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Microsoft MDS vs Reltio Cloud 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 MDS
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Master Data Management (MDM) Software (4th)
Reltio Cloud
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) (2nd), AI Data Analysis (4th), AI Customer Experience Personalization (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Data Integration and Access solutions, they serve different purposes. Microsoft MDS is designed for Master Data Management (MDM) Software and holds a mindshare of 6.9%, down 11.5% compared to last year.
Reltio Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on Cloud Master Data Management (MDM), holds 12.5% mindshare, down 16.1% since last year.
Master Data Management (MDM) Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft MDS6.9%
Semarchy xDM11.1%
SAP Master Data Governance9.4%
Other72.6%
Master Data Management (MDM) Software
Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Reltio Cloud12.5%
Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC)19.8%
Semarchy xDM13.9%
Other53.800000000000004%
Cloud Master Data Management (MDM)
 

Featured Reviews

AB
Senior Data Engineer at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Outdated capabilities hinder data mapping efficiency but facilitate cost-free data standardization
Microsoft MDS is outdated and lacks modern capabilities. It is too slow and does not support automated mapping or AI-based functionalities. Although I created Python scripts for some machine learning libraries, we seek tools that offer AI-enabled automated mapping without custom coding. Microsoft support for MDS is also going away.
AG
Human Resources Head at AN INFOSYSTEMS BV
Consulting team maximizes cloud features while seeking workflow improvements
We are quite satisfied with the solution. The only issue we face is with the workflow feature. Every time we need to deploy our workflows, we must contact the Reltio Support Center. We have to rely on their availability and write to them to receive the required JAR files. They are slow to respond to these requests.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Technical support is very good."
"Unlike specialized tools, MDS is adaptable for various industries, making it a versatile choice for master data management."
"The most valuable feature is the administration console."
"It's very easy to use."
"Enables non-technical people to directly interact with the BI system."
"It has been a long-standing tool in our organization since it was free."
"The tool is easy to use."
"The ease of use is valuable."
"The most valuable feature of Reltio Cloud is the customization we can make in its functionality."
"There are default limitations and considerations. For instance, Reltio can store a maximum of 200 values for a single attribute. If your data exceeds this limit, you can request Reltio support to increase the limit. However, be aware that increasing this limit may impact performance, potentially slowing down data loading times."
"The most valuable feature is real-time synchronization. You can see the events as soon as they are posted within a couple of fraction seconds."
"The cloud feature is very beneficial, and the scalability performance feature is excellent."
"Its user interface is different from that of other MDM solutions like Informatica"
"The survivorship feature is great because we can define it, prioritize the sources, and only allow those sources to survive when making the golden record."
"Reltio Cloud has positively impacted my organization because we were able to promote our data and sell data to our customers."
"We can store the data and enrich it from multiple sources."
 

Cons

"The only drawback is that it does not have the matching, merging, and all true MDM components. For these, you have to use another competent called Data Quality Services (DQS). You need to plug it in and use it along with MDS for true MDM. Both of these are integrated together, but you have to do them separately, whereas, in Profisee, there are a couple of screens where you can configure the matching process, create matching rules, and other things, and everything is in one product, which is not the case with MDS. In order to implement a true MDM, you need MDS, DQS, and SSIS. You have to use MDS to store your golden records, DQS to configure and standardize all your rules and matching percentages, and SSIS to load the data to DQS and MDS. At the same time, you also need Melissa Data to clean up your addresses to validate and standardize the addresses. That's the main component of true MDM. It would be good if they can create a true matching component inside MDS and merge MDS and DQS."
"JMD repositories have records that come in thousands and millions, which takes a long time to process."
"Microsoft MDS isn't getting strong support because Microsoft is focusing more on cloud solutions."
"If Microsoft MDS were part of Azure, it would be significantly more helpful."
"More generic related things can be included in the services."
"Most of the Microsoft partners, especially digitally, are separate. Personnel are business people, and they do not have technical expertise, so you end up as a company spending a lot of money training your staff and your engineers."
"Stability can be fragile at times. If you are not attentive or make a mistake, it can cause problems."
"Microsoft MDS' language should be simple so everyone can use it easily."
"There is some lag in developing new features for specific business requirements. If a new feature is needed, we have to raise a request in the developer portal through the IDEA portal. This process takes time to develop, which can be a drawback when immediate business needs arise."
"Initially, the UI was limited in features."
"The solution's UI could be enhanced, and its record filtering could be expanded."
"The download process can be quite slow"
"AI features should be introduced in Reltio more."
"Reltio Cloud can be improved by providing the possibility to connect with other connectors and databases such as Snowflake, Databricks, and eventually with Azure Data Factory."
"The support team is slow to respond when we need assistance with workflow deployments. We must rely on their availability and contact them to receive the required JAR files."
"Sometimes, the service goes down for maintenance or when we run a lot of jobs so things get pushed to the queue and results don't get delivered on time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would like to see better pricing."
"The pricing of this solution is good."
"SAP is more expensive than Microsoft."
"Product licensing is very complicated. It would be helpful to have an online calculator to estimate the cost of a license."
"The solution does require a license and we have enterprise licenses."
"With Microsoft, we buy everything though an agreement, so we purchase volume licensing every year."
"MDS is a part of the SQL Server enterprise license. I am not aware of any additional costs."
"Microsoft MDS is an expensive solution."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Media Company
8%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What needs improvement with Reltio Cloud?
We are quite satisfied with the solution. The only issue we face is with the workflow feature. Every time we need to deploy our workflows, we must contact the Reltio Support Center. We have to rely...
What is your primary use case for Reltio Cloud?
We are currently using Reltio Cloud. We are consultants based in Europe, and we are using it for ourselves and our clients.
What advice do you have for others considering Reltio Cloud?
Our team consists of 35 plus members spread across India, Vietnam, and Portugal in Europe. The solution runs on AWS Cloud and is a well-known platform. TIBCO EBX has suffered some losses last year....
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Master Data Services, Microsoft MDM, Microsoft SQL Server Master Data Services, MS MDS
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
iMiDiA, Slalom, MeritDirect, Cognizant
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP, TIBCO, Qlik and others in Master Data Management (MDM) Software. Updated: February 2026.
882,637 professionals have used our research since 2012.