SAS Access vs Teradata comparison

Read 76 Teradata reviews

923 Views
654 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

SAS Access

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

SAS Access and Teradata are key players in data management and analytics. Teradata tends to have the upper hand due to its superior analytical capabilities and scalability features.

Features: SAS Access offers seamless data source access through multi-vendor partnerships, intuitive analytics features, and robust data manipulation tools. Teradata provides high-performance processing, scalable analytical engines, and real-time data analytics suitable for complex environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAS Access is known for easy deployment and integration with existing systems, backed by consistent customer support. Teradata, though complex in setup due to enterprise-level capabilities, offers extensive resources and support to optimize deployment processes.

Pricing and ROI: SAS Access has lower initial costs, which is appealing for immediate data solutions. Teradata’s higher up-front costs provide greater ROI in the long term due to advanced analytics and scalability. SAS Access fits straightforward tasks economically, while Teradata offers significant value through its advanced capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed SAS Access vs. Teradata Report (Updated: March 2025).

SAS Access vs. Teradata

Download the complete report

Helped 845,406 peers since 2012

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

SAS Access

Ranking in Data Integration

57th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Teradata

Ranking in Data Integration

17th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Customer Experience Management (6th), Backup and Recovery (20th), Relational Databases Tools (7th), Data Warehouse (3rd), BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (10th), Marketing Management (6th), Cloud Data Warehouse (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of SAS Access is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Teradata is 1.0%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Integration

Featured Reviews

Robert Heck

Co Owner at Hecht und Heck GmbH

The solution is stable, scalable, and flexible

I rate the solution eight out of ten. The number of people required to maintain the solution is dependent on the other applications running. The solution in itself does not require a lot of maintenance. The solution is flexible and I recommend it when you have more complex applications with special requirements.

Read full review

SurjitChoudhury

Data engineer at Cocos pt

Offers seamless integration capabilities and performance optimization features, including extensive indexing and advanced tuning capabilities

We created and constructed the warehouse. We used multiple loading processes like MultiLoad, FastLoad, and Teradata Pump. But those are loading processes, and Teradata is a powerful tool because if we consider older technologies, its architecture with nodes, virtual processes, and nodes is a unique concept. Later, other technologies like Informatica also adopted the concept of nodes from Informatica PowerCenter version 7.x. Previously, it was a client-server architecture, but later, it changed to the nodes concept. Like, we can have the database available 24/7, 365 days. If one node fails, other nodes can take care of it. Informatica adopted all those concepts when it changed its architecture. Even Oracle databases have since adapted their architecture to them. However, this particular Teradata company initially started with its own different type of architecture, which major companies later adopted. It has grown now, but initially, whatever query we sent it would be mapped into a particular component. After that, it goes to the virtual processor and down to the disk, where the actual physical data is loaded. So, in between, there's a map, which acts like a data dictionary. It also holds information about each piece of data, where it's loaded, and on which particular virtual processor or node the data resides. Because Teradata comes with a four-node architecture, or however many nodes we choose, the cost is determined by that initially. So, what type of data does each and every node hold? It's a shared-no architecture. So, whatever task is given to a virtual processor it will be processed. If there's a failure, then it will be taken care of by another virtual processor. Moreover, this solution has impacted the query time and data performance. In Teradata, there's a lot of joining, partitioning, and indexing of records. There are primary and secondary indexes, hash indexing, and other indexing processes. To improve query performance, we first analyze the query and tune it. If a join needs a secondary index, which plays a major role in filtering records, we might reconstruct that particular table with the secondary index. This tuning involves partitioning and indexing. We use these tools and technologies to fine-tune performance. When it comes to integration, tools like Informatica seamlessly connect with Teradata. We ensure the Teradata database is configured correctly in Informatica, including the proper hostname and properties for the load process. We didn't find any major complexity or issues with integration. But, these technologies are quite old now. With newer big data technologies, we've worked with a four-layer architecture, pulling data from Hadoop Lake to Teradata. We configure Teradata with the appropriate hostname and credentials, and use BTEQ queries to load data. Previously, we converted the data warehouse to a CLD model as per Teradata's standardized procedures, moving from an ETL to an EMT process. This allowed us to perform gap analysis on missing entities based on the model and retrieve them from the source system again. We found Teradata integration straightforward and compatible with other tools.

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

"The most valuable feature is you have native access to the external databases."

"The most valuable part of SAS/ACCESS is what it is made for: connecting to remote systems that are not part of your physical SAS environment."

"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the ease of access to the data in those databases."

"Parallel processing features have helped to easily dump any size of data and retrieve data with great performance."

"The feature that we find most valuable is its ability to perform Massive Parallel Processing."

"Teradata solutions help organizations reduce IT, operations, and maintenance costs; enhance on-time delivery of products and services."

"Teradata can be easily used in ETL mode transformations, so there is no need for expensive and inconvenient ETL tools"

"Teradata's most valuable feature is that it's easy to use."

"We did performance testing. We had a set of real life MicroStrategy reports. Our conditions were: Not allowed to redesign data model, not allowed to rewrite the queries, all queries should be generated by MicroStrategy, no aggregates. Teradata appeared to be way faster than a similarly configured (in terms of hardware) Oracle server."

"The ease of deployment is useful so clients are up and running quickly in comparison to other products."

"It has given our business the ability to gain insights into the data and create data labs for analysis and PoCs."

More Teradata pros

Cons

"The pricing model needs to be reconsidered and adjusted."

"I can't really recall any missing feature or general improvement that is needed. We don't really add too many new kinds of databases and therefore our needs are already met."

"The solution can provide access to the newer databases that come out sooner."

"An additional feature I would you like to see included in the next release, is that it needs to be more cloud-friendly."

"Azure Synapse SQL has evolved from a solely dedicated support tool to a data lake. It can store data from multiple systems, not just traditional database management systems. On the other hand, Teradata has limitations in loading flat files or unstructured data directly into its warehouse. In Azure Synapse SQL, we can implement machine learning using Python scripts. Additionally, Azure Synapse SQL offers advanced analytical capabilities compared to Teradata. Teradata is also expensive."

"I would like more security and speed."

"The solution could improve by having a cloud version or a cloud component. We have to use other solutions, such as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Snowflake for the cloud."

"Stability-wise, we have had some issues with automation and the ability to handle large datasets."

"GUI of administrative tools is really outdated."

"The capability to implement it with comparable performance across various private cloud environments, ensuring adaptability to different infrastructure setups would be beneficial."

"It needs a teaching web site with more training on third-party tools used for BI."

More Teradata cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing and licensing are expensive."

"The pricing model is complex and is based on modular packages as well as the size of the applicable environment."

"The initial cost may seem high, but the TCO is low."

"The price of Teradata could be less expensive."

"The solution requires a license."

"I am using the free version of Teradata."

"The product cost is high for what the client gets. There may be more cost-effective solutions for small and medium-sized organizations."

"Teradata's licensing is on the expensive side."

"In this day and age, we want to get things done quickly. So, we go to the AWS Marketplace."

"The price needs to be more competitive as Hadoop, Redshift, Snowflake, etc are constantly making way into EDW space."

More Teradata pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Integration solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Comparison Review

it_user232068

Senior Data Architect at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 5, 2015

Netezza vs. Teradata

Original published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/should-i-choose-net Two leading Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) architectures for Data Warehousing (DW) are IBM PureData System for Analytics (formerly Netezza) and Teradata. I thought talking about the similarities and differences…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

24%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Insurance Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

26%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Comparing Teradata and Oracle Database, which product do you think is better and why?

I have spoken to my colleagues about this comparison and in our collective opinion, the reason why some people may declare Teradata better than Oracle is the pricing. Both solutions are quite simi...

See all answers

Which companies use Teradata and who is it most suitable for?

Before my organization implemented this solution, we researched which big brands were using Teradata, so we knew if it would be compatible with our field. According to the product's site, the comp...

See all answers

Is Teradata a difficult solution to work with?

Teradata is not a difficult product to work with, especially since they offer you technical support at all levels if you just ask. There are some features that may cause difficulties - for example,...

See all answers

Comparisons

No data available

Oracle Exadata vs Teradata

Compared 14% of the time

SQL Server vs Teradata

Compared 11% of the time

MySQL vs Teradata

Compared 7% of the time

Snowflake vs Teradata

Compared 7% of the time

IBM Db2 Database vs Teradata

Compared 7% of the time

More Teradata Competitors

Product Reports

Data Integration

Download SAS Access product report

Download Teradata product report

Also Known As

SAS/Access

IntelliFlex, Aster Data Map Reduce, , QueryGrid, Customer Interaction Manager, Digital Marketing Center, Data Mover, Data Stream Architecture

Overview

SAS/ACCESS is an out-of-the-box solution for integrating SAS and third-party databases. You can read, write and update data regardless of the database or platform. Because the data appears native to SAS, there is no need to learn Structured Query Language (SQL) or any other database-specific query languages.

SAS

Teradata is a scalable data analytics platform designed to meet enterprise demands for large-scale data management and processing, focusing on performance, scalability, and security for complex query executions.

As a leading data warehousing solution, Teradata integrates advanced analytics enabling organizations to derive insights from massive datasets. It supports high-volume data workloads with its architecture optimized for analytical queries. Users benefit from its robust scalability, allowing seamless expansion as data grows. Teradata's SQL engine is compatible with a wide range of data types, ensuring flexibility in data analysis. With advanced security measures, it protects sensitive data across various environments, providing peace of mind to users handling critical information.

What are the most important features of Teradata?

Linear Scalability: Easily expands data processing capabilities to handle increasing data loads without performance degradation.
Advanced Analytics: Supports complex analytical operations integrating machine learning and AI for predictive insights.
SQL Compatibility: Offers a comprehensive SQL interface that supports complex queries across diverse data types.
Data Security: Implements rigorous security protocols to protect data integrity and confidentiality.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Improved Decision-Making: Derive actionable insights quickly for strategic business decisions.
Cost Efficiency: Optimized resource usage reduces operational costs associated with data processing.
Increased Productivity: Streamlined data operations save time, allowing teams to focus on analysis.
Enhanced Scalability: Seamless growth without significant additional investment as data volumes increase.

Teradata is widely used in industries like finance, telecommunications, and healthcare, where data-driven decisions are critical. Companies leverage its robust analytics capabilities to enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. In these sectors, quick access to data insights can significantly impact competitive advantage.

Sample Customers

Los Angeles County, West Midlands Police, Credit Guarantee Corporation, Canada Post, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty

Netflix

SAS Access vs. Teradata