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FME vs SSIS comparison

Safe Software and Microsoft are both solutions in the Data Integration category. Safe Software is ranked #26 with an average rating of 8.7, while Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.8. Safe Software holds a 1.8% mindshare in DI, compared to Microsoft’s 7.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Safe Software users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 79% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.
FME
Read 5 FME reviews
  • 2,503 Views
  • 1,829 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
SSIS
Read 73 SSIS reviews
  • 12,026 Views
  • 8,992 Comparison Views
79% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

SSIS and FME are competing in the data integration tool category. FME appears to have the upper hand due to its advanced data transformation capabilities.

Features: SSIS offers seamless integration with Microsoft products, robust ETL capabilities, and user-friendly interface. FME supports extensive spatial data, handles a wide variety of data formats, and provides advanced data transformation features.

Room for Improvement: SSIS could improve in handling mixed environments, offering broader data format support, and simplifying its advanced features for new users. FME might enhance its affordability, extend its integration with Microsoft ecosystems, and streamline its interface for beginners.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SSIS benefits from easy deployment within Microsoft environments but may be complex in diverse settings. Its customer service includes traditional support options. FME demonstrates versatile deployment capabilities across various data environments and is known for excellent customer support with technical expertise.

Pricing and ROI: SSIS is budget-friendly, appealing to businesses using Microsoft technologies and providing a strong ROI. FME, despite its higher upfront costs, offers significant long-term value, particularly for organizations requiring advanced data transformation and spatial data management.

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To learn more, read our detailed FME vs. SSIS Report (Updated: February 2025).
Buyer's Guide
FME vs. SSIS
February 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

FME
Ranking in Data Integration
26th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SSIS
Ranking in Data Integration
4th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of FME is 1.8%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SSIS is 7.9%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

Alan Bloor - PeerSpot reviewer
Great for handling large volumes of data, but it is priced a bit high
When I do coding, I think about every single function. Some of these functions can be very elementary, like doing a substring or some capitalization. But FME removes all that coding because it's a transformer, so the time to develop an application to get to a point where you're producing results is decreased massively. It used to take weeks and months to develop software, and now I can use something like FME, and within one day, we get results. We can look at and validate data. 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.
Read full review
Sakiru Dosumu - PeerSpot reviewer
Its ability to transform and transport data is extremely valuable
he ability of SSIS to transform and transport data is extremely valuable to me. It allows for intelligent extraction and manipulation of data during the process. Improved error handling would enhance ETL processes further. I haven't directly utilized the data flow components but they seem capable of supporting complex data integration needs.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has standard plug-ins available for different data sources."
"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 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."
"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."
"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."
"It has good data integration and good processes."
"The performance and stability are good."
"It has a drag and drop feature that makes it easy to use. It has a good user experience because it takes into account your most-used tools and they're lined up nicely so you can just drag and drop without looking too far. It also integrates nicely with Microsoft."
"The debugging capabilities are great, particularly during data flow execution. You can look into the data and see what's going on in the pipeline."
"The technical support is very good."
"Built in reports show package execution and messages. Logging can also be customized so only what is needed is logged. There is also an excellent logging replacement called BiXpress that provides both historical and real-time monitoring which is more efficient and much more robust than the built-in logging capabilities. And none of this requires custom coding to make it useful unlike many other ETL tools."
"Despite the complexity when dealing with advanced transformations, it is straightforward for simple data movements, and the performance is excellent."
"The product's deployment phase is easy."
More SSIS pros
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"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."
"There are a lot of things that Microsoft could improve in relation to SSIS. One major problem we faced was when attempting to move some Excel files to our SQL Server. The Excel provider has a limitation that prevents importing more than 255 columns from a particular Excel file to the database. This restriction posed a significant issue for us."
"I come from a coding background and this tool is graphically based. Sometimes I think it's cumbersome to do mapping graphically. If there was a way to provide a simple script, it would be helpful and make it easier to use."
"There is connectivity with other databases, however, this is the most significant issue that has to be addressed."
"The performance of this solution is not as good as other tools in the market."
"We purchase an add on called task factory primarily to allow bulk delete, update and upsert capability. I'd like to see this be part of the standard package."
"SSIS is cumbersome despite its drag-and-drop functionality. For example, let's say I have 50 tables with 30 columns. You need to set a data type for each column and table. That's around 1,500 objects. It gets unwieldy adding validation for every column. Previously, SSIS automatically detected the data type, but I think they removed this feature. It would automatically detect if it's an integer, primary key, or foreign key column. You had fewer problems building the model."
"Future releases should improve the data lineage, as it currently is not good."
"Sometimes when we want to publish to other types of databases it's not easy to publish to those databases. For example, the Jet Database Engine. Before the SSIS supported Jet Database Engine but nowadays it doesn't support the Jet Database Engine. We connect to many databases such as Access database, SparkPros databases and the other types of databases using Jet Database Engines now and SSIS now doesn't seem to support it in our databases."
More SSIS cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's price is reasonable."
"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."
"FME Server used to cost £10,000; now it can cost over £100,000."
"If you don't want to pay a lot of money, you can go for SSIS, as its open-source version is available. When it comes to licensing, SSIS can be expensive."
"This solution is included with the MSSQL server package."
"It would be beneficial if the solution had a less costly cloud offering."
"My advice is to look at what your configuration will be because most companies have their own deals with Microsoft."
"SSIS is fairly well-priced - I would rate it at four out of five."
"This solution has provided an inexpensive tool, and it is easy to find experienced developers."
"We have an enterprise license for this solution."
"SSIS' licensing is a little high, but it gives good value for money."
More SSIS pricing and cost advice
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Comparison Review

it_user90069 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 20, 2014
Informatica PowerCenter vs. Microsoft SSIS - each technology has its advantages but also have similarities
Technology has made it easier for businesses to organize and manipulate data to get a clearer picture of what’s going on with their business. Notably, ETL tools have made managing huge amounts of data significantly easier and faster, boosting many organizations’ business intelligence operations…
Read full review
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
30%
Energy/Utilities Company
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about FME?
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.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FME?
The pricing is really bad. Last year, they rebranded the whole pricing structure. It used to be moderately priced at about £400 per user per year. Now they've changed the whole thing, and it's expe...
See all answers
What needs improvement with FME?
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. There must be a technical or comm...
See all answers
Which is better - SSIS or Informatica PowerCenter?
SSIS PowerPack is a group of drag and drop connectors for Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services, commonly called SSIS. The collection helps organizations boost productivity with code-free compo...
See all answers
What do you like most about SSIS?
The product's deployment phase is easy.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SSIS?
Utilizing SSIS involves no extra charges beyond the SQL Server license. It's an economical choice for my clients.
See all answers
 

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
FME
March 2025
FME reportDownload FME product report
Buyer's Guide
SSIS
March 2025
SSIS reportDownload SSIS product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
SQL Server Integration Services
 

Overview

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

SSIS is a versatile tool for data integration tasks like ETL processes, data migration, and real-time data processing. Users appreciate its ease of use, data transformation tools, scheduling capabilities, and extensive connectivity options. It enhances productivity and efficiency within organizations by streamlining data-related processes and improving data quality and consistency.

Microsoft
 

Sample Customers

Shell, US Department of Commerce, PG&E, BC Hydro, City of Vancouver, Enel, Iowa DoT, San Antonio Water System
1. Amazon.com 2. Bank of America 3. Capital One 4. Coca-Cola 5. Dell 6. E*TRADE 7. FedEx 8. Ford Motor Company 9. Google 10. Home Depot 11. IBM 12. Intel 13. JPMorgan Chase 14. Kraft Foods 15. Lockheed Martin 16. McDonald's 17. Microsoft 18. Morgan Stanley 19. Nike 20. Oracle 21. PepsiCo 22. Procter & Gamble 23. Prudential Financial 24. RBC Capital Markets 25. SAP 26. Siemens 27. Sony 28. Toyota 29. UnitedHealth Group 30. Visa 31. Walmart 32. Wells Fargo
Buyer's Guide
FME vs. SSIS
February 2025
Free Report: FME vs. SSIS
Find out what your peers are saying about FME vs. SSIS and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
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