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SAP Data Services vs SAP Information Steward comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 6, 2025

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

SAP Data Services
Ranking in Data Quality
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (9th)
SAP Information Steward
Ranking in Data Quality
10th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Metadata Management (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Data Quality category, the mindshare of SAP Data Services is 13.9%, down from 14.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Information Steward is 3.2%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Quality
 

Featured Reviews

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.
FranciscoSantos - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides accurate data that is validated against a personalized reference tool
For most SAP customers, Information Steward is enough because it is able to build quality data rules to detect issues in the source systems like SAP HANA, Business Warehouse, or other systems. A business user can first organize their data into several data domains. For example, procurement, human resources, and logistics setup. The domains can build data quality dimensions where you can describe the kind of rule that you are going to use. The user then can immediately see if something is wrong with their data using traffic lights. Another great feature of SAP Information Steward is the accuracy that the content is followed by validating against the reference tool. With the solution, you are creating data quality dimensions. Within these dimensions, you are creating business data quality rules that are looking for specific fields. From these rules, you can create a scorecard. The scorecard will highlight the percentage of good data and ensure the user can feel confident that the data is accurate within predetermined limits. SAP tables have field names that are very cryptic, making them hard to understand the meaning of the fields. Metapedia helps describe these fields in business terms.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product's most valuable features are data validation and rules."
"I appreciate having access to the SAP data."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the scheduling part."
"Technical support from SAP is awesome. If we have an issue, they give a good solution."
"One of the most valuable features is that it is integrated."
"The most valuable feature is the ETL functionality."
"The BA reporting tools, such as Data Services, and ETL tool in SAP Data Services are the most valuable. When we had in-memory requirements, we used HANA. HANA is most preferably for most the customers for in-memory. SAP is the first company that created the in-memory concept."
"The basic functionality is quite good as is the basic logic and data information."
"Setup is straightforward."
"Data insight is the most valuable feature."
"Initial setup was straightforward."
"The most valuable features are data quality insight, metadata management, and metadata dictionary."
"The solution is very fast."
"Ability to collect information, monitor user access and to plan storage capacity."
"The Data Cleansing and the scorecard dashboard are very valuable. Additionally, the financial aspect of SAP Information Steward is very good. When a rule is incorrect then it will show how much is it costing the business. These features are very valuable."
"The scorecard will highlight the percentage of good data and ensure the user can feel confident that the data is accurate within predetermined limits."
 

Cons

"The initial setup is complex."
"Integration with other products could be improved."
"It would be nice if this solution was a bit easier to move from development to production."
"SAP Data Services should be made a web-based solution."
"Address validation in SAP Data Services is chargeable and should be made free."
"Regarding the pricing for SAP Data Services, I think it's on the higher side. Now, they are coming up with many pricing options, which is tricky; they offer one thing for free, but charge for nine others."
"Source code control is another headache. When your source code base gets too large, managing the source code becomes cumbersome."
"The solution could improve the overall features. There is a lot that can be done in the solution, therefor there are areas where it can improve. Additionally, there is a need to make it easier for one to create connections to other non-SAP systems. The flexibility to connect to other non-SAP systems is needed."
"Performance could be improved."
"The solution could improve by incorporating other applications, such as Power BI to show more visualization. More interaction with other solutions would be a good benefit."
"The user experience of metapedia could be improved."
"SAP Information Steward could be improved by offering a cloud version of the product."
"Granularity could be reduced from an application level to the object level."
"Needs to be more powerful on rules."
"We'd like to see some manipulation techniques included in SAP Information Steward."
"A problem with the solution is that it does not allow us to review the results of Information Stewards for other analogies."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a one time purchase fee plus annual maintenance."
"At the entry level, if you're using it only for data integration, it is a little bit cheap. However, for large organizations it can be expensive. There are additional costs apart from the license."
"The price is very reasonable."
"Its pricing is as per the enterprise agreement and not a concern for us."
"The enterprise version of SAP Data Services is free."
"The pricing is a little high to make the product more competetive in the marketplace."
"Pricing is good, there is no problem."
"I rate the product price as one or two on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"A bit pricey, and better tools are available for a lower price."
"SAP Information Steward is an expensive solution compared to others."
"I do not know if there were additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees."
"Smaller-sized organizations may not be able to invest in SAP Information Steward because of the cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
14%
Computer Software Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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Also Known As

SAP BusinessObjects Data Services, SAP BusinessObjects Data Integrator, BusinessObjects Data Integrator
Information Steward, SAP Data Insight
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

EMC Corporation, LivePerson, Eldorado, Mozzart, The VELUX Group, AOK Bundesverband, Hilti Group, Nissha Printing Company Ltd., Asian Paints, Aareal Bank Group, Migros Group
American Water, Graphic Packaging International, OSRAM Licht AG, Maxim Integrated
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP Data Services vs. SAP Information Steward and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.