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Denodo vs FME 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Denodo
Ranking in Data Integration
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Data Virtualization (1st), Cloud Data Integration (6th), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (3rd), AI Data Analysis (3rd)
FME
Ranking in Data Integration
28th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of Denodo is 1.4%, down from 1.7% 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
ProductMarket Share (%)
Denodo1.4%
FME1.3%
Other97.3%
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

Douglas Camargo - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Backend Engineer at a pharma/biotech company with 51-200 employees
Has simplified multi-database querying and accelerated solution delivery with minimal setup
Denodo offers a great query language, the VQL, which was very easy to understand for someone that only knows SQL. It was easy to work with, and it was easy to integrate various types of databases in general. The usability of the platform is very great. The federated queries were also a feature that I used a lot. The easy usability of Denodo helped my work and made things easier for productivity. We were able to ship code faster than if we needed to use another type of data visualization tool or even an ETL. When we have multiple databases, the standard or common approach is just to have an ETL that matches the data, and we need to write this whole ETL. With Denodo, we can simplify this whole work to a few queries or setups in the databases and just make a few queries. This was actually easier, and it was faster to deliver a solution for a client instead of building a whole ETL pipeline or simply backfilling one database in another. Denodo simplifies your work and helps you ship code or ship solutions in a faster way. I really like the UI that Denodo has on the web app version. It was very simple and actually very beautiful to see. For a complicated program, it was very easy to understand how it works, even for someone who is just approaching the data engineering career or side of the programming language.
Gert Booysen - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature in Denodo is data virtualization."
"In PL/SQL, first you need to gather all the data and then start writing the file, but in Denodo you fetch the data and write the data simultaneously. So, for example, if you have 1 million or 2 million records, you don't have to wait to fetch all of the 2 million; you can keep on fetching and writing in the file simultaneously."
"The most valuable feature of Denodo is its uniformity of self-site data access types, which allows it to connect to almost any storage technology and feed it transparently."
"Access to numerous forums and internet information."
"The logical data warehouse functionality is fantastic. It truly stands out. The ClearOptimizer and Virtual Cache are great features. They work together seamlessly to optimize performance."
"The most valuable features are data lineage and the concept of a semantic layer."
"The most valuable aspects of this solution are the short time frame in which you can deliver and connect."
"Denodo is very stable."
"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."
"FME is spatially aware and understands how to deal with the conversion of spatial objects and their attributes."
"From my reseller perspective, the best features in FME are the ease of operation and the fact that it works."
"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."
"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."
"It has standard plug-ins available for different data sources."
"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."
 

Cons

"In cases where there are multiple virtualizations—such as reading from one Denodo view that is virtualized, and from that view there's also virtualization, and another team is reading from that view—if multiple virtualizations happen with no caching in between, it becomes slow."
"Documentation needs to be improved"
"They need to invest more in the optimization engine. It will be a fantastic tool for them to enhance automation and improve the GUI interface, especially for Integration, as some tools are still not fully integrated, such as Iceberg."
"User-specific security at the column and row levels needs to be improved. Instead of applying security at every individual level, it would be better if it were at the group or tier level. It will save a lot of time."
"While AI and ML integration is present, understanding its implementation better could be beneficial."
"It would be beneficial to make sure that the team that will be using Denodo has some kind of training on how to use the product at least a month beforehand, and there could even be some kind of feedback or Q&A sessions to go along with the training. If Denodo were able to provide this kind of training, it would be very helpful to users in insurance and banking companies because the staff are typically older and not always technically-minded."
"There have been some issues when you are at a table. Currently, Denodo exports data sets for a tabular model. When you are finished modeling your database or data warehouse they export a link to be used in Tableau. They should support other tools like Power BI."
"There are a couple of areas that can be improved in Denodo. From a stability point of view, sometimes we see issues in the data management functionality. This only happens now and then, however, and usually takes place when we add in our own customization."
"FME's price needs improvement for the African market."
"To get a higher rating, it would have to improve the price and the associated scalability. These are the main issues."
"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."
"We are looking at the possibility of using Glue instead of FME, using the native AWS product."
"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

"I am not super familiar with the pricing, but so far, it seems good. We have been happy. We haven't seen any problems. The only time we had to pay extra was during the upgrade. We didn't upgrade at the time they told us to upgrade, and we had to pay extra to keep the service. They had stopped the support for the older version and moved to the newer version. It was not their fault. It was our fault because we didn't get on board quickly."
"The pricing is pretty good, and I would rate it at four out of five."
"I don't know the actual cost, but it's tens of thousands of dollars per month."
"Denodo provides a lightweight 30-day free trial, but when we do courses on top of it, it costs $150 for each person."
"The licensing should be improved, as the cost per connector is quite expensive."
"Depending on the size of the client you want to work with, it can be prohibitively expensive at times."
"The licensing charges for this solution are payable annually."
"The cost for Denodo is in line with other similar products."
"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
23%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
7%
Government
32%
Energy/Utilities Company
13%
Computer Software Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

Does Denodo provide useful data virtualization education? Is it useful to attend their training?
If you are a Denodo user, it makes sense to undergo their training. Different types of professionals can benefit from it, including administrators, developers, and architects. If you are keen on i...
In experience, what might Denodo be lacking or need improvement on?
I like Denodo a lot. It offers quick and easy web service deployment within minutes. There are not any flaws that I think make the product less good or effective. The only thing I can point out is...
Which industries can benefit from Denodo the most?
Denodo is suitable for pretty much all sectors that deal with: Big data Cloud solutions Data governance Logical data fabric Master data management In my opinion, organizations in different fields...
What needs improvement with FME?
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 mod...
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...
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.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Autodesk, VHA, AAA, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Caterpillar, European Chemical Agency, Seagate, Nationwide, Time Warner Cable, Pantex, Inditex, BNSF Railways, Vodafone, CIT Group, Jazztel, Wolters Kluwer, Telefonica, TransAlta
Shell, US Department of Commerce, PG&E, BC Hydro, City of Vancouver, Enel, Iowa DoT, San Antonio Water System
Find out what your peers are saying about Denodo vs. FME and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.