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Informatica PowerCenter vs SAS Data Integration Server comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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 PowerCenter
Ranking in Data Integration
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
85
Ranking in other categories
Data Visualization (13th)
SAS Data Integration Server
Ranking in Data Integration
40th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of Informatica PowerCenter is 3.6%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAS Data Integration Server is 0.9%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Integration Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Informatica PowerCenter3.6%
SAS Data Integration Server0.9%
Other95.5%
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

Hemanthreddy Vakiti - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Streamlined daily sales workflows have reduced team size and enabled earlier, accurate reporting
One of the best features I appreciate about Informatica PowerCenter is that anyone with minimal knowledge of ETL can easily use it. It has four different interfaces: Monitor, Repository, Designer, and Workflow Manager. With our use case, we can easily go to that particular interface and use it. Another valuable feature is the use of Mapplets; if we have one mapping created that we want to use again and again for other workflows, we can create a Mapplet and save it so that we can reuse the mapping, reducing our workload. Informatica PowerCenter has positively impacted my organization because, as I mentioned previously, the development team has been reduced to half since we moved to it due to its easy interface and the reusability of Mapplets. It has also saved us a lot of time; for example, it has saved nearly one hour per day on monitoring and workflow tasks. Saving one hour a day is key because it has led us to report the data to business users one hour earlier than the usual time. If there are any anomalies or defects in the data, we can easily rectify them within that hour, which reduces the chance of errors in the data. Regarding cost, the number of people working on the project has been reduced to half, thus significantly decreasing costs for our organization since we moved to Informatica PowerCenter.
NN
Works at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Offloads processes on the server side but needs better installation syntax
One area for improvement is the installation process. Another point could be the syntax, as it sometimes involves using syntax names that are not intuitive. For example, to calculate the difference between two dates, the general syntax in SAS is called the data difference or data net function. However, another name is used, such as NF and INK. Without knowledge of SAS programming, it becomes unclear what these functions mean. It is not good to define function names this way.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Once you figure it out, it is a powerful and simple ETL tool. Its stability has been very satisfactory."
"The interface is very clean and clear."
"It reduces a lot of legacy coding."
"The support is valuable; when we face a production problem, being able to get support is valuable and it brings efficiency."
"With Informatica PowerCenter, we were able to overcome all the performance bottlenecks and we were able to standardize the ETL layer."
"The most valuable feature of Informatica PowerCenter is data transformation and user-friendliness."
"The ETL is able to extract transform load from/to a variety of sources, like Oracle, Microsoft's SQL Server, and Big Data."
"The solution provides good performance with an easy to use interface and reasonable documentation."
"The solution is very stable."
"The solution offers very good data manipulation and loading."
"A key feature allows us to enhance job performance by offloading processing to the server side, rather than processing on the server itself."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its amazing capabilities in regard to data handling."
 

Cons

"The solution's commercial cost is very high. Other open-source tools can do the tool's functions for free. The world is moving to the cloud, but the solution hasn't updated its drivers. I presume that its downfall will start soon. The tool is trying to cross-sell or upsell without helping customers derive benefits from the existing products. They have multiple tools and licenses. It is better to bring the smaller tools in one umbrella."
"We had to take on a large volume of data from the legacy Sybase system. This was taking a very long time, i.e., more than a day. We were trying to improve it with partitions to gpload, but we were told that we can't go more than four partitions."
"Improvement is needed in terms of some new transformation because API integration and all those things are very critical nowadays."
"The multiple interfaces in Informatica PowerCenter are not great for the user experience. Because of this, I think it can cause confusion for any beginner developer."
"The solution does not scale."
"Its licensing can be improved. It should be features-wise and not bundle-wise. A bundle will definitely be costly. In addition, we might use one or two features. That's why the pricing model should be based on the features. The model should be flexible enough based on the features. Their support should also be more responsive to premium customers."
"The developer tool documentation can be enhanced with a more clear explanation of each utility, accompanied by relevant examples, so that developers are able to create programs with ease."
"When I deal with very large amounts of data, there have been performance issues."
"The transform tool has limited access. They should make it more flexible."
"So I would like to see improved integration with other software."
"One area for improvement is the installation process."
"The initial setup had issues, and even after using it for about one year, it was still not fixed."
"Something that could improve is writing SQL to integration studio because it is not that straightforward. There should be better integration with other software."
"The initial setup of SAS Data Integration Server was complex."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of this solution is high."
"We have found the pricing very cost-effective. The licensing is CPU and data source-based."
"The price could be better. It's very expensive. On a scale from one to five, I would give Informatica PowerCenter's price a one."
"The pricing for Informatica PowerCenter is expensive. Some clients have simple needs and only want to integrate and store data. Some clients have small needs, while some clients have bigger needs and focus more on performance and time. The licensing cost for Informatica PowerCenter isn't good. In my project, if I remember correctly, the company pays €20,000 per year for the Informatica PowerCenter license. I'm not aware of additional costs that you need to pay for some features of the solution. On a scale of one to five, I'm rating its price a three."
"Our client has purchased the license, and we are using it."
"It is for big enterprises. We have leveraged Informatica for big enterprises but not for small and medium enterprises because it is a very costly product as compared to other products. We propose this solution only for enterprise customers. For small to medium enterprises, we would propose the Microsoft solution. Its licensing is currently bundle-wise. It should be features-wise and not bundle-wise."
"Our customers pay a licensing fee yearly."
"The license model is CPU based."
"It is an expensive program."
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Comparison Review

it_user90069 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Construction Company
13%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise76
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica PowerCenter?
Azure Data Factory is flexible, modular, and works well. In terms of cost, it is not too pricey. It offers the stability and reliability I am looking for, good scalability, and is easy to set up an...
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...
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 needs improvement with SAS Data Integration Server?
One area for improvement is the installation process. Another point could be the syntax, as it sometimes involves using syntax names that are not intuitive. For example, to calculate the difference...
What is your primary use case for SAS Data Integration Server?
I am involved in the ETR job. My role is focused on executing the ETR job.
What advice do you have for others considering SAS Data Integration Server?
I use it without further details. For example, if I use SAS to connect to a NetEazt database or purchase a shared asset to ODBC, I can connect to any database with ODBC connection support. The over...
 

Also Known As

PowerCenter
SAS Enterprise Data Integration Server, Enterprise Data Integration Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, LexisNexis, Rabobank
Credit Guarantee Corporation, Cr_dito y Cauci‹n, Delaware State Police, Deutsche Lufthansa, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, DSM, Livzon Pharmaceutical Group, Los Angeles County, Miami Herald Media Company, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, New Zealand Ministry of Health, Nippon Paper, West Midlands Police, XS Inc., Zenith Insurance
Find out what your peers are saying about Informatica PowerCenter vs. SAS Data Integration Server and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.