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SQL Server Integration Services VS AWS Glue

Compare SQL Server Integration Services VS AWS Glue and see what are their differences

SQL Server Integration Services logo SQL Server Integration Services

Learn about SQL Server Integration Services, Microsoft's platform for building enterprise-level data integration and data transformations solutions

AWS Glue logo AWS Glue

Fully managed extract, transform, and load (ETL) service
  • SQL Server Integration Services Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-17
  • AWS Glue Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-29

SQL Server Integration Services features and specs

  • Powerful ETL Tool
    SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a powerful tool for Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) operations. It can handle data extraction from multiple sources, data transformation, and loading into different destinations with ease.
  • Integration with SQL Server
    SSIS is tightly integrated with SQL Server, making it easy to use and efficient for users already familiar with the SQL Server environment. This integration ensures smooth data flow within Microsoft-based ecosystems.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    SSIS provides a visual design interface, making it possible to build complex data workflows without needing extensive coding. This is particularly advantageous for less technical users.
  • Extensibility
    SSIS supports custom scripting and custom components, allowing users to extend the functionalities beyond the out-of-the-box capabilities. This enables users to meet specific business requirements.
  • Performance
    SSIS is optimized for high performance and can handle large volumes of data efficiently. It also offers features for performance tuning and logging.
  • Scheduling and Automation
    SSIS packages can be scheduled using SQL Server Agent, making it easy to automate data workflows and ensure timely execution.

Possible disadvantages of SQL Server Integration Services

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Despite its visual interface, there is a steep learning curve associated with mastering SSIS, especially for users new to ETL processes or data warehousing.
  • Licensing Costs
    SSIS is part of the SQL Server suite, which can be expensive. The licensing costs may be prohibitive for small businesses or startups with limited budgets.
  • Resource Intensive
    SSIS can be resource-intensive, requiring significant CPU and memory, especially when dealing with large datasets. This can impact the performance of other applications running on the same server.
  • Limited Cross-Platform Support
    SSIS is primarily designed to work within the Microsoft ecosystem. Its integration capabilities with non-Microsoft data sources and platforms might be limited compared to other ETL tools.
  • Deployment Complexity
    Deploying SSIS packages can sometimes be complex, particularly in environments with multiple servers and environments (development, staging, production). Proper configuration and management are crucial.
  • Debugging Challenges
    Debugging SSIS packages can be challenging. While there are logging and error handling features, tracing the source of errors in complex packages can be time-consuming.

AWS Glue features and specs

  • Fully Managed
    AWS Glue is a fully managed ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) service, which means you don't need to manage any underlying infrastructure. This reduces the operational overhead and allows you to focus on the data processing tasks.
  • Scalability
    AWS Glue can automatically scale resources up or down based on the demand and workload, ensuring optimal performance without manual intervention.
  • Serverless
    Being serverless, there are no servers to manage or maintain. You only pay for the resources that you consume, which can result in significant cost savings.
  • Integrated Data Catalog
    AWS Glue comes with a built-in data catalog that helps you organize and discover your data. It automatically indexes and maintains metadata about your data, making it easier to manage.
  • Support for Multiple Data Sources
    AWS Glue supports a variety of data sources including Amazon S3, RDS, Redshift, and many external databases, providing flexibility in your ETL processes.
  • Developer Tools
    AWS Glue provides developer endpoints for custom ETL logic, and integrates with AWS SDKs, Boto3, and the AWS CLI, allowing for a flexible development experience.

Possible disadvantages of AWS Glue

  • Complex Pricing
    The pricing model for AWS Glue can be complicated, involving multiple components such as Data Processing Units (DPUs), data catalog storage, and crawler costs, which may make it hard to estimate costs.
  • Learning Curve
    There is a significant learning curve for developers who are new to AWS Glue, especially when it comes to understanding its various components and configurations.
  • Performance for Small Datasets
    AWS Glue is optimized for large-scale data processing, which may result in suboptimal performance and higher costs for smaller datasets.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Using AWS Glue ties you to the AWS ecosystem, making it harder to switch to another cloud provider without significant rework of your ETL pipelines and data catalog.
  • Limited Debugging Tools
    The debugging and troubleshooting tools for AWS Glue are somewhat limited compared to other mature ETL tools, which may complicate the development and maintenance of ETL jobs.
  • Job Run Delays
    There can be delays in job startup times, which can be problematic for certain time-sensitive applications requiring near real-time data processing.

Analysis of SQL Server Integration Services

Overall verdict

  • Overall, SQL Server Integration Services is considered a strong choice for ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes within the Microsoft ecosystem, especially for users who are already utilizing SQL Server. It offers a rich development environment, strong scalability, and reliable performance.

Why this product is good

  • SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a powerful data integration tool that is part of Microsoft SQL Server. It is highly regarded for its ability to handle complex data transformation, integration, and migration tasks. SSIS provides a robust set of built-in tasks and transformations, as well as the ability to develop custom scripts and components to tailor solutions to specific needs.

Recommended for

  • Organizations using Microsoft SQL Server as their primary database platform.
  • Users needing a comprehensive ETL tool that integrates well with other Microsoft services.
  • Data professionals who require extensive data transformation and integration capabilities.

Analysis of AWS Glue

Overall verdict

  • AWS Glue is generally considered a good option for organizations looking for a powerful, scalable, and cost-effective ETL solution within the AWS ecosystem. Its ease of integration with AWS services, managed nature, and capability to handle large volumes of data make it a strong choice, particularly for teams that are already using AWS services.

Why this product is good

  • AWS Glue is a fully managed ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) service that makes it easy to prepare and transform data for analytics, machine learning, and application development. It is particularly beneficial for its serverless architecture, which allows users to run data processing jobs without the need to manage any infrastructure. The service integrates seamlessly with other AWS services like S3, RDS, and Redshift, providing a robust ecosystem for data processing. It also supports a wide range of data sources and formats, and offers a graphical interface for easy job creation and monitoring.

Recommended for

  • Organizations already using AWS services and looking to streamline their ETL processes.
  • Data engineers and developers who need a scalable solution to handle large datasets without managing infrastructure.
  • Companies that require seamless integration with a wide array of data storage options and formats.

SQL Server Integration Services videos

SSIS Tutorial For Beginners | SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) | MSBI Training Video | Edureka

More videos:

  • Tutorial - SQL Server Integration Services Tutorial: How to Create an ETL Package with SSIS (11/13)

AWS Glue videos

Build ETL Processes for Data Lakes with AWS Glue - AWS Online Tech Talks

More videos:

  • Review - AWS re:Invent BDT 201: AWS Data Pipeline: A guided tour
  • Review - Getting Started with AWS Glue Data Catalog
  • Review - Bajaj Housing Finance Limited: Serverless Data Pipelines with AWS Glue and Amazon Aurora PGSQL

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to SQL Server Integration Services and AWS Glue)
Data Integration
47 47%
53% 53
ETL
44 44%
56% 56
Monitoring Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Web Service Automation
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare SQL Server Integration Services and AWS Glue

SQL Server Integration Services Reviews

Best ETL Tools: A Curated List
Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a platform for data integration. It helps manage ETL processes. SSIS supports both on-premises and cloud-based data environments.
Source: estuary.dev
A List of The 16 Best ETL Tools And Why To Choose Them
SSIS is an enterprise-level platform for data integration and transformation. It comes with connectors for extracting data from sources like XML files, flat files, and relational databases. Practitioners can use SSIS designerโ€™s graphical user interface to construct data flows and transformations.
15 Best ETL Tools in 2022 (A Complete Updated List)
SSIS is a product by Microsoft and was developed for data migration. The data integration is much faster as the integration process and data transformation is processed in the memory. As it is the product of Microsoft, SSIS only supports Microsoft SQL Server.

AWS Glue Reviews

Best ETL Tools: A Curated List
AWS Glue is a fully managed serverless ETL service from Amazon Web Services (AWS) designed to automate and simplify the data preparation process for analytics. Its serverless architecture eliminates the need to manage infrastructure. As part of the AWS ecosystem, it is integrated with other AWS services, making it a go-to choice for cloud-based data integration for...
Source: estuary.dev
10 Best ETL Tools (October 2023)
AWS Glue is an end-to-end ETL offering intended to make ETL workloads easier and more integratable with the larger AWS ecosystem. One of the more unique aspects of the tool is that it is serverless, meaning Amazon automatically provisions a server and shuts it down following the completion of the workload.
Source: www.unite.ai
15+ Best Cloud ETL Tools
AWS Glue is a serverless data integration service designed to streamline analytics, machine learning, and app development tasks. It discovers, prepares, and moves data from a myriad of sources and offers a seamless integration experience. AWS Glue's inclusive toolset and automatic scaling let you focus on gaining insights from data instead of managing infrastructure.
Source: estuary.dev
Top 14 ETL Tools for 2023
Notably, AWS Glue is serverless, which means that Amazon automatically provisions a server for users and shuts it down when the workload is complete. AWS Glue also includes features such as job scheduling and โ€œdeveloper endpointsโ€ for testing AWS Glue scripts, improving the toolโ€™s ease of use.
A List of The 16 Best ETL Tools And Why To Choose Them
Better yet, when interacting with AWS Glue, practitioners can choose between a drag-and-down GUI, a Jupyter notebook, or Python/Scala code. AWS Glue also offers support for various data processing and workloads that meet different business needs, including ETL, ELT, batch, and streaming.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, AWS Glue seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 16 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

SQL Server Integration Services mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of SQL Server Integration Services yet. Tracking of SQL Server Integration Services recommendations started around Mar 2021.

AWS Glue mentions (16)

  • Optimizing AWS Costs for AI Development in 2025
    Managed Services: This includes the per-token costs of using services like Amazon Bedrock, the hosting fees for SageMaker endpoints, and the costs associated with data pipelines using services like Glue or Lambda. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Introducing RisingWave's Hosted Iceberg Catalog-No External Setup Needed
    However, using any Iceberg engine traditionally requires a first, crucial step: setting up and configuring an Iceberg catalog. This catalog is responsible for managing the table metadata. While flexible, this often means provisioning and managing a separate service like AWS Glue, a dedicated PostgreSQL database for the JDBC catalog, or a REST service. This adds an extra layer of configuration and operational... - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Vector: A lightweight tool for collecting EKS application logs with long-term storage capabilities
    In this article, we present an architecture that demonstrates how to collect application logs from Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) via Vector, store them in Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for long-term retention, and finally query these logs using AWS Glue and Amazon Athena. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Build Your Movie Recommendation System Using Amazon Personalize, MongoDB Atlas, and AWS Glue
    AWS Glue is a fully managed extract, transform, and load (ETL) service that makes it easy to prepare and load data for analysis. It helps bridge the gap between our MongoDB Atlas data and the services we'll use for recommendation. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Using Snowflake data hosted in GCP with AWS Glue
    AWS Glue is a fully managed extract, transform, and load (ETL) service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is designed to make it easy for users to prepare and load their data for analysis. AWS Glue simplifies the process of building and managing ETL workflows by providing a serverless environment for running ETL jobs. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing SQL Server Integration Services and AWS Glue, you can also consider the following products

Matillion - Matillion is a cloud-based data integration software.

Xplenty - Xplenty is the #1 SecurETL - allowing you to build low-code data pipelines on the most secure and flexible data transformation platform. No longer worry about manual data transformations. Start your free 14-day trial now.

Talend Data Services Platform - Talend Data Services Platform is a single solution for data and application integration to deliver projects faster at a lower cost.

AWS Database Migration Service - AWS Database Migration Service allows you to migrate to AWS quickly and securely. Learn more about the benefits and the key use cases.

Talend Data Integration - Talend offers open source middleware solutions that address big data integration, data management and application integration needs for businesses of all sizes.

Skyvia - Free cloud data platform for data integration, backup & management