Comparing Informatica PowerCenter with Keboola and Weld
Carolina Russ6 min read
What is Informatica PowerCenter
Informatica PowerCenter is a legacy enterprise-grade ETL platform that provides a visual designer, metadata management, scheduling, and monitoring for complex, large-scale ETL workloads. It supports a vast range of sources (mainframes, relational, NoSQL, cloud) and advanced transformations (data quality, profiling, master data management) within the Informatica ecosystem.
Pros
- Extremely powerful and scalable for enterprise ETL with parallel processing and pushdown optimization.
- Comprehensive transformation library, data quality, and metadata management integrated in the platform.
- Robust scheduling and workflow orchestration with detailed logging and recovery capabilities.
- Supports heterogeneous environments: on-prem, cloud, hybrid, and mainframe data sources.
Cons
- High total cost of ownership: expensive licensing, dedicated infrastructure, and specialized admins.
- User interface is dated; development and maintenance require specialized training, increasing time to onboard new users.
- Less agility for rapidly changing data needs vs. modern cloud-native ETL tools; upgrades and patches are time-consuming processes.
G2 Reviews:
What I like about Informatica PowerCenter
Informatica powercenter has been a classic , it has been in the industry for around 30 years and still is very relavant to the point , provide every possible connector and provides best mapping tools.
What I dislike about Informatica PowerCenter
the UI looks very old and sometimes it is very difficult to handle big big mappings as it needs lot of experience
What is Keboola
Keboola is a cloud-based data platform that lets users build, automate, and manage end-to-end data pipelines, from ingestion to transformation and export. It supports both code (SQL, Python, R) and no-code tools, with 700+ connectors and built-in governance features like versioning, audit logs, and cost tracking. Designed for flexibility and scale, Keboola suits teams needing customizable, secure workflows, though it may be more complex than necessary for simple ETL tasks.
Pros
- A very wide range of features
- Option to build custom components withe API first approach
- Transformations that support both ELT and ETL
- Good academy to learn
Cons
- Complex UI
- Orchestration features are lacking
- Can quickly become expensive with the credit consumption pricing model
- Smaller user base
A user on G2 said::
What I like about Keboola
What I like most is that Keboola is a very simple tool, allowing even a single person to manage the data pipelines of a large company.
What I dislike about Keboola
I would require better data transferring. I'd appreciate an improved way to move tables from one data bucket to another.
What is Weld
Weld is a powerful ETL platform that seamlessly integrates ELT, data transformations, reverse ETL, and AI-assisted features into one user-friendly solution. With its intuitive interface, Weld makes it easy for anyone, regardless of technical expertise, to build and manage data workflows. Known for its premium quality connectors, all built in-house, Weld ensures the highest quality and reliability for its users. It is designed to handle large datasets with near real-time data synchronization, making it ideal for modern data teams that require robust and efficient data integration solutions. Weld also leverages AI to automate repetitive tasks, optimize workflows, and enhance data transformation capabilities, ensuring maximum efficiency and productivity. Users can combine data from a wide variety of sources, including marketing platforms, CRMs, e-commerce platforms like Shopify, APIs, databases, Excel, Google Sheets, and more, providing a single source of truth for all their data.
Pros
- Lineage, orchestration, and workflow features
- Ability to handle large datasets and near real-time data sync
- ETL + reverse ETL in one
- User-friendly and easy to set up
- Flat monthly pricing model
- 200+ connectors (Shopify, HubSpot, etc.)
- AI assistant
Cons
- Requires some technical knowledge around data warehousing and SQL
- Limited features for advanced data teams
- Focused on cloud data warehouses
A reviewer on G2 said:
What I like about Weld
First and foremost, Weld is incredibly user-friendly. The graphical interface is intuitive, which makes it easy to build data workflows quickly and efficiently. Even with little experience in SQL and pipeline management, we found that Weld was straightforward and easy to use. What really impressed me, however, was Weld's flexibility. It was able to handle data from a wide variety of sources, including SQL databases, Google Sheets, and even APIs. The solution also allowed us to customize my data transformations in a way that best suited my needs. Whether I needed to clean data, join tables, or aggregate data, Weld had the necessary tools to accomplish the task. Weld's performance was also exceptional. I was able to run large-scale ETL jobs quickly and efficiently, with minimal downtime via a Snowflake instance and visualization via own-hosted Metabase. The solution's scalability meant that I could process more data without any issues. Another standout feature of Weld was its support. I never felt lost or unsure about how to use a particular feature, as the support team was always quick to respond to any questions or concerns that I had. Overall, I highly recommend Weld as an ETL solution. Its user-friendliness, flexibility, performance, and support make it an excellent choice for anyone looking to streamline their data integration processes. I will definitely be using Weld for all my ETL needs going forward.
What I dislike about Weld
Weld is still limited to a certain number of integrations - although the team is super interested to hear if you need custom integrations.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Ease of Use & Interface
Informatica PowerCenter
PowerCenter’s Designer and Workflow Manager GUIs are comprehensive but dated. Developers need formal training to use transformation and mapping components effectively. The metadata integration assists with governance but adds complexity.
Keboola
Keboola is powerful for users who need extensive customization and flexibility in their data operations, but its complex UI can be a challenge for beginners.
Pricing & Affordability
Informatica PowerCenter
Pricing is custom enterprise quotes—often $100k+ per year depending on nodes and users. Best for large enterprises that need high SLAs and rich feature sets; impractical for startups or small teams.
Keboola
Keboola's pricing can become expensive quickly due to its credit consumption model, making it a better fit for users who can optimize their usage effectively.
Feature Set
Informatica PowerCenter
Includes: visual mapping designer, advanced transformations (data cleansing, lookups, aggregation), parallel processing, workflow orchestration, metadata manager, data quality, master data management, and extensive connectivity (mainframe to cloud).
Keboola
The platform offers a wide range of features, including support for both ELT and ETL transformations, and is well-suited for advanced users needing comprehensive data management capabilities.
Flexibility & Customization
Informatica PowerCenter
Highly customizable via Expression Transformations, Java Transformations, and stored procedure calls. Integration with command tasks allows custom scripts. However, it’s not open-source; you rely on Informatica for feature updates.
Keboola
Keboola provides extensive flexibility with options to build custom components using an API-first approach, but this flexibility requires a deep understanding of the platform's capabilities and architecture.
Summary of Informatica PowerCenter vs Keboola vs Weld
| Weld | Informatica PowerCenter | Keboola | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connectors | 200+ | 200+ | 200+ |
| Price | $79 / 5M Active Rows | Enterprise licensing (six-figure annual contracts) | Custom price |
| Free tier | No | No | Yes |
| Location | EU | Redwood City, CA, USA (Informatica HQ) | CR |
| Extract data (ETL) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sync data to HubSpot, Salesforce, Klaviyo, Excel etc. (reverse ETL) | Yes | No | Yes |
| Transformations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI Assistant | Yes | No | No |
| On-Premise | No | Yes | Yes |
| Orchestration | Yes | Yes | No |
| Lineage | Yes | Yes | No |
| Version control | Yes | Yes | No |
| Load data to and from Excel | Yes | Yes | No |
| Load data to and from Google Sheets | Yes | No | No |
| Two-Way Sync | Yes | No | No |
| dbt Core Integration | Yes | No | Yes |
| dbt Cloud Integration | Yes | No | No |
| OpenAPI / Developer API | Yes | Yes | No |
| G2 Rating | 4.8 | 4.3 | 4.7 |
Conclusion
You’re comparing Informatica PowerCenter, Keboola, Weld. Each of these tools has its own strengths:
- Informatica PowerCenter: includes: visual mapping designer, advanced transformations (data cleansing, lookups, aggregation), parallel processing, workflow orchestration, metadata manager, data quality, master data management, and extensive connectivity (mainframe to cloud). . pricing is custom enterprise quotes—often $100k+ per year depending on nodes and users. best for large enterprises that need high slas and rich feature sets; impractical for startups or small teams. .
- Keboola: the platform offers a wide range of features, including support for both elt and etl transformations, and is well-suited for advanced users needing comprehensive data management capabilities.. keboola's pricing can become expensive quickly due to its credit consumption model, making it a better fit for users who can optimize their usage effectively..
- Weld: weld integrates elt, data transformations, and reverse etl all within one platform. it also provides advanced features such as data lineage, orchestration, workflow management, and an ai assistant, which helps in automating repetitive tasks and optimizing workflows.. weld offers a straightforward and competitive pricing model, starting at $79 for 5 million active rows, making it more affordable and predictable, especially for small to medium-sized enterprises..
