Data integration tools are vital for organizations that collect a vast amount of data. These tools help integrate the data from various sources into a coherent view. With a unified view, you can easily access and quickly comprehend the data to derive actionable information. By delivering a unified view of data from numerous sources, data integration also simplifies BI analysis processes.

However, a range of data integration tools is available in the market today. Choosing the right one to suit your data needs is challenging. You might be tempted to rush and buy any random integration tool. But you must determine precisely what you need and make an informed choice.

Let’s see the top tools for data integration. Once you know the pros and cons of each tool, you can select the ideal one for all your requirements.

What is Data Integration?

Data integration is a process of combining data from different sources into centralized storage. Using data integration, you can synchronize various digital tools and technologies into an accessible, unified platform. Centralized storage will help you with efficient data management, derive meaningful insights, and gain actionable business intelligence.

The data integration process involves the following steps:

• Determine your data requirements
   
• Collect, consolidate, transform, and store data
   
• Reconstruct data into usable information for reporting and analysis

Data integration helps businesses unify different organizational entities to enhance collaboration. 

8 Best Data Integration Tools

Different data integration tools can serve organizations of different sizes and varied needs. With the right tool, you can achieve better data quality, improved data governance, and enhanced BI capabilities.

So, let’s look at the eight best data integration tools available in the market.

Estuary

Estuary is a comprehensive data integration platform with superior features and capabilities. 

Estuary Flow is one of the top data pipeline tools, and its powerful real-time ETL and CDC capability is one of its key strengths. It combines a variety of database, SaaS, filestore, and other connectors and an easy-to-use interface for instant data transfer.

Flow has an intuitive GUI-based web application that you can use for building and managing data pipelines. This web app is the central, low-code environment to create, manage, and monitor data flows. 

If you want to sync data between two different systems in real time, Flow is an excellent choice. It’s easy to connect to a wide range of data sources and destinations since it supports many connectors. All these features make Flow a flexible solution to handle data integration tasks of any size or complexity.

Pros

• Flexible and scalable platform which is suitable for small and medium businesses and the enterprise
   
• GUI-based web application helps you build and manage data pipelines
   
• On-the-fly transformations with SQL and TypeScript
   
• Includes data governance and security features for sensitive data
   
• Combines capabilities of ETL, ELT, and CDC

Cons

• Not as well-established as other data integration tools since it’s a newer tool

If you want to get your data where you want it in milliseconds, try Estuary Flow for free. It provides a comprehensive data integration platform that is suitable for a variety of data integration tasks. 

Informatica

Informatica PowerCenter is a GUI-based data integration tool. It’s a comprehensive platform that you can use for data integration, migration, and validation. You can combine all your business data into a trusted, unified view with zero-code data integration.

PowerCenter works on data integration through ETL architecture. It can connect to and fetch data from multiple heterogeneous sources and perform data processing. Some other PowerCenter solutions include data masking, data virtualization, and master data management.

If you have several legacy data sources that are primarily on-premise, Informatica’s PowerCenter is a good choice.

Pros

• Seamlessly scales with Big Data needs
   
• The debugger option helps identify failure points in data mappings
   
• Pipeline partitioning and push-down optimizations
   
• Helps synchronize geographically distributed team members
   
• Serverless deployment results in zero overhead

Cons

• Suitable mainly for midsize businesses and large enterprises
   
• Slightly expensive
   
• You must adapt your data architecture to the solution’s design

SnapLogic

SnapLogic, or SnapLogic Intelligent Integration Platform, is a robust data integration tool with self-service functionality. 

SnapLogic’s browser-based interface comes with 500+ pre-built modifiable connectors called Snaps. It is ideal for any non-technical person in an enterprise to build simple data pipelines. You don’t need to take any help from the IT or data departments for data integration with SnapLogic. Instead, you can use the vendor’s AI assistant, Iris, and the tool’s click-and-go feature for creating robust data pipelines.

Pros

• Runs automatic data quality checks in the background
   
• No technical knowledge is required to integrate a data source into a destination
   
• AI assistant to help integrate platforms
   
• Uses multiple graphs and charts to display ETL job progress

Cons

• Doesn’t provide a lot of customization or code introspections
   
• Focus of the pre-built connectors is only on enterprise SaaS apps

Dell

Dell Boomi is a cloud-based integration tool from Dell that helps connect your applications, data, and people to accelerate your digital transformation. It’s a data integration platform as a service (iPaaS) that supports on-premise, cloud, or even hybrid architectures. 

The Boomi platform is self-managing, self-learning, and self-scaling. It is based on a flexible and scalable runtime layer and offers a complete range of subscribable services. You can select from a large library of pre-built application connectors and integration recipes to jumpstart your integrations. By plugging into Boomi connectors, you can eliminate the time-consuming task of data exchange between applications.

Pros

• Self-managing, self-learning, and self-scaling
   
• Automation of data transformation 
   
• Provides real-time automatic updates
   
• Supports all-size organizations, from small businesses to enterprises
   
• Supports 180+ software for easy integration with industry-leading software

Cons

• Doesn’t scale well for Big Data use cases
   
• Connectors like Excel and CSV files are missing
   
• Advertising SaaS platforms are missing
   
• Lacks parallelization and messaging features for real-time data streaming

Talend

Talend is a data integration and management platform. It offers two products—Talend Data Fabric and Stitch. Talend Data Fabric is a unified platform for reliable and accessible data. And Stitch is a fully-managed data pipeline for analytics.  

However, Talend also has an open-source solution, Talend Open Studio, that can help you kickstart your first data integration and ETL projects. You can use Talend Open Studio for data processes that require lightweight workflows. But, if you’d like to move large amounts of data, requiring massive resources, Talend Open Studio might not be a good choice. 

Pros

• Helpful in building scalable ELT and ETL data pipelines
   
• Capable of both simple and complex transformations
   
• Helps you visualize data pipelines
   
• Over 800+ connectors to help integrate data and business endpoints

Cons

• Several Big Data features are not available in the open-source version
   
• Writing transformations is labor-intensive
   
• Lacks proper documentation 

Jitterbit

Jitterbit is a cloud integration solution that allows you to connect applications, data, and systems effortlessly. It offers Jitterbit Harmony a low-code integration platform that enables you to create data workflows without writing code. It has pre-built templates that help you quickly move common business processes with the right kind of transformation. 

You can also use its management console to get an overview of all the data integration tasks. So, you can monitor, manage, and control all your data flow tasks from one place. 

Pros

• Suitable for small businesses and large enterprises
   
• Scripting option for extended capabilities in integration

Cons

• Lacks intuitive UI
   
• Higher price than other ETL tools 

Oracle

Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) is one of the most renowned data integration tools. It provides uninterrupted data access across multiple systems. Whatever could be your data integration requirements, ODI covers it all. You can use it for high-volume, high-performance batch loads, or event-driven trickle-feed integration processes.

ODI features seamless data integration for SaaS and SOA-enabled data services. It also automatically detects faulty data during the data load and transform processes. Upon seeing faulty data, ODI recycles it before loading it again.

If you have an existing Oracle ecosystem with large volumes of data on different sources, consider using ODI.

Pros

• Easy-to-use interface
   
• Vast choice of transformation options
   
• Impressive scalability and performance

Cons

• More expensive than peer integration tools

8. SAP