Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics vs Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics offers cost savings, simplified management, and flexible serverless options, enhancing overall returns and efficiency.
Sentiment score
5.7
Most are satisfied with ROI, acknowledging its benefits, though improvements are possible, as it efficiently enhances backend operations.
Some of my customers have indeed seen a return on investment with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics as they used it for analytics to drive decision-making, improving their processes or increasing revenue.
Data Strategist, Cloud Solutions Architect at Strategic Architects
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Opinions on Azure Synapse Analytics support vary, with mixed feedback on responsiveness, expertise, and communication, yet documentation is praised.
Sentiment score
6.7
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse support is responsive and expert, though users sometimes need online resources for faster solutions.
They are slow to respond and not very knowledgeable.
IT Manager at KONGSBERG
This is an underestimation of the real impact because we use big data also to monitor the network and the customer.
Director Information Technology Services at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
I would rate the support for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics as an eight out of ten.
Data Strategist, Cloud Solutions Architect at Strategic Architects
I would rate my experience with technical support around six on a scale of 1 to 10 because I have not had a particular experience with technical support.
CEO at Smart Data-Driven Solutions
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is praised for seamless scalability and adaptability, despite some complex data challenges, across industries.
Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse excels in scalability, integration, and expandability, though improvements are needed for large data sets.
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is scalable, offering numerous opportunities for scalability.
IT Manager at KONGSBERG
For the scalability of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics, I would rate it a 10 until you remain in the Azure Cloud scalability framework.
Director Information Technology Services at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Recovering from such scenarios becomes a bit problematic or time-consuming.
Sr. Technical Architect at Hexaware Technologies Limited
I give the scalability an eight out of ten, indicating it scales well for our needs.
Architecture at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
As a consultant, we hire additional programmers when we need to scale up certain major projects.
Associate Director at Sequentis
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is praised for stability and performance, with users rating it highly despite minor glitches.
Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is praised for its stability, reliability, and quick issue resolution, despite time-consuming extensive dataset processing.
Performance and stability are absolutely fine because Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is a PaaS service.
CTO at New Turn Technologies
I find the service stable as I have not encountered many issues.
IT Manager at KONGSBERG
We have never integrated Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics with Databricks, but we have mostly pulled data from on-premises systems into Azure Databricks.
Practice Head BI at Nous Infosystems
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is stable for us because it is built on SQL Server.
Architecture at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Users want improved Azure Synapse integration, ease of use, scalability, documentation, security, IoT support, and better monitoring.
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse presents complexity, compatibility challenges, performance issues, high costs, and requires improved in-memory analysis and updates.
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is an excellent product because it includes both SIEM and orchestration capabilities with playbooks.
CTO at New Turn Technologies
There is a need for better documentation, particularly for customized tasks with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics.
IT Manager at KONGSBERG
Databricks is a very rich solution, with numerous open sources and capabilities in terms of extract, transform, load, database query, and so forth.
Director Information Technology Services at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
It would be better to release patches less frequently, maybe once a month or once every two months.
Associate Director at Sequentis
Addressing the cost would be the number one area for improvement.
CEO at Smart Data-Driven Solutions
When there are many users or many expensive queries, it can be very slow.
Computer engineer at a engineering company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Azure Synapse Analytics offers variable pricing, starting from €1,000, influenced by usage, compute power, and storage consumption.
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse's pricing varies by needs; Azure integration can be cost-effective, but technical support costs extra.
The cheapest tier costs about $4,000 to $4,700 a year, while the most expensive tier can reach up to $300,000 a year.
Data Strategist, Cloud Solutions Architect at Strategic Architects
I think the price of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is very expensive, but that's not only for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics—it's for the cloud in general.
Director Information Technology Services at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
I find the pricing of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics reasonable.
Sr. Technical Architect at Hexaware Technologies Limited
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is very expensive.
Architecture at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics offers scalable data processing, seamless integration, and cost-efficient analytics in a user-friendly environment.
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse offers performance, integration, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness for large data management and business intelligence.
One of the most valuable features in Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is the ability to write your own ETL code using Azure Data Factory, which is a component within Synapse.
Data Strategist, Cloud Solutions Architect at Strategic Architects
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics offers significant visibility, which helps us understand our usage more clearly.
IT Manager at KONGSBERG
For Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics, the integration is the most valuable feature, meaning that whatever you need is fast and easy to use.
Director Information Technology Services at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
The columnstore index enhances data query performance by using less space and achieving faster performance than general indexing.
BI/Data Warehouse Analyst at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is used in the logistics area for optimizing SQL queries related to the loading and unloading of trucks.
Architecture at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
There's a feature that allows users to set alerts on triggers within reports, enabling timely actions on pending applications and effectively reducing waiting time.
Associate Director at Sequentis
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Azure Synapse Ana...
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
97
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (6th)
Microsoft Parallel Data War...
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (11th)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
HassanFatemi - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at Smart Data-Driven Solutions
Has handled large volumes of data effectively but still needs cost flexibility
There could be improvements on the cost side of Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse because it is still considered to be quite expensive by a lot of users, and many companies are not interested in solutions with parallel data warehousing due to this expense. Addressing the cost would be the number one area for improvement. Additionally, I have not worked recently with it, so I don't know if this feature already exists, but if it doesn't, having an elastic feature that adjusts the service's power dynamically based on the workload would be beneficial instead of fixing the power at a specific level.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Warehouse solutions are best for your needs.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
Computer Software Company
20%
Insurance Company
10%
Performing Arts
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise55
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

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 do you like most about Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse?
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse provides good firewall processing in terms of response time.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse?
There could be improvements on the cost side of Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse because it is still considered to be quite expensive by a lot of users, and many companies are not interested in so...
 

Also Known As

Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Microsoft Azure SQL DW, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, MS Azure Synapse Analytics
Microsoft PDW, SQL Server Data Warehouse, Microsoft SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse, MS Parallel Data Warehouse
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Toshiba, Carnival, LG Electronics, Jet.com, Adobe, 
Auckland Transport, Erste Bank Group, Urban Software Institute, NJVC, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Tata Steel Europe
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics vs. Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.