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IBM InfoSphere Information Server vs Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 11, 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

IBM InfoSphere Information ...
Ranking in Data Integration
30th
Ranking in Metadata Management
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Informatica Intelligent Dat...
Ranking in Data Integration
2nd
Ranking in Metadata Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
214
Ranking in other categories
Data Quality (1st), Business Process Management (BPM) (6th), Business-to-Business Middleware (2nd), API Management (6th), Cloud Data Integration (3rd), Data Governance (3rd), Test Data Management (3rd), Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) (1st), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (2nd), Data Masking (2nd), Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (3rd), Test Data Management Services (3rd), Product Information Management (PIM) (1st), Data Observability (2nd), AI Data Analysis (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of IBM InfoSphere Information Server is 1.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) is 3.5%, down from 5.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Integration Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC)3.5%
IBM InfoSphere Information Server1.0%
Other95.5%
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

MI
Senior Data Engineer at Mohammed Mansour Alrumiah
Faced challenges with customer support and documentation but have benefited from reliable data integration over the years
As for utilizing the platform's metadata management feature, I have not worked on that feature yet, but personally, I have done that. To evaluate the effectiveness of IBM InfoSphere Information Server's data integration capabilities, if IBM is providing all the solutions we are using, then it is definitely a helpful thing. Mostly, the other thing is that it is a big area including data governance, data lineage, data management, and metadata, but every customer is not putting that much effort and money on that. They mostly migrate the data, use it, and forget it, but slowly things are changing. I am working in Saudi Arabia, so here also data governance, data management, and those kinds of things are getting attention. Regarding how scalable IBM InfoSphere Information Server is, I need to learn how to tune performance and scalability on the cloud. I am familiar with localized hardware, but on the cloud, I still have to do the work around it. In the beginning, we estimate the load and based on that, we put the hardware, but if there is continuous increase, I believe IBM also faces problems. Scalability needs to be improved because once the demand comes, you should be able to improve it, but for that, documentation on how to add hardware or resources to the software needs to be proper. I do not have much hands-on experience with that.
Divya-Raj - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Consultant cum Assistant Manager & Offshore Lead at Deloitte
Handles large data volumes effectively and offers competitive pricing
There is a lot of improvement required, as we still face some cache issues most of the time, which is a challenge that we expect to see resolved in the future. Additionally, there is some limitation when we are working with a tool, especially regarding In and Out parameters, and I feel that this aspect should be improved going ahead. We face issues with the API side, as Cloud Application Integration cannot handle large volumes; according to the API page, there is a limitation of 500 records or 500 MB. The AI integrated into the Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services solution is called Application Integration, where we still face challenges when dealing with huge volumes, as previously explained.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Over the years of working with IBM InfoSphere Information Server, I see basically the strength of the tool, capability, and load balancing, which I see is really good."
"IBM InfoSphere Information Server is stable."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"Deploying the solution is straightforward for me."
"This solution is extremely flexible and scalable."
"The integration with different technologies is the most valuable feature."
"It has improved our organization because it has made our data more reliable. Data is the most important asset these days, and in order to trust your data, you need these tools to make sure that your data is clean and reliable."
"We can see all our information on a single screen."
"The best thing about Informatica Axon is that it integrates with the Electronic Data Capture and the Axon system."
"We use it for various use cases, including data provisioning, data validation, continuous monitoring of data quality, and data standardization."
"Offers data lineage feature"
"It's good for tool management, maintaining the golden record of customer status."
"Informatica Persistent Data Masking can mask production data for different users, ensuring that only authorized individuals can access sensitive information."
"The scalability of the solution is excellent."
 

Cons

"This solution would benefit from the engine being made more lightweight."
"IBM InfoSphere Information Server should be more scalable. It should have the option to change the configuration to run on a single, non-multiple node, or multi-threading processing."
"Unlike other tools, IBM tools do not provide much help from the internet, so additional support should be available."
"Their technical support needs improvement."
"There are certain shortcomings in the cloud side of the solution, where improvements are required."
"We have decided to decrease the usage of metadata management because we did not see any significant advantages."
"The cloud version could be better in terms of pricing."
"Informatica Cloud Data Quality has significant room for improvement. It is not stable, and there are several issues, especially on the cloud side, unlike the on-premise version which was very stable."
"Most of the new features added by Informatica are through Elastic Mapping. It would be helpful to have features like multithreading or partitioning for Salesforce to enhance performance."
"Enhancements on the UI front, such as multiple templates and improved grid views, would be beneficial."
"The advertising makes promises about data analytics that it does not keep."
"The cloud version of Axon is far behind the on-prem, and many of my clients want to go fully to the cloud. However, Axon has to be an on-prem installation. I would like to see their cloud products catch up with their on-prem capabilities."
"I would rate my experience with the initial setup a two out of ten, with one being difficult and ten being easy."
"Data integration should be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing cost of IBM InfoSphere Information Server depends on how many users there are."
"Informatica MDM recently changed its pricing model. It's usage-based but I don't have much insight into the current pricing."
"I rate the product's pricing a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high price."
"Licensing is difficult to understand, but the team is always available to explain anything. They are very helpful."
"Informatica Cloud Data Quality is a costly solution."
"The licensing price of the product depends on the organization's requirements."
"It's offers value for money. They're more competitive with respect to pricing and offerings."
"The product is not very pocket-friendly for small and medium-sized businesses, and it is understandable because of the kind of features the tool gives."
"We saw an ROI. We have been able to get data from various sources and consolidate it into a data lake, which is helping us in data analytics."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
19%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Insurance Company
9%
Retailer
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business51
Midsize Enterprise27
Large Enterprise153
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM InfoSphere Information Server?
As for utilizing the platform's metadata management feature, I have not worked on that feature yet, but personally, I have done that. To evaluate the effectiveness of IBM InfoSphere Information Ser...
What is your primary use case for IBM InfoSphere Information Server?
My usual use case for IBM InfoSphere Information Server is ETL, where we take data from one source to another data warehouse solution.
What advice do you have for others considering IBM InfoSphere Information Server?
Currently, IBM InfoSphere Information Server is deployed on-premises in my organization. Mostly it is on-premises only, but slowly things are changing towards pro-cloud. It will not be a public clo...
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...
Which Informatica product would you choose - PowerCenter or Cloud Data Integration?
Complex transformations can easily be achieved using PowerCenter, which has all the features and tools to establish a real data governance strategy. Additionally, PowerCenter is able to manage huge...
What are the biggest benefits of using Informatica Cloud Data Integration?
When it comes to cloud data integration, this solution can provide you with multiple benefits, including: Overhead reduction by integrating data on any cloud in various ways Effective integration ...
 

Also Known As

InfoSphere Information Server, IBM Information Server
ActiveVOS, Active Endpoints, Address Verification, Persistent Data Masking
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Canadian National Railway Company, Chickasaw Nation Division of Commerce, Swedish Armed Forces, BG RCI, Janata Sahakari Bank Ltd., University of Arizona, Biogrid Australia
The Travel Company, Carbonite
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM InfoSphere Information Server vs. Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.