. Scaling should not always be part of the infrastructure based on whether the engine can scale or not. I think it's your plan or project that should scale and split, and you can define these parameters. These parameters include how many servers you want to run or how many executions you want to do on different parts of the data. It's not always an issue of the engine running. Sometimes, your database should be configured to support partitioning. The product may scale very well without partitioning, but if the basic response is very slow, you didn't solve the problem. You should solve the problems at a higher level, not just at the execution level. They should be solved at the database level and communication level, and you should have firewalls. We are trying to add to the open source the ability to generate code for containers and Kubernetes that exist in the subscription version. Once you do this, Kubernetes will take care of the scaling, so there is no problem.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"One of Cloud Pak's best features is the Watson Knowledge Catalog, which helps you implement data governance."
"DataStage allows me to connect to different data sources."
"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."
"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."
"Cloud Pak's most valuable features are IBM MQ, IBM App Connect, IBM API Connect, and ISPF."
"Talend is significantly easier to use."
"It is user-friendly and the interface is good."
"Talend is safe to use because it is very restrictive. It is easy to use when one learns how to manipulate data with SQL."
"We're able to handle large amounts of data with ease."
"The best thing I have found with Talend Open Studio is their major support for the lookups."
"This product is very easy to use."
"It is easy to use and covers most of the functions needed. We can use the code without any extra effort. The open source is very good. They have the same commercials with additional connectors. The graphical design environment is also very easy."
"Talend Open Studio's installation process is easy. One just needs to install Java before installing the product"
 

Cons

"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's catalog searching or map search needs to be improved."
"The product is trying to be more maturity in terms of connectors. That, I believe, is an area where Cloud Pak can improve."
"The product must improve its performance."
"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 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."
"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 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."
"It needs better installation configuration for other databases. Although the installation allows you to select another database, this doesn't mean that all connection points in the application point to the database selected. You actually need to do a search through the entire install to locate the configuration settings and change them."
"Talend should improve the log and error handling to better track the errors you find during development. Sometimes it's challenging to see what's causing an issue, and tracking that on Talend is complicated."
"Talend Open Studio's interface does not provide a good experience...I would like to see better documentation and a more enhanced graphical interface in Talend Open Studio."
"It is complicated to understand the configuration process for email components."
"Multiple products are there within the product suite. That can be actually trimmed down."
"The server-side should be completely revamped."
"I think my biggest problem with the tool is that the errors are very hard to debug."
"If I compare Open Studion to other solutions, their interface is robust but not so fancy looking. This is an area that could use improvement. I would like to see an updated interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing is competitive with that of other vendors."
"Cloud Pak's cost is a little high."
"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 is expensive."
"It's quite expensive."
"The cost for one year for the ETL tools, not for the big data, is 6K per year. It is a good price."
"It is an open-source tool which means it is a free solution."
"We are using the free version of the tool, because the enterprise version is a little expensive."
"It is an open-source product."
"Right now, because we're using the open-source version, there's no cost."
"Pricing and licensing are fairly straightforward. It is reasonably priced and managed."
"The paid version of this solution has a very high price, but even with the limitations, the Community version works fine."
"I am using the open-source version of the solution, so there are no extra costs for any feature."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

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.
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 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...
How does Talend Open Studio compare with AWS Glue?
We reviewed AWS Glue before choosing Talend Open Studio. AWS Glue is the managed ETL (extract, transform, and load) from Amazon Web Services. AWS Glue enables AWS users to create and manage jobs in...
What do you like most about Talend Open Studio?
It is easy to use and covers most of the functions needed. We can use the code without any extra effort. The open source is very good. They have the same commercials with additional connectors. The...
 

Also Known As

Cloud Pak for Data
Open Studio
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Qatar Development Bank, GuideWell, Skanderborg Music Festival
Almerys, BF&M, Findus
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs. Talend Open Studio and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.