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Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs Microsoft MDS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Informatica Intelligent Dat...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
214
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (1st), Data Quality (1st), Business Process Management (BPM) (7th), Business-to-Business Middleware (2nd), API Management (5th), Cloud Data Integration (3rd), Data Governance (3rd), Test Data Management (3rd), Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) (1st), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (2nd), Data Masking (2nd), Metadata Management (2nd), Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (4th), Test Data Management Services (3rd), Product Information Management (PIM) (1st), Data Observability (1st), AI Data Analysis (1st)
Microsoft MDS
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Master Data Management (MDM) Software (4th)
 

Featured Reviews

Divya-Raj - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Consultant cum Assistant Manager & Offshore Lead at Deloitte
Handles large data volumes effectively and offers competitive pricing
There is a lot of improvement required, as we still face some cache issues most of the time, which is a challenge that we expect to see resolved in the future. Additionally, there is some limitation when we are working with a tool, especially regarding In and Out parameters, and I feel that this aspect should be improved going ahead. We face issues with the API side, as Cloud Application Integration cannot handle large volumes; according to the API page, there is a limitation of 500 records or 500 MB. The AI integrated into the Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services solution is called Application Integration, where we still face challenges when dealing with huge volumes, as previously explained.
reviewer1524357 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Has supported endpoint management while revealing areas where usability and latency can improve
The couple of times we found issues with technical support from Microsoft for Microsoft MDS, they resolved them. The response time and understanding were adequate, though there was always a language barrier between the teams. The teams we worked with were in Korea, and it was sometimes a language issue.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The program is stable and scalable."
"We have matured as an organization with regards to better quality management, and we have evolved over time."
"The dictionary, the search, and the ratings are without a doubt the most beneficial components of this solution."
"For the kind of application we have built and run on this tool, it has been very stable and has given consistent performance."
"We went with Informatica because we have functional and non-functional requirements with respect to the market data management of our customers and Informatica is a suitable product for their needs."
"The interface is really good."
"It's great as a unified enterprise data management platform."
"Informatica Data Quality is a product that is worth the money."
"The most valuable feature is the administration console."
"One of the main features I have found useful is the integration with Azure active directory."
"We used Azure Cloud service to set it up, and it was very easy to setup and configure."
"The backup and restore functionality are the solution's most valuable aspects."
"It has been a long-standing tool in our organization since it was free."
"It is very easy to deploy and provision a machine."
"Technical support is very good."
"The tool is easy to use."
 

Cons

"Compared to PowerCenter, Data Quality needs some improvement; when we are dealing with large amounts of data for extraction purposes, it doesn't always work out and we often experience some memory issues here and there."
"Informatica is very expensive."
"Currently, there are limitations in processing and the interface."
"I used to use Informatica Cloud Data Quality more but recently we have been using another tool that we feel is better because it handles spatial data."
"Performance issues can be looked at Improved release documentation is expected because I feel that the current release document doesn't give you the clear picture of what has been fixed and what has not been fixed from previous versions."
"It would be helpful if there was a GenAI feature integrated into the system, especially regarding the data quality."
"Its pricing model can be improved. The response time from technical support can also be improved."
"They could provide more robust performance for data integration processes. It would help in improving the data quality more efficiently."
"The solution could be better integrated into Microsoft's other products."
"The price of the program has gone up, so I would like to see better pricing."
"Microsoft MDS is outdated and lacks modern capabilities."
"More generic related things can be included in the services."
"I do not like using Silverlight and Internet Explorer. The new 2019 version gets rid of that, which is one of the reasons why we are looking to switch."
"It would be a better option to have an on-cloud version."
"The Microsoft license cost could be lower."
"In my 30+ years in IT I've never experienced a tool that only allows you to create reactive rules that identify bad data but never prevent it from getting saved. In a large enterprise I would rule this as a show stopper."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"it's expensive, but if you're looking for a stable solution, Informatica MDM is a good one to choose."
"It's a very expensive solution"
"The product is very expensive"
"It is an expensive solution. I would say it is the most expensive solution in the market."
"I have heard from customers that the product comes with a huge license cost."
"I rate the product's price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is the cheapest and ten is the most expensive. The product is a bit expensive."
"The price of Informatica Cloud Data Integration could be reduced."
"In terms of the licensing for Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services, we had the option of paying based on the number of users and paying based on the volume of data, and we went with the data volume licensing option. Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services isn't as expensive as CIG. The pricing for it is okay, so I'm rating it a four out of five in terms of pricing. We did use the email verification and address validation services which weren't part of the contract, so we had to pay additional fees for those services."
"Microsoft MDS is an expensive solution."
"I would like to see better pricing."
"SAP is more expensive than Microsoft."
"MDS is a part of the SQL Server enterprise license. I am not aware of any additional costs."
"With Microsoft, we buy everything though an agreement, so we purchase volume licensing every year."
"The solution does require a license and we have enterprise licenses."
"The pricing of this solution is good."
"Product licensing is very complicated. It would be helpful to have an online calculator to estimate the cost of a license."
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Answers from the Community

RT
Information Architect at Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Feb 7, 2022
Feb 7, 2022
Hi @Richard Tibbetts, There's no short answer to your question. Nearly all existing MDM solutions on the market offer a broad range of patterns to ingest master data from various sources and distribute cleanse and consolidated information, also to the Azure stack. Many vendors offer prebuilt connectors for the most common sources (databases, various file types, storages, business applications i...
2 out of 3 answers
InitZero - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise MDM Architect / Solution Arch at Volvo Group
Jan 14, 2022
Hi @Richard Tibbetts, There's no short answer to your question. Nearly all existing MDM solutions on the market offer a broad range of patterns to ingest master data from various sources and distribute cleanse and consolidated information, also to the Azure stack. Many vendors offer prebuilt connectors for the most common sources (databases, various file types, storages, business applications including MS Dynamics, Salesforce, etc.), but also support a generic way of ingesting/exposing data via Rest APIs, file drops, etc. MS MDS is an extension of the MS SQL server 2016. I don't know Microsoft plans to extend it, but I know that Profisee and CluedIn are very active in promoting their solutions as-built having Azure in mind and being a part of the stack. Informatica MDM has three types of offerings these days: on-prem, hosted MDM, and cloud-native option - they differ in the functionality and integration options. Obviously, there are many more MDM tools on the market particularly good in various data domains (products, customers/suppliers - so yours, multi-domain, etc). I think that you should start your MDM journey by answering which current challenges you try to solve or what new capabilities you need to enable to the organisation. Once these questions are answered and based on your organization's Enterprise Architecture principles, look for the best fitting tool. It may (or may not) be the one that fits the best into the Azure Reference Architecture. I hope this helped.
GM
Data Architect at World Vision
Feb 4, 2022
I agree with @InitZero...  I would add that there's no future roadmap for MDS and they don't have an Azure solution for it.  Since it's a free product with an SQL license, don't expect Microsoft to invest in it.   Even though we are highly dependent upon it currently I'm starting to look towards the future where we need to find a replacement - hopefully, a PaaS solution. It would be great if Microsoft came out with something in Azure but I'm not hopeful at this point.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Retailer
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Media Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business51
Midsize Enterprise27
Large Enterprise153
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
What do you like most about Microsoft MDS?
More generic related things can be included in the services.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft MDS?
Microsoft MDS was pretty affordable. We implemented the solution without a problem.
What needs improvement with Microsoft MDS?
I cannot really give specifics about disadvantages. From what we have seen, speaking to customers, Microsoft MDS was sometimes a bit slow. The frustration they had was just around usability and use...
 

Also Known As

ActiveVOS, Active Endpoints, Address Verification, Persistent Data Masking
Microsoft Master Data Services, Microsoft MDM, Microsoft SQL Server Master Data Services, MS MDS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The Travel Company, Carbonite
ETA a.s., Apeejay Surrendra Group, Blue Star Infotech, Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation, The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, New Belgium Brewing
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Web Services (AWS), Informatica, Salesforce and others in Cloud Data Integration. Updated: March 2026.
889,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.