Alteryx Designer vs FME comparison

Alteryx and Safe Software are both solutions in the Data Integration category. Alteryx is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.2, while Safe Software is ranked #26 with an average rating of 8.0. Alteryx holds a 1.5% mindshare in DI, compared to Safe Software’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Alteryx users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Safe Software users who would recommend it.

Alteryx Designer

Read 31 Alteryx Designer reviews

3,194 Views
2,970 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

FME

Read 7 FME reviews

2,569 Views
2,004 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Alteryx Designer

FME

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

FME and Alteryx Designer are competing in the data integration tools category. While FME leads in system integration and geospatial data processing, Alteryx Designer distinguishes itself with advanced analytics capabilities, making it worth the higher cost for users needing deep analytical insights.

Features: FME offers robust system integration, efficient geospatial data handling, and intuitive workflow automation. Alteryx Designer provides comprehensive analytics tools, complex data preparation, and predictive modeling.

Room for Improvement: FME could enhance its data transformation features and expand its analytics capabilities. It may also improve user interface intuitiveness. Alteryx Designer could lower its pricing to be more competitive, enhance deployment efficiency, and simplify advanced feature implementations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: FME is praised for straightforward deployment and strong integration support, ideal for technical teams with spatial data focus. Alteryx Designer offers a more user-friendly deployment and accessible support, appealing to a wider user base.

Pricing and ROI: FME offers a competitively priced setup with strong ROI in spatial data tasks. Alteryx Designer, although having a higher setup cost, justifies the investment with extensive analytics capabilities, providing significant long-term ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Alteryx Designer vs. FME Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Alteryx Designer vs. FME

December 2025

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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

Alteryx Designer

Ranking in Data Integration

16th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

FME

Ranking in Data Integration

26th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of Alteryx Designer is 1.5%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FME is 1.3%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Integration Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Alteryx Designer	1.5%
FME	1.3%
Other	97.2%

Data Integration

Featured Reviews

Prince Raju

Lead Data Analyst at Ernst & Young

Powerful tool for cleansing, formatting, and transforming data – especially unstructured files

When you open a raw Excel file, it can be hard to look at everything in detail. Alteryx makes it much easier to go through the data, summarize it, and use different tools for analysis. So, Alteryx Designer have significantly reduced the time I spend on data analysis tasks. Moreover, the drag-and-drop interface of Alteryx Designer improved our overall workflow.

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Gert Booysen

Software Solutions Leader at GE Vernova

Extensive format support and reliable integration enhance data management while new pricing model requires reassessment

I haven't had any input or requirements from any customers that are not currently covered, so I don't have any additional needs that were identified or raised to me. Regarding pricing, with the model changes that they've implemented a while back, it actually made it more expensive to use, especially on the server side. They changed the licensing model, and that made customers think it is overpriced. Some customers were actually looking at alternatives. Pricing with the model changes was perceived negatively. I work primarily with enterprise customers, Vodacom, Eskom, so it's tier-one customers. For small customers, this solution is a bit too expensive. They don't really use it and just do direct integration on smaller implementations. This is basically used by tier-one customers. FME is still able to save time and money for clients. It's still a good investment. Regarding similar products to FME, GE developed a product called Data Fabric. That is a real-time operational integration platform, Data Fabric Network Connect, which is a GE Grid OS product. It is actually more expensive than FME, but the purpose is different as it's operational. The vendor in this case is GE, and it's a company that we bought that used to be called Greenbird. In current use scenarios, FME is still leading compared to Data Fabric. The GE product has a different application.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Workflow automation, in general, is valuable."

"The features I found most valuable are the preparation features – the Join and the Transform."

"For my daily analytics needs, the entire Alteryx Designer platform is beneficial."

"I have been using Alteryx Designer only for data modeling and data structuring."

"The solution is user-friendly."

"The solution is easy to integrate and user-friendly."

"Alteryx Designer is easier to use for machine learning models. However, I am not very good at Python scripts which you will need to make the machine learning scripts."

"When you open a raw Excel file, it can be hard to look at everything in detail. Alteryx makes it much easier to go through the data, summarize it, and use different tools for analysis."

More Alteryx Designer pros

"The most valuable feature of FME is the graphical user interface. There is nothing better. It is very easy to debug because you can see all steps where there are failures. Overall the software is easy to optimize a process."

"We make minor subtle changes to the workbenches to improve it. We can share the workbenches. We don't have to use GitHub or anything else."

"From my reseller perspective, the best features in FME are the ease of operation and the fact that it works."

"All spatial features are unrivaled, and the possibility to execute them based on a scheduled trigger, manual, e-mail, Websocket, tweet, file/directory change or virtually any trigger is most valuable."

"It has standard plug-ins available for different data sources."

"FME is spatially aware and understands how to deal with the conversion of spatial objects and their attributes."

"It has a very friendly user interface. You don't need to use a lot of code. For us that's the most important aspect about it. Also, it has a lot of connectors and few forms. It has a strong facial aspect. It can do a lot of facial analysis."

Cons

"The only thing is sometimes it can be a bit slow."

"Alteryx Designer overall should be easier to use."

"It is challenging to view the data using Alteryx Designer."

"Alteryx could move faster to create a cloud equivalent of the desktop version of Designer."

"The major concern in Alteryx Designer stems from the high costs attached to the product."

"It would be simpler if they provided a component where you could simply enter some parameters and see the results."

"Alteryx Designer's pricing and support could be improved."

"I would like to be able to include small snippets of code inside of the solution. The tool has only drag-and-drop features to make it easy to use, but sometimes I feel like this makes it more complicated."

More Alteryx Designer cons

"We are looking at the possibility of using Glue instead of FME, using the native AWS product."

"To get a higher rating, it would have to improve the price and the associated scalability. These are the main issues."

"FME's price needs improvement for the African market."

"Improvements could be made to mapping presentations."

"The one thing that always appears in the community is the ability to make really easy loops to loop through data efficiently. That needs to be added at some point."

"FME can improve the geographical transformation. I've had some problems with the geographical transformations, but it's probably mostly because I'm not the most skilled geographer in-house. The solution requires some in-depth knowledge to perform some functions."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Alteryx Designer is a very expensive solution."

"The tool is priced high."

"I rate Alteryx Designer a six out of ten for pricing."

"The solution is expensive. It has license fees, which are renewable every year."

"I rate the price of Alteryx Designer a ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

"Alteryx Designer is an expensive solution."

"The product is a bit expensive, it should be looked into."

"The licenses are expensive, making it difficult to consider acquiring additional licenses to the existing ones."

More Alteryx Designer pricing and cost advice

"The product's price is reasonable."

"FME Server used to cost £10,000; now it can cost over £100,000."

"We used the standard licensing for our use of FME. The cost was approximately €15,000 annually. We always welcome less expensive solutions, if the solution could be less expensive it would be helpful."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Energy/Utilities Company

Government

32%

Energy/Utilities Company

13%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	17

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Alteryx Designer?

When you open a raw Excel file, it can be hard to look at everything in detail. Alteryx makes it much easier to go through the data, summarize it, and use different tools for analysis.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alteryx Designer?

It's cheaper than Palantir, but even Alteryx is too much for small clients. It is expensive, considering the server capabilities.

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What needs improvement with Alteryx Designer?

For smaller clients with ten to 15 employees, Alteryx can be expensive. The server capabilities are costly too. The technical support could also improve by being quicker in response times.

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What needs improvement with FME?

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What is your primary use case for FME?

The use cases for FME are mainly integration to the GE Smallworld product. GE Smallworld is a GE product, and we are using it to integrate with other third-party products into GE Smallworld and ADM...

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What advice do you have for others considering FME?

The overall rating for FME is eight out of ten, and I prefer the feedback to be anonymous. My job title is Senior Solutions Architect.

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Alteryx Designer

January 2026

Download Alteryx Designer product report

Buyer's Guide

FME

January 2026

Download FME product report

Overview

Information not available

Alteryx

FME is the data integration platform with the best support for spatial data. Run workflows on the desktop or deploy them in a server or cloud environment.

Safe Software

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Shell, US Department of Commerce, PG&E, BC Hydro, City of Vancouver, Enel, Iowa DoT, San Antonio Water System

Buyer's Guide

Alteryx Designer vs. FME

December 2025

Free Report: Alteryx Designer vs. FME

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