Most businesses have data stored in a variety of locations, from in-house databases to SaaS platforms. To get a full picture of their finances and operations, they pull data from all those sources into a data warehouse or data lake and run analytics against it. But they don't want to build and maintain their own data pipelines.

Fortunately, it’s not necessary to code everything in-house. Here's an comparison of two such tools, head to head.

About Informatica

Informatica offers a portfolio of data integration products as well as tools for master data management, data quality, data cataloging, and API management. Informatica started out with on-premises tools but now offers a cloud platform as well.

About SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

SSIS is a Microsoft tool for data integration tied to SQL Server.

About Stitch

Stitch Data Loader is a cloud-based platform for ETL — extract, transform, and load. More than 3,000 companies use Stitch to move billions of records every day from SaaS applications and databases into data warehouses and data lakes, where it can be analyzed with BI tools. Stitch is a Talend company and is part of the Talend Data Fabric.

Informatica LogoSQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) LogoStitch Logo
FocusData integration, ETLMicrosoft-centric ETLData ingestion, ELT
Database replicationFull table; incremental via change data captureFull table; incremental via change data capture or based on custom SELECT queryFull table; incremental via change data capture or SELECT/replication keys
SaaS sourcesMore than 80NoneMore than 100
Ability for customers to add new data sourcesYesYesYes
Connects to data warehouses? Data lakes? Yes / YesYes / YesYes / Yes
Transparent pricingNoYesYes
G2 customer satisfactionHelp4/5Not Rated4.8/5
Support SLAsAvailableAvailableAvailable
Purchase process Requires conversation with salesOptions for self-service and talking with salesOptions for self-service or talking with sales. Also available from the AWS store.
Compliance, governance, and security certifications HIPAA, SOC 2, SOC 3, Privacy ShieldNoneHIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2
Data sharing Yes, through Informatica CloudYes, with SQL ServerYes, through Talend Data Fabric
Vendor lock-in Annual contracts. No open sourceSQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is strongly tied to Microsoft SQL ServerMonth to month or annual contracts. Open source integrations
Developer tools Informatica Developer Tool, REST API, Connector ToolkitSQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)Import API, Stitch Connect API for integrating Stitch with other platforms, Singer open source project

Let's dive into some of the details of each platform.

Transformations

Informatica

Informatica has been an on-premises product for most of its history, and much of the product is focused on preload transformations, which is an important feature when sending data to an on-premises data warehouse. Informatica includes a library of prebuilt transformations and the ability to build custom transformations using a proprietary transformation language.

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) provides about 30 built-in preload transformations, which users specify in a graphical user interface. Transformations fall into several categories: split and join data, row data, rowsets, audit, and business intelligence. Developers can write their own custom transformations in Visual Basic.

Stitch

Stitch is an ELT product. Within the pipeline, Stitch does only transformations that are required for compatibility with the destination, such as translating data types or denesting data when relevant. Stitch is part of Talend, which also provides tools for transforming data either within the data warehouse or via external processing engines such as Spark and MapReduce. Transformations can be defined in SQL, Python, Java, or via graphical user interface.

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Connectors: Data sources and destinations

Each of these tools supports a variety of data sources and destinations.

Informatica

Informatica provides Cloud Connectors for more than 100 applications and databases. The only cloud data warehouse destination it supports is Amazon Redshift. It also support Pivotal's Greenplum on-premises platform. The only data lake destination it supports is Microsoft Azure SQL Data Lake. Developers can create new connectors using Informatica Connector Toolkit.

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

SSIS supports 26 built-in integrations via Connection Managers. Many of the integrations are with other Microsoft tools and platforms, but there are also Connection Managers for files, Hadoop, and SAP Business Warehouse.

Stitch

Stitch supports more than 100 database and SaaS integrationsas data sources, and eight data warehouse and data lake destinations. Customers can contract with Stitch to build new sources, and anyone can add a new source to Stitch by developing it according to the standards laid out in Singer, an open source toolkit for writing scripts that move data. Singer integrations can be run independently, regardless of whether the user is a Stitch customer. Running Singer integrations on Stitch’s platform allows users to take advantage of Stitch's monitoring, scheduling, credential management, and autoscaling features.

Support, documentation, and training

Data integration tools can be complex, so vendors offer several ways to help their customers. Online documentation is the first resource users often turn to, and support teams can answer questions that aren't covered in the docs. Vendors of the more complicated tools may also offer training services.

Informatica

Informatica provides three levels of support. Basic Success is available during business hours. Premium Success offers 24x7 support for Priority 1 cases. Signature Support offers 24x7 support for all cases. Documentation is comprehensive. The company offers training through Informatica University.

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

Microsoft provides several levels of support for SQL Server, of which SSIS is a component. Documentation is comprehensive. Microsoft provides digital training resources. Many third parties provide both digital training and classroom training services.

Stitch

Stitch provides in-app chat support to all customers, and phone support is available for Enterprise customers. Support SLAs are available. Documentation is comprehensive and is open source — anyone can contribute additions and improvements or repurpose the content. Stitch does not provide training services.

Pricing

Informatica

Informatica has many products, each of which may have several optional components. The base version of Integration Cloud starts at $2,000 per month. The pricing of add-on tiers is undisclosed. Informatica provides a 30-day free trial for many of its products.

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

SSIS is part of SQL Server, which is available in several editions, ranging in price from free (Express and Developer editions) to $14,256 per core (Enterprise). On the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, pricing for SSIS integration runtime nodes starts at $0.84 per hour.

Stitch

Stitch has pricing that scales to fit a wide range of budgets and company sizes. All new users get an unlimited 14-day trial. Standard plans range from $100 to $1,250 per month depending on scale, with discounts for paying annually. Enterprise plans for larger organizations and mission-critical use cases can include custom features, data volumes, and service levels, and are priced individually.

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