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Microsoft Analytics Platform System vs Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics 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

Microsoft Analytics Platfor...
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (20th)
Microsoft Azure Synapse Ana...
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
98
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (7th)
 

Featured Reviews

MahmoudMohamed1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Data Engineer at Tatweer Educational Technologies Company - TETCO
Offers smooth data integration between systems, but requires better real-time analytics capabilities
We leverage its capabilities for many applications. We can integrate with our databases, like Oracle, MySQL, or any other, using Microsoft Integration Services. This lets us continue using private databases without paying additional licensing fees. Additionally, the license includes Analytics services and Power BI, which work on-premises, unlike most other technologies that require cloud solutions.
AnandTiwari - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at New Turn Technologies
Has consistently supported integration across diverse environments and streamlined deployment processes
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics could improve their pricing structure. They currently have two separate pricing tiers: full log and partial log. I suggest they implement a single price and reduce charges on logs. They could implement a cap with some free tier or price tier based on the GBs of log collected. This would help customers use Azure more effectively. Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is an excellent product because it includes both SIEM and orchestration capabilities with playbooks, but the log management part is very costly. Regarding future improvements, I would appreciate more application connectors for integration, particularly for on-premise based solutions. Many customers still maintain on-premise infrastructure, so having more integration possibilities for these environments would be beneficial.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like that it's integrated with other Azure products."
"The result is a highly flexible, affordable, and scalable platform that makes large-scale Hub and Spoke EDW architectures a practical reality."
"This solution will connect to any database, you can combine databases, and you can create a cube or tabular model."
"Helps our customers to discover trends, which provides useful information based on their business."
"This solution will connect to any database, you can combine databases, and you can create a cube or tabular model."
"Microsoft Analytics Platform System's most valuable feature is its ecosystems and seamless integration with other Microsoft reporting platforms and databases."
"I like that it's integrated with other Azure products."
"I think Microsoft Stack offers the end-to-end solution I need."
"The product is easy to use, and anybody can easily migrate to advanced DB."
"Technical support is okay in terms of the help they provide."
"We've had a good experience with technical support in general."
"Microsoft provides both the platform and the data center, so you don't have to look for a cloud vendor. It saves you from having to deal with two vendors for the same task."
"I like the solution because it's very interactive and provides flexibility, and it also provides a lot of design choices."
"Microsoft Azure uses the Massively Parallel Processing concept for data warehousing, the speed is great and the architecture is excellent."
"The core strength of Microsoft technologies is ease of use and administration, regardless of the type of product."
"It is a highly stable solution and it's easy to use."
 

Cons

"However, centralized EDW tends to be extremely expensive and very inflexible."
"The pricing model needs to be improved."
"The flexibility of this solution needs to be improved because you cannot make changes at every one of the different steps."
"Releases of new products and functionality is never accompanied by associated documentation, training and resources that adequately explain the release."
"In general, I am not really very satisfied with the tutorials that are out there."
"​Hybrid environments are complex to manage."
"Microsoft Analytics Platform System could have better support."
"The trouble is Microsoft has changed their licensing. It's an extremely expensive product now."
"Synapse Analytics' performance slows down if you don't get your distribution right because it gets queued and goes into a single node."
"Microsoft should develop an interface to make it easier to shift from on-premise to the cloud."
"For improvement, I would like to see more connectors and better integration for Hadoop."
"Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics could improve the section in the solution where you can implement the Python Spark pipelines, it's not the same as in Databricks which would be better."
"We'd, of course, always like to pay less for the service if we can."
"The product could be more feature-rich."
"Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics could improve its compatibility with Visual Studio. One of the challenges for people moving from an on-premise to a cloud solution, such as Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics, is that you're constantly working in a browser. There are people that have been working for decades on desktop applications. For them to start working in a browser, it's quite a change. Allowing people to work and do their work inside Visual Studio than in the browser, would be a large advantage."
"Unfortunately, we have had some issues with the dashboard reporting. Sometimes, the data for specific periods would just appear blank on the dashboard. To investigate this, we worked with a Microsoft incident agent and it turned out to be a result of bugs in the platform when dealing with specific types of queries in Azure Data Factory."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate Microsoft Analytics Platform System a seven out of ten for pricing."
"The initial price is lower than Oracle, but extensive use of SQL may lead to a higher total cost of ownership."
"Users have to pay extra for premium-level technical support."
"We are currently paying $200,000 a year for all the different parts of the suite during an ingest model Microsoft now charges us $700,000 a year."
"The cost of the licensing depends on the size of the warehouse, where the cost of storage is approximately $130 USD per terabyte."
"My company pays for the license and I am not sure about the price."
"The price of this solution could be improved."
"Its price could be better. It was a school project, and I got it for free. If I try to pay through my company, it is a little bit more expensive as compared to Oracle."
"The pricing is okay. You can pay as you go."
"Pay for what you use"
"This is an expensive solution."
"The solution is very expensive because it often requires the purchase of additional storage."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise58
 

Questions from the Community

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How does Amazon Redshift compare with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?
Amazon Redshift is very fast, has a very good response time, and is very user-friendly. The initial setup is very straightforward. This solution can merge and integrate well with many different dat...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?
The product is easy to use, and anybody can easily migrate to advanced DB.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?
I think the licensing cost for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is very high, but I have a local system to support that, so I don't consider that in the near future.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft APS, MS Analytics Platform System
Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Microsoft Azure SQL DW, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, MS Azure Synapse Analytics
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Transport for London, E-Plus Mobilfunk GmbH & Co. KG, Prometeia, Tangerine, SSM Health Care, Service Corporation International
Toshiba, Carnival, LG Electronics, Jet.com, Adobe, 
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Analytics Platform System vs. Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics and other solutions. Updated: May 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.