Choosing Between Microsoft Fabric, Azure Synapse Analytics and Azure Data Factory (Presented at SQLBits on March 23rd, 2024)

1. © 2024 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

2. © 2024 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
You are a
data engineer

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You are starting
a new project

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Which tool
do you use?

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Azure Data Factory?
Azure Synapse Analytics?
Microsoft Fabric?

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It Depends

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What does it
depend on?

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Let's take
a look!

9. © 2024 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Choosing Between
Microsoft Fabric,
Azure Synapse Analytics
and Azure Data Factory
Cathrine Wilhelmsen

10. © 2024 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Session Description
You're starting a new project where you need to ingest, store, transform and prepare data. Business
users have already decided that they want to use Power BI (of course), but you need to decide
which service to use for the data integration layer.
Do you choose:
• Azure Data Factory?
• Azure Synapse Analytics?
• Microsoft Fabric?
If you're not sure what the right answer is for your project, then this session is for you!
We will start with an overview of the three services and the most common architectures where they
shine. Then, we will compare their capabilities and features, and list the most important factors for
deciding which one is right for our project. Finally, because we all know we will be asked "how much
will it cost?", we will look at the pricing model for each service.

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@cathrinew
cathrinew.net

12. © 2024 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Azure
Data Factory

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What is Azure Data Factory?
Standalone service for:
• Data Integration
• Workflow Orchestration
• Scheduling

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Ingest Data Transform Data

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Orchestrate
Workflows
Ingest Data Transform Data

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Azure Synapse
Analytics

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What is Azure Synapse Analytics?
Unified analytics platform:
• Data Integration
• Data Lake
• Data Warehousing
• Big Data Analytics
• Time-Series Analytics
• Data Science

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What is Azure Synapse Analytics?
Three engines:
• SQL Pools
(Dedicated / Serverless)
• Spark
• Data Explorer

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What is Azure Synapse Analytics?
Pick and choose which
components to use!
Can be used for small,
cost-effective solutions
Or enterprise-scale,
expensive solutions

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Synapse Dedicated SQL
Data Warehousing with
complete control of:
• Distribution
• Partitioning
• Indexing
• Workloads
Enterprise-grade

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Synapse Serverless SQL
Query files using SQL:
• CSV Files
• Parquet Files
• JSON Files
Can be very cheap!

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Microsoft
Fabric

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How is Microsoft Fabric different?
New, shiny icons!
(Ok, it’s more than just the icons…)

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How is Microsoft Fabric different?
Same concept, new
underlying architecture
Same functionality,
different users and
scenarios

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OneLake storing one copy of all your data in an open format
Built-in security, governance and compliance
Data
Factory
Data
Engineering
Data
Warehouse
Data
Science
Real-Time
Analytics
Power
BI
Data
Activator

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Decision factors
How do you choose?

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What kind of architecture?
• Data Lake
• Data Warehouse
• Data Lakehouse
• Data Mesh

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Who are the users?
• IT Professionals
• Power Users
• Business Users

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How many solutions?
• Single Solution
• Distributed Solution
• Client Projects

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Pricing
How much will it cost?

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Azure Data Factory
Pay-as-you-go:
• Operations
• Orchestration
• Pipeline Activities
• Data Movement
• Data Transformations

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Azure Synapse Analytics
Pay-as-you-go:
• Data Integration
• Spark Pools
• Data Explorer Pools
• Dedicated SQL Pools
• Serverless SQL Pools

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Microsoft Fabric
Pay-as-you-go:
• Pay-per-second
• Scale / Pause / Resume at higher cost
Reserved pricing:
• Pay monthly or yearly (monthly commitment)

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Let’s compare!
Answers to common questions

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Are Azure Data Factory and
Azure Synapse Analytics dead?

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Should I always use
Microsoft Fabric?

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Which one do you choose?
Standalone Service
Data Integration
Analytics Platform
From a Technical Perspective
All-in-one Service
From a Business Perspective

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Which one do you choose?

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Thank you!
hi@cathrinew.net
@cathrinew
cathrinew.net