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Azure Data Factory

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Company health

Employee growth
3% increase in the last year
Web traffic
3% decrease in the last quarter

Ratings

G2
4.6/5
(81)

Azure Data Factory description

Azure Data Factory is a cloud-based platform designed to help businesses connect and integrate data from various sources. It allows you to build data pipelines that automate the process of extracting, transforming, and loading (ETL) data, regardless of where it resides - be it on-premises servers or cloud storage. This empowers your team to analyze data efficiently and make informed decisions without delving into complex coding.


Who is Azure Data Factory best for

Azure Data Factory is a cloud-based platform for data engineers and ETL developers needing to build data pipelines. We find that its strength lies in integrating and transforming data from various sources. Users appreciate its robust capabilities, user-friendly interface, and seamless integration with other Azure services. However, some users find complex transformation logic challenging and desire improved debugging and logging. We recommend it especially for medium and large businesses across all industries.

  • Perfect for mid-sized to large companies seeking robust cloud-based data integration, ETL, and ELT capabilities, and seamless Azure service integration.

  • Versatile for any industry needing to integrate data from varied sources, on-premises or cloud, to streamline analytics and decision-making.


Azure Data Factory features

Supported

Rehost and extend SSIS: Azure Data Factory helps organizations looking to modernize SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). Gain up to 88% cost savings with Azure Hybrid Benefit. Enjoy the only fully compatible data integration service that makes it easy to move all your SSIS packages to the cloud. Learn how easy migration is with the deployment wizard and ample how-to documentation. Then achieve your vision for hybrid big data and data warehousing initiatives by using Data Factory cloud data pipelines.

Supported

Ingest all your data with built-in connectors: Ingesting data from diverse and multiple sources can be expensive and time consuming and may require multiple solutions. Azure Data Factory offers a single, pay-as-you-go service. Choose from more than 90 built-in connectors to acquire data from big data sources such as Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, and Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS); enterprise data warehouses such as Oracle Exadata and Teradata; software as a service (SaaS) apps such as Salesforce, Marketo, and ServiceNow; and all Azure data services. Use the full capacity of underlying network bandwidth, up to 5 Gbps throughput.

Supported

Cost-effective: Azure Data Factory offers a pay-as-you-go, fully managed serverless cloud service that scales on demand for a cost-effective data integration solution. Take advantage of enterprise-grade security and compliance. Focus on your data—not on managing infrastructure.

Supported

Build code-free pipelines: Easy rehosting of SSIS to build ETL and ELT pipelines code-free with built-in Git and support for continuous integration and continuous delivery.

Supported

Cost-effective: Pay-as-you-go, fully managed serverless cloud service that scales on demand for a cost-effective data integration solution. Take advantage of enterprise-grade security and compliance. Focus on your data—not on managing infrastructure

Supported

Visually build data integration pipelines: With Data Factory, you can easily build complex ETL, ELT, and data integration pipelines without writing code. Visually integrate multiple data sources with more than 90 prebuilt, maintenance-free connectors at no added cost. Easily orchestrate and monitor pipelines to ensure SLAs.

Supported

Supports citizen integrators: Empower business users to unlock insights from data without coding, enabling them to become citizen integrators. Transform data with a rich set of activities. Visually compose data flows and operationalize them to build governed self-service data integration pipelines at scale.

Supported

Govern data at scale: Process data on your terms with fully governed self-service data integration pipelines at scale.

Supported

Automate CI/CD: Azure Data Factory is equipped with built-in continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) capabilities and integrates with Azure DevOps so you can automate your development lifecycle—from build to deploy to monitoring.

Supported

Gain insights with rich monitoring: Gain insights into the health of your data pipelines with rich monitoring capabilities. Use the Azure Monitor integration to ensure your pipelines are running smoothly and meeting your SLAs.

Supported

Move and transform data: Connect to on-premises, cloud-based, and SaaS data and easily move it to your desired destination. Copy data as-is or transform it before moving it to the data lake or data warehouse for analytics.

Supported

Move and transform data: Connect to on-premises, cloud-based, and SaaS data and easily move it to your desired destination. Copy data as-is or transform it before moving it to the data lake or data warehouse for analytics.

Qualities

We evaluate the sentiment that users express about non-functional aspects of the software

Value and Pricing Transparency

Rather positive
+0.33

Customer Service

Rather positive
+0.6

Ease of Use

Strongly positive
+1

Reliability and Performance

Neutral
+0.11

Ease of Implementation

Strongly positive
+0.71

Scalability

Strongly positive
+1

Azure Data Factory reviews

We've summarised 81 Azure Data Factory reviews (Azure Data Factory G2 reviews) and summarised the main points below.

Pros of Azure Data Factory
  • Robust and versatile data integration capabilities.
  • User-friendly interface with drag-and-drop functionality.
  • Seamless integration with other Azure services.
  • Handles large data volumes efficiently.
  • Offers both automated and manual methods for pipeline execution and debugging.
Cons of Azure Data Factory
  • Difficult to write complex transformation logic in ADF.
  • Pipeline execution can be slow due to internal failures that are hard to debug.
  • Limited connector support for third-party data providers.
  • Logging functionality could be improved.
  • Documentation could be more comprehensive with more real-world examples.

Azure Data Factory pricing

The commentary is based on 10 reviews from Azure Data Factory G2 reviews.

We find that Azure Data Factory's pricing is generally seen as affordable, especially for small businesses and those migrating from SSIS. However, some users have noted that costs can escalate with large data volumes or frequent pipeline runs, requiring careful monitoring. The pay-as-you-go model is appreciated.

Users sentiment

Rather positive
+0.33

Azure Data Factory alternatives

  • Logo of dbt
    azure-data-factory vs dbt
    Transforms data in your warehouse with reliable, tested SQL code.
    Read more
  • Logo of AWS Glue
    AWS Glue
    Prepares your data for analysis, without complex coding.
    Read more
  • Logo of Airbyte
    Airbyte
    Effortlessly syncs data anywhere, powering apps and AI.
    Read more
  • Logo of AWS Database Migration Service
    AWS Database Migration Service
    Migrate databases to AWS quickly, securely, and with minimal downtime.
    Read more
  • Logo of IBM InfoSphere DataStage
    IBM InfoSphere DataStage
    Extract, transform, load data fast. Scales for big business.
    Read more
  • Logo of Apache Sqoop
    Apache Sqoop
    Transfer bulk data between databases and Hadoop efficiently.
    Read more

Azure Data Factory FAQ

  • What is Azure Data Factory and what does Azure Data Factory do?

    Azure Data Factory is a cloud-based data integration service that allows you to create, schedule, and manage data pipelines. We find it especially useful for automating data movement and transformation from various sources, both on-premises and in the cloud. It simplifies ETL processes with a visual interface and code-free options.

  • How does Azure Data Factory integrate with other tools?

    We find Azure Data Factory shines with its 90+ built-in connectors, allowing seamless integration with various sources like Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, Salesforce, and other Azure services. This simplifies data ingestion and transformation for diverse data landscapes.

  • What the main competitors of Azure Data Factory?

    We find that strong competitors to Azure Data Factory include AWS Glue, IBM InfoSphere DataStage, Talend Data Fabric, and dbt. These alternatives offer similar data integration and transformation capabilities, catering to various business needs and budgets.

  • Is Azure Data Factory legit?

    Yes, Azure Data Factory is a legitimate and safe product from Microsoft. We find it's a powerful tool for data integration and transformation, though users have noted some areas for improvement, like complex transformations and debugging.

  • How much does Azure Data Factory cost?

    Unfortunately, we don't have pricing information for Azure Data Factory readily available. We recommend checking Microsoft's official Azure website for the most up-to-date pricing details.

  • Is Azure Data Factory customer service good?

    We find Azure Data Factory's customer support to be generally positive. Users praise the helpfulness and responsiveness of the support team, contributing to a positive overall experience. However, some users desire more resources for troubleshooting specific scenarios.


Reviewed by

MK
Michal Kaczor
CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

TT
Tymon Terlikiewicz
CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.