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

Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics vs SAP Data Services comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

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
7.9
Pentaho offers cost-effective integration, reducing ETL time, lowering expenses, and enhancing competitiveness with open-source flexibility and efficiency.
Sentiment score
7.2
SAP Data Services provides high returns, cost savings, efficiency, and satisfaction, despite challenges in directly quantifying ROI benefits.
SAP is indeed good at all this now, with so many components such as SAP Signavio, SAP EINS, SAP Work Zone, SAP ALM, Cloud ALM, SAP public cloud, SAP private cloud, and BTP, all of which are essential to meet the latest cutting-edge technologies.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.2
Users rely on community support over customer service due to mixed experiences, despite responsive technical support and Hitachi's involvement.
Sentiment score
6.6
SAP Data Services support receives mixed reviews, praised for expert help but criticized for slow, complex processes and prioritization issues.
Communication with the vendor is challenging
If you keep a high priority issue, such as a production impact, they certainly come and address it in no time.
Unlike level one where they basically search for the notes and provide responses, level two and level three are much better.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Pentaho excels in scalability and efficient data handling but faces challenges with exceptionally large data and complex growth scenarios.
Sentiment score
7.6
SAP Data Services excels in scalability, accommodating expansion and multi-server use, praised for flexibility and enterprise suitability.
Pentaho Data Integration handles larger datasets better.
If I were to rate it from one to 10, I would say it has a nine to 10 for scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Pentaho Data Integration offers reliability for small to midsize operations but may lag and freeze with complex uses.
Sentiment score
7.6
SAP Data Services is considered stable with occasional issues, mostly due to configurations, earning an average rating of eight.
It's pretty stable, however, it struggles when dealing with smaller amounts of data.
 

Room For Improvement

Pentaho needs improvements in big data performance, error handling, UI, scheduling, backward compatibility, cloud integration, and Python support.
SAP Data Services needs improvements in user management, integration, usability, compatibility, and advanced features like AI and machine learning.
Pentaho Data Integration is very friendly, it is not very useful when there isn't a lot of data to handle.
Now, they are coming up with many pricing options, which is tricky; they offer one thing for free, but charge for nine others.
The documentation is not up to the mark.
 

Setup Cost

Pentaho offers a cost-effective solution with its free Community Edition and affordable subscription-based Enterprise Edition for varying needs.
SAP Data Services is costlier, favoring large enterprises, but recent pricing adjustments may offer better cost-effectiveness compared to competitors.
 

Valuable Features

Pentaho provides an intuitive, open-source platform for efficient ETL development and data integration with minimal coding and broad compatibility.
SAP Data Services offers migration, integration, scalability, and user-friendly ETL tools with strong data quality, connectivity, and trackability features.
It's easy to use and friendly, especially for larger data sets.
SAP is indeed good at all this now, with so many components such as SAP Signavio, SAP EINS, SAP Work Zone, SAP ALM, Cloud ALM, SAP public cloud, SAP private cloud, and BTP, all of which are essential to meet the latest cutting-edge technologies.
SAP Data Services is mainly used for extraction of data, and it works with all databases.
 

Categories and Ranking

Pentaho Data Integration an...
Ranking in Data Integration
19th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP Data Services
Ranking in Data Integration
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
Data Quality (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics is 1.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Data Services is 2.3%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

Aqeel UR Rehman - PeerSpot reviewer
Transform data efficiently with rich features but there's challenges with large datasets
Currently, I am using Pentaho Data Integration for transforming data and then loading it into different platforms. Sometimes, I use it in conjunction with AWS, particularly S3 and Redshift, to execute the copy command for data processing Pentaho Data Integration is easy to use, especially when…
Ramesh Pampana - PeerSpot reviewer
Has consistently provided impressive data handling capabilities and robust security features
Some of the most valuable features of SAP Data Services ( /products/sap-data-services-reviews ) include data extraction where SAP is the best in that perspective, but when it comes to analytics or the reporting tool, I prefer to connect with Microsoft Power BI ( /products/microsoft-power-bi-reviews ), which is a fantastic tool. Typically, from an end-user perspective, SAP has a huge amount of data, in terms of terabytes of data, but when you analyze that, the best form of visualization is always through Microsoft Power BI ( /products/microsoft-power-bi-reviews ). SAP Data Services provides a best-in-class return on investment, as SAP's vision and forecast are absolutely amazing. They are ahead of technology, building an ecosystem that meets the standards of the fast-changing digital economy. SAP is indeed good at all this now, with so many components such as SAP Signavio, SAP EINS, SAP Work Zone, SAP ALM ( /categories/application-lifecycle-management-alm-suites ), Cloud ALM ( /categories/application-lifecycle-management-alm-suites ), SAP public cloud, SAP private cloud, and BTP, all of which are essential to meet the latest cutting-edge technologies.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Integration solutions are best for your needs.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which ETL tool would you recommend to populate data from OLTP to OLAP?
Hi Rajneesh, yes here is the feature comparison between the community and enterprise edition : https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/pdf/brochure/leverage-open-source-benefits-with-assurance-of-hita...
What do you think can be improved with Hitachi Lumada Data Integrations?
In my opinion, the reporting side of this tool needs serious improvements. In my previous company, we worked with Hitachi Lumada Data Integration and while it does a good job for what it’s worth, ...
What do you use Hitachi Lumada Data Integrations for most frequently?
My company has used this product to transform data from databases, CSV files, and flat files. It really does a good job. We were most satisfied with the results in terms of how many people could us...
How do you evaluate the ratio of price to quality for SAP Data Services?
I believe the license for the product is fair, even though some competitors offer similar services at lower prices. The difference between the Edge edition and the next one up is significant in pr...
Would you recommend SAP Data Services to complete beginners?
I think after some preparation, a beginner will be able to use SAP Data Services, however, if you are completely unprepared, you may have some issues. I think that in particular you will need a mo...
How has SAP Data Services helped your organization?
SAP Data Services has helped our whole staff understand the data across various sources and systems within the company. Not everyone who works at my organization is an IT expert - most just have av...
 

Also Known As

Hitachi Lumada Data Integration, Kettle, Pentaho Data Integration
SAP BusinessObjects Data Services, SAP BusinessObjects Data Integrator, BusinessObjects Data Integrator
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

66Controls, Providential Revenue Agency of Ro Negro, NOAA Information Systems, Swiss Real Estate Institute
EMC Corporation, LivePerson, Eldorado, Mozzart, The VELUX Group, AOK Bundesverband, Hilti Group, Nissha Printing Company Ltd., Asian Paints, Aareal Bank Group, Migros Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics vs. SAP Data Services and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.