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 Azure Data Factory

Azure Data Factory is a cloud-based data integration service for creating ETL and ELT pipelines. It allows users to create data processing workflows in the cloud,either through a graphical interface or by writing code, for orchestrating and automating data movement and data transformation.

Stitch and Talend partner closely with Microsoft. While this page details our products that have some overlapping functionality and the differences between them, we're more complementary than we are competitive. Microsoft Azure offers lots of products beyond what's mentioned on this page, and we have thousands of customers who successfully use our solutions together.

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.


Focus	ETL	Microsoft-centric ETL	Data ingestion, ELT
Database replication	Full table; incremental via custom SELECT query	Full table; incremental via change data capture or based on custom SELECT query	Full table; incremental via change data capture or SELECT/replication keys
SaaS sources	About 20, with several more in preview	None	More than 100
Ability for customers to add new data sources	No	Yes	Yes
Connects to data warehouses? Data lakes?	Yes / Yes	Yes / Yes	Yes / Yes
Transparent pricing	Yes	Yes	Yes
G2 customer satisfaction	4.6/5	Not Rated	4.8/5
Support SLAs	Yes	Available	Available
Purchase process	Options for self-service or talking with sales	Options for self-service and talking with sales	Options for self-service or talking with sales. Also available from the AWS store.
Compliance, governance, and security certifications	HIPAA, GDPR, ISO 27001, others	None	HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2
Data sharing	No	Yes, with SQL Server	Yes, through Talend Data Fabric
Vendor lock-in	Month to month	SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is strongly tied to Microsoft SQL Server	Month to month or annual contracts. Open source integrations
Developer tools	REST API, .Net and Python SDKs	SQL 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

Azure Data Factory

Azure Data Factory supports both pre- and post-load transformations. Users apply transformations either by using a GUI to map them, or in code using Power Query Online. Azure Data Factory supports a wide range of transformation functions.

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.

Try Stitch for free for 14 days

Unlimited data volume during trial
Set up in minutes

Set up in minutesUnlimited data volume during trial

No credit card required

Connectors: Data sources and destinations

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

Azure Data Factory

Azure Data Factory integrates with about 80 data sources, including SaaS platforms, SQL and NoSQL databases, generic protocols, and various file types. It supports around 20 cloud and on-premises data warehouse and database destinations.

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.

Azure Data Factory

Azure Data Factory provides support via online forums and an online support request form. Email and phone support are available. Documentation is comprehensive. Digital training materials are available.

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

Azure Data Factory

Pricing for Azure Data Factory's data pipeline is calculated based on number of pipeline orchestration runs; compute-hours for flow execution and debugging; and number of Data Factory operations, such as pipeline monitoring.

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.

Get started now

Which tool is better overall? That's something every organization has to decide based on its unique requirements, but we can help you get started. Sign up now for a free trial of Stitch.

Give Stitch a try, on us

Select your integrations, choose your warehouse, and enjoy Stitch free for 14 days.

Set up in minutesUnlimited data volume during trial