Azure Data Factory vs SAS Data Integration Server comparison

Microsoft and SAS are both solutions in the Data Integration category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.2, while SAS is ranked #37 with an average rating of 7.5. Microsoft holds a 7.4% mindshare in DI, compared to SAS’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of SAS users who would recommend it.

Azure Data Factory

Read 91 Azure Data Factory reviews

15,713 Views
10,999 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

SAS Data Integration Server

Read 4 SAS Data Integration Server reviews

773 Views
564 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Azure Data Factory

SAS Data Integration Server

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

SAS Data Integration Server and Azure Data Factory compete in the data integration space. Azure Data Factory appears to have the upper hand due to its cloud-native design and diverse features, offering superior value for tech buyers.

Features: SAS Data Integration Server offers robust enterprise-level transformation capabilities, extensive integration options with SAS products, and excels in traditional ETL processes. Azure Data Factory is recognized for seamless Azure service integration, large-scale orchestration abilities, and user-friendly cloud management. It provides dynamic data transformation and management for hybrid environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAS Data Integration Server requires significant infrastructure and expertise, resulting in potentially complex deployments. It provides comprehensive customer support for intricate data integrations. Azure Data Factory offers a cloud-based, scalable deployment model, simplifying setup with easy configuration and efficient customer support. Its deployment process is more streamlined, benefiting businesses with quicker turnaround times.

Pricing and ROI: SAS Data Integration Server involves higher setup costs due to infrastructure needs but can lead to strong ROI in stable enterprise environments that rely on SAS ecosystems. Azure Data Factory’s pay-as-you-go model offers flexibility and lower upfront costs, making it cost-effective for businesses needing cloud scalability. It caters to variable workloads and delivers better ROI for modern, adaptive data strategies.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Data Factory vs. SAS Data Integration Server Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Data Factory vs. SAS Data Integration Server

July 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

Azure Data Factory

Ranking in Data Integration

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Data Warehouse (2nd)

SAS Data Integration Server

Ranking in Data Integration

37th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of Azure Data Factory is 7.4%, down from 11.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAS Data Integration Server is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Integration

Featured Reviews

Joy Maitra

Sr. Technical Architect at Hexaware Technologies Limited

Facilitates seamless data pipeline creation with good analytics and and thorough monitoring

Azure Data Factory is a low code, no code platform, which is helpful. It provides many prebuilt functionalities that assist in building data pipelines. Also, it facilitates easy transformation with all required functionalities for analytics. Furthermore, it connects to different sources out-of-the-box, making integration much easier. The monitoring is very thorough, though a more readable version would be appreciable.

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reviewer2937544

Works at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Offloads processes on the server side but needs better installation syntax

One area for improvement is the installation process. Another point could be the syntax, as it sometimes involves using syntax names that are not intuitive. For example, to calculate the difference between two dates, the general syntax in SAS is called the data difference or data net function. However, another name is used, such as NF and INK. Without knowledge of SAS programming, it becomes unclear what these functions mean. It is not good to define function names this way.

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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

"The feature I found most helpful in Azure Data Factory is the pipeline feature, including being able to connect to different sources. Azure Data Factory also has built-in security, which is another valuable feature."

"One advantage of Azure Data Factory is that it's fast, unlike SSIS and other on-premise tools. It's also very convenient because it has multiple connectors. The availability of native connectors allows you to connect to several resources to analyze data streams."

"Azure Data Factory became more user-friendly when data-flows were introduced."

"I find that the solution integrates well with cloud technologies, which we are using for different clouds like Snowflake and AWS"

"Powerful but easy-to-use and intuitive."

"I like its integration with SQL pools, its ability to work with Databricks, its pipelines, and the serverless architecture are the most effective features."

"It has built-in connectors for more than 100 sources and onboarding data from many different sources to the cloud environment."

"From what we have seen so far, the solution seems very stable."

More Azure Data Factory pros

"A key feature allows us to enhance job performance by offloading processing to the server side, rather than processing on the server itself."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is its amazing capabilities in regard to data handling."

"A key feature allows us to enhance job performance by offloading processing to the server side, rather than processing on the server itself."

"The solution is very stable."

"The solution offers very good data manipulation and loading."

"A key feature allows us to enhance job performance by offloading processing to the server side, rather than processing on the server itself."

Cons

"This solution is currently only useful for basic data movement and file extractions, which we would like to see developed to handle more complex data transformations."

"For some of the data, there were some issues with data mapping. Some of the error messages were a little bit foggy. There could be more of a quick start guide or some inline examples. The documentation could be better."

"The solution needs to be more connectable to its own services."

"Azure Data Factory should be cheaper to move data to a data center abroad for calamities in case of disasters."

"There's no Oracle connector if you want to do transformation using data flow activity, so Azure Data Factory needs more connectors for data flow transformation."

"They require more detailed error reporting, data normalization tools, easier connectivity to other services, more data services, and greater compatibility with other commonly used schemas."

"It does not appear to be as rich as other ETL tools. It has very limited capabilities."

"When the record fails, it's tough to identify and log."

More Azure Data Factory cons

"The transform tool has limited access. They should make it more flexible."

"The initial setup had issues, and even after using it for about one year, it was still not fixed."

"One area for improvement is the installation process."

"The initial setup of SAS Data Integration Server was complex."

"So I would like to see improved integration with other software."

"The initial setup had issues, and even after using it for about one year, it was still not fixed."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing model is based on usage and is not cheap."

"My company is on a monthly subscription for Azure Data Factory, but it's more of a pay-as-you-go model where your monthly invoice depends on how many resources you use. On a scale of one to five, pricing for Azure Data Factory is a four. It's just the usage fees my company pays monthly."

"Our licensing fees are approximately 15,000 ($150 USD) per month."

"Pricing is comparable, it's somewhere in the middle."

"The solution's fees are based on a pay-per-minute use plus the amount of data required to process."

"In terms of licensing costs, we pay somewhere around S14,000 USD per month. There are some additional costs. For example, we would have to subscribe to some additional computing and for elasticity, but they are minimal."

"This is a cost-effective solution."

"The cost is based on the amount of data sets that we are ingesting."

More Azure Data Factory pricing and cost advice

"It is an expensive program."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

Government

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

How do you select the right cloud ETL tool?

AWS Glue and Azure Data factory for ELT best performance cloud services.

See all answers

How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica PowerCenter?

Azure Data Factory is flexible, modular, and works well. In terms of cost, it is not too pricey. It offers the stability and reliability I am looking for, good scalability, and is easy to set up an...

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How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica Cloud Data Integration?

Azure Data Factory is a solid product offering many transformation functions; It has pre-load and post-load transformations, allowing users to apply transformations either in code by using Power Q...

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What do you like most about SAS Data Integration Server?

The most valuable feature of the solution is its amazing capabilities in regard to data handling.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAS Data Integration Server?

I don't handle the cost and budget part. From the tool's perspective, I can say that it is an amazing product.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAS Data Integration Server?

See all answers

Comparisons

Snowflake vs Azure Data Factory

Compared 9% of the time

Informatica PowerCenter vs Azure Data Factory

Compared 7% of the time

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs Azure Data Factory

Compared 5% of the time

Alteryx Designer vs Azure Data Factory

Compared 5% of the time

Palantir Foundry vs Azure Data Factory

Compared 5% of the time

More Azure Data Factory Competitors

SSIS vs SAS Data Integration Server

Compared 33% of the time

Palantir Foundry vs SAS Data Integration Server

Compared 17% of the time

Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) vs SAS Data Integration Server

Compared 15% of the time

AWS Glue vs SAS Data Integration Server

Compared 13% of the time

More SAS Data Integration Server Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Data Factory

August 2025

Download Azure Data Factory product report

Buyer's Guide

Data Integration

August 2025

Download SAS Data Integration Server product report

Also Known As

No data available

SAS Enterprise Data Integration Server, Enterprise Data Integration Server

Overview

Azure Data Factory efficiently manages and integrates data from various sources, enabling seamless movement and transformation across platforms. Its valuable features include seamless integration with Azure services, handling large data volumes, flexible transformation, user-friendly interface, extensive connectors, and scalability. Users have experienced improved team performance, workflow simplification, enhanced collaboration, streamlined processes, and boosted productivity.

Microsoft

SAS Data Integration Server is a powerful, configurable and comprehensive solution that can meet a wide variety of data integration requirements, from small tactical projects to strategic business initiatives. It can access virtually all data sources, support data warehousing, migration, synchronization, federation and provisioning initiatives. It can support both batch-oriented and real-time master data management solutions. It can create reusable data integration services in support of service-oriented architectures and data governance and extract, cleanse, transform, conform, aggregate, load and manage data.

SAS

Sample Customers

1. Adobe 2. BMW 3. Coca-Cola 4. General Electric 5. Johnson & Johnson 6. LinkedIn 7. Mastercard 8. Nestle 9. Pfizer 10. Samsung 11. Siemens 12. Toyota 13. Unilever 14. Verizon 15. Walmart 16. Accenture 17. American Express 18. AT&T 19. Bank of America 20. Cisco 21. Deloitte 22. ExxonMobil 23. Ford 24. General Motors 25. IBM 26. JPMorgan Chase 27. Microsoft (Azure Data Factory is developed by Microsoft) 28. Oracle 29. Procter & Gamble 30. Salesforce 31. Shell 32. Visa

Credit Guarantee Corporation, Cr_dito y Cauci‹n, Delaware State Police, Deutsche Lufthansa, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, DSM, Livzon Pharmaceutical Group, Los Angeles County, Miami Herald Media Company, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, New Zealand Ministry of Health, Nippon Paper, West Midlands Police, XS Inc., Zenith Insurance

Buyer's Guide

Azure Data Factory vs. SAS Data Integration Server

July 2025

Free Report: Azure Data Factory vs. SAS Data Integration Server

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