Informatica PowerCenter vs webMethods Integration Server comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Informatica PowerCenter and webMethods Integration Server based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Data Integration solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Informatica PowerCenter vs. webMethods Integration Server Report (Updated: July 2023).
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Complex transformations can be easily achieved by using PowerCenter. The processing layer does transformations and other things. About 80% of my transformations can be achieved by using the middle layer. For the remaining 15% to 20% transformations, I can go in and create stored procedures in the respective databases. Mapplets is the feature through which we can reuse transformations across pipelines. Transformations and caching are the key features that we have been using frequently. Informatica PowerCenter is one of the best solutions or products in the data integration space. We have extensively used PowerCenter for integration purposes. We usually look at the best bridge solution in our architecture so that it can sustain for maybe a couple of years. Usually, we go with the solution that fits best and has proven and time-tested technology.""Once you figure it out, it is a powerful and simple ETL tool. Its stability has been very satisfactory.""The setup is very simple.""The ability to scale through partitions helped us to improve the performance.""The most valuable features are the monitoring tools and the reporting manager.""The most valuable feature of Informatica PowerCenter is data transformation and user-friendliness.""Among all the solutions I have used, I found Informatica PowerCenter to be much more stable in terms of application.""Technical support, and their approach is good. They have a support portal and support tickets. If you open a ticket it has multiple levels of severity from level one to very high or critical."

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"The tool supports gRPC.""The most valuable feature of the webMethods Integration Server is its reliability. It has a lot of great documentation from the service providers. Additionally, it is easy to use.""The main assets are its flow language, debugging, and Broker. Flow language is far better and more flexible for debugging.""What I found most valuable in webMethods Integration Server is that it's a strong ESB. It also has strong API modules and portals.""From a user perspective, the feature which I like the most about Integration Server is its designer.""It's a visual tool, so our transformations can be quickly implemented without a lot of fuss. The fact that we have an easy way to expose REST services is also very interesting. It offers the possibility to connect over GMS to synchronize message brokers.""I like the stability of the webMethods Integration Server.""​Broker and UM are the best features."

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Cons
"In terms of performance improvement and tuning, there should be a bit more guidance and documentation.""The solution could have better documentation on basic steps or blocks that specify what to do.""Unstructured data handling is an important area with a shortcoming that needs improvement in the solution.""Some of the conversions are done inside the product. We use work tables that are created by the engine itself, but the names of the work tables are very long, and they don't have any meaning, which makes it a bit difficult to understand and follow exactly what is happening inside.""It would be good to recreate the entire interface to make it easier for users to build workflows.""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.""Informatica are very rigid when it comes to cloud migrations which discourages customers in moving their solution to the cloud.""While Informatica is great for data-integration, it does not have any analytics features. Thus, organizations have to always look for another product for their BI needs."

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"We need more dashboards and reporting engines that can provide detailed information for management. In short, we need better analytics.""I would like to see the price improve.""The product needs to be improved in a few ways. First, they need to stabilize the components of the whole platform across versions. Also, they should stop replacing old components with brand new ones and, rather, improve by evolution.""We'd like for them to open up to a more cloud-based solution that could offer more flexibility and maybe a better rules engine or more integration with rules engines.""The interface needs some work. It is not very user-friendly.""The solution has big instances when deployed under microservices or in a containerized platform. They need to improve that so that it is competitive with other integration solutions, like Redis and Kafka. Deployments under microservices with those solutions are much more lightweight, in the size of the runtime itself, compared with Software AG.""Version control is not very easy. The packages and the integration server are on Eclipse IDE, but you can't compare the code from the IDE. For example, if you are working on Java code, doing version control and deployment for a quick comparison between the code isn't easy. Some tools or plug-ins are there, such as CrossVista, and you can also play with an SVN server where you have to place your package, and from there, you can check, but you have to do that as a separate exercise. You can't do it from the IDE or webMethods server. You can't just right-click and upload your service.""webMethods Integration Server needs to add more adapters."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "We have found the pricing very cost-effective. The licensing is CPU and data source-based."
  • "Cost could be improved."
  • "Licensing is a one time cost. But maintenance costs depend on what you want, how long you need it. Maintenance is a kind of insurance. With health insurance, you don't know whether you will get sick or need to go to hospital or not but you have to have insurance. It's the same thing with support. If you have that expertise in resolving issues, if you have enough experience in your IT department, I would say you don't need the support. But in practice, they recommend you go with the support. If you want support you have to pay for it."
  • "Price-wise, it's more expensive than SSIS, but it's a better tool, so it has more features. Licensing is on a yearly basis."
  • "Its maintenance is expensive."
  • "It's much more expensive, almost three times more expensive than most other solutions."
  • "We are satisfied with the pricing."
  • "I consider this to be an expensive product."
  • More Informatica PowerCenter Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Initialy good pricing and good, if it comes to Enterprise license agreements."
  • "It is worth the cost."
  • "Always plan five years ahead and don’t jeopardize the quality of your project by dropping items from the bill of materials."
  • "Pricing has to be negotiated with the local Software AG representative. SAG can always prepare an appropriate pricing model for every client."
  • "Some of the licensing is "component-ized," which is confusing to new users/customers."
  • "It is expensive, but we reached a good agreement with the company. It is still a little bit expensive, but we got a better deal than the previous one."
  • "The pricing and licensing costs for webMethods are very high, which is the only reason that we might switch to another product."
  • "The vendor is flexible with respect to pricing."
  • More webMethods Integration Server Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Anonymous User
    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 There are many third-party vendors offering ETL solutions, but two of the most popular are PowerCenter Informatica and Microsoft SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services). Each technology has its advantages but there are also similarities on how they carry out the extract-transform-load processes and only differ in terminologies. If you’re in the process of choosing ETL tools and PowerCenter Informatica and Microsoft SSIS made it to your shortlist, here is a short comparative discussion detailing the differences between the two, as well as their benefits. Package Configuration Most enterprise data integration projects would require the capacity to develop a solution in one platform and test and deploy it in a separate environment without having to manually change the established workflow. In order to achieve this seamless movement between two environments, your ETL technology should allow the dynamic update of the project’s properties using the content or a parameter file or configuration. Both Informatica and SSIS support this functionality using different methodologies. In Informatica, every session can have more than one source and one or more destination connections. There are… Read more →
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: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 and… more »
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer:The synchronous and asynchronous messaging system the solution provides is very good.
    Top Answer:Other products have been using AI and cloud enhancements, but webMethods Integration Server is still lagging in that key area. It's very good as a standalone integration server, but it has to come up… more »
    Ranking
    3rd
    out of 94 in Data Integration
    Views
    20,419
    Comparisons
    16,998
    Reviews
    30
    Average Words per Review
    472
    Rating
    7.6
    Views
    3,641
    Comparisons
    2,473
    Reviews
    21
    Average Words per Review
    668
    Rating
    8.0
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    PowerCenter
    Learn More
    Overview

    Informatica PowerCenter is a data integration and data visualization tool. The solution works as an enterprise data integration platform that helps organizations access, transform, and integrate data from various systems. The product is designed to support companies in the full cycle of a project, from its initial rollout to critical deployments. Informatica PowerCenter allows developers and analysts to collaborate while accelerating the work process to deploy projects within days instead of months.

    The Advanced edition of the product provides an additional real-time engine which allows companies to have always-on enterprise data integration. This ensures seamless collaboration and increment of data lineage visibility and impacts analysis.

    The Premium edition of the solution offers an early warning system that detects unexpected behaviors or incorrect utilization of resources in the workflows and alerts companies in the case that these occur. This version of the product also offers automatic data validation, which ensures data accuracy and reduces testing time and expenditure of resources for by up to 90%.

    Informatica PowerCenter Features

    The product provides users with various features which allow them to execute data integration initiatives such as analytics, data warehousing, data governance, consolidation, and application migration. The features of the solution include:

    • Collaboration: Informatica PowerCenter offers role-based tools and processes which enable business self-service while benefiting from high-quality IT resources.

    • Automation: Through various automations and easy-to-use software, users can utilize graphical and codeless tools and initiate effective data integration without additional knowledge.

    • Scalability: The tool provides high scalability to users, which ensures seamless performance and minimum downtime. PowerCenter also has adaptive load balancing, pushdown optimization, and dynamic partitioning.

    • Monitoring: Through the extensive monitoring feature, the operations and governance of the solution are easily overseen by users. The tool also provides alerts that can prevent damage to the system.

    • Real-time data: Through real-time data, users can monitor applications and analytics, ensuring their efficient operation.

    • Prototyping: Informatica lets its users collaborate with information technology to prototype, profile, and validate results in a timely manner.

    • Connectivity: Users can access and integrate data from different types of sources through high-performance connectors.

    • Automated data validation testing: The product offers script-free automated and repeatable audit and validation of data.

    • Data transformation: This feature allows users to use comprehensive parsing of JSON, PDF, XML, Microsoft Office, and the Internet of Things (IoT) for non-relation data.

    • Cloud applications connectivity: The product allows for seamless connection to cloud application sources and targets.

    Informatica PowerCenter Benefits

    The benefits of using Informatica PowerCenter include:

    • The tool can work over a wide range of systems and platforms and also allows for lean integration.

    • It enhances the quality and speed of performance and optimizes the cost of the process for your organization.

    • PowerCenter supports multiple databases, including TPump, Parallel Transporter Fastload, and Teradata MLoad.

    • The tool is very easy to monitor and maintain, which simplifies the data integration process for companies.

    • The centralized error logging system allows users to locate errors in a timely manner and correct them.

    • The tool can convert data from an application to another format, as it serves as one of the most powerful data transformation solutions.

    • PowerCenter can also serve as middleware between two applications.

    • The solution offers both parallel processing and load balancing.

    • PowerCenter is a tool with a high level of security, which also minimizes essential administration activities.

    • The solution ensures the quality of information, as it does not allow invalid or unwanted data to be uploaded to the source.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Yahya T., a developer and architect at L'Oreal, says the product is stable, provides good support, and integrating it with other systems is very fast.

    Mohamed E., a senior manager for Data management and data governance at a tech company, says PowerCenter is stable, mature, and offers flexibility in building the pipeline and has a drag-and-drop mode because it's GUI-based; technical support is brilliant.

    webMethods Integration Server is widely considered to be the best integration server available in the marketplace today. The solution can help users integrate everything and anything.

    webMethods Integration Server allows organizations to display and integrate existing and new business activities. The solution offers components that help users create, test, and install new services. webMethods Integration Server can automate, organize, and construct various gathered services and traditional legacy systems into productive value-added processes. webMethods Integration Server works as a secure platform for distributing and running services. The solution obtains and translates user requests, recognizes and records the requested service, translates and moves the data in the necessary format, receives the information back, and returns the information to the user in the appropriate original format. webMethods is the primary solution used by enterprise organizations for integrating functional coordination with application servers, custom applications, and databases. webMethods makes it easy for enterprise organizations to share electronic documents seamlessly.

    Users have several options to audit webMethods Integration Server processes using some of the component metrics below:

    • Adapters: Using the SOA extension for webMethods, users can easily monitor the performance of every adapter users have deployed. Available metrics include Adapter Services, Adapter Connection Pools, and Adapter Notifications nodes.

    • Business Processes: A business process is a process that uses a specific set of rules to perform tasks in a prescribed order. Many business processes depend on the successful integration of numerous systems, involving many people in varying roles. With the SOA extension for webMethods, users can easily monitor that workflow, ensuring that processes are being performed as defined.

    • Java Services: This includes services created in Java or in languages coordinated with Java.

    • WebServices: This includes services regarding webserver endpoints and performance.

    • XSLT Services: This service will allow users to transform XML data into other formats and includes the transformation to other services.

    • Thread Pools: This metric uses threads to conduct services, gather documents from the webMethods Broker, and initiate triggers. Documents can be published locally on the server or to the broker that will send the document out. A JMS trigger receives inbound messages and then processes those messages accordingly.

    Reviews from Real Users:

    “There are a few things about this product that we definitely like. It is very robust. If you build it nicely, you can't go wrong with it. It's rock solid. The development is very fast. If you know what you're doing, you can develop something very easy and very fast.” - Rohit S., Integration Lead at a wellness & fitness company

    “One of the most important features is that it gives you the possibility to do low-level integration. We can meet any requirements through customizations, transformations, or the logic that needs to be put in. When clients come to me with any problem, in about 99% of cases, I say, "Yes, it is feasible to do through webMethods." It has reached such a level of flexibility and maturity. Most of the things are available out of the box, and even if something is not available out of the box, we can customize it and deliver it for a client's requirements.” - Sushant D., IT specialist at Accenture

    Sample Customers
    University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, LexisNexis, Rabobank
    Fujitsu, Coca Cola, ING, Credit Suisse, Electrolux, GTA, CosmosDirekt
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company22%
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Retailer7%
    Insurance Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm18%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Insurance Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company28%
    Manufacturing Company18%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm16%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Retailer7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise74%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise74%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise70%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise69%
    Buyer's Guide
    Informatica PowerCenter vs. webMethods Integration Server
    July 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about Informatica PowerCenter vs. webMethods Integration Server and other solutions. Updated: July 2023.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Informatica PowerCenter is ranked 3rd in Data Integration with 78 reviews while webMethods Integration Server is ranked 3rd in ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) with 60 reviews. Informatica PowerCenter is rated 8.0, while webMethods Integration Server is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Informatica PowerCenter writes "Stable, provides good support, and integrating it with other systems is very fast, but its pricing is expensive". On the other hand, the top reviewer of webMethods Integration Server writes "Event-driven with lots of helpful formats, but minimal learning resources available". Informatica PowerCenter is most compared with Informatica Cloud Data Integration, Azure Data Factory, SSIS, Databricks and AWS Glue, whereas webMethods Integration Server is most compared with webMethods.io Integration, IBM Integration Bus, Mule ESB and TIBCO BusinessWorks. See our Informatica PowerCenter vs. webMethods Integration Server report.

    We monitor all Data Integration reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.