Airbyte vs Fivetran: ELT Tools Compared (2025)

Airbyte vs Fivetran: A Complete ELT Tools Comparison

If you are comparing Airbyte and Fivetran, the core difference is control versus convenience. Airbyte is open source and developer friendly, giving teams flexibility, customization, and lower upfront costs. Fivetran, in contrast, is a fully managed SaaS platform known for its reliability, broad connector coverage, and ease of use, though it often comes with higher and less predictable costs.

Both tools help move data from sources like databases and SaaS applications into destinations such as Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift, but they take very different approaches. Airbyte depends on batch-based ELT and community-built connectors, while Fivetran delivers a managed, plug and play experience.

For teams that need real time delivery, lower latency, or unified CDC and streaming pipelines, Estuary, the Right Time Data Platform, offers a modern alternative. Right time means you can choose when data moves, whether sub second, near real time, or batch, all with predictable total cost of ownership.

This guide compares Airbyte vs Fivetran across latency, scalability, cost, connector quality, and transformation capabilities, and briefly introduces Estuary as a modern right time alternative to help you choose the best tool for your data integration needs in 2025.

Key Takeaways

• Airbyte is best for teams that want open source flexibility and are comfortable managing infrastructure and connector maintenance.
• Fivetran is ideal for organizations that prioritize ease of use and managed reliability but can tolerate batch latency and higher costs.
• Estuary, the Right Time Data Platform, delivers dependable data movement across streaming and batch workloads.
• Right time means you can choose when data moves — sub second, near real time, or batch — to balance performance, cost, and business needs.
• Estuary provides exactly once delivery, unified CDC and ELT, and predictable total cost of ownership, making it the most complete option for modern data pipelines.

Introduction to Airbyte, Fivetran, and Estuary

Before diving into the detailed comparison, let’s start with a summary of each platform.

Airbyte: Open-Source ELT Tool Overview

Airbyte is an open-source ELT platform founded in 2020, originally as a Singer-based framework. They have since moved away from the Singer protocol but still support Singer connectors. They currently only support 50 native connectors; the rest come from their open-source marketplace. 

They later released their cloud service in 2022. Despite being a relatively new entrant in the market, Airbyte has quickly gained popularity as an open-source option. While it is one of the lower-cost options, it only supports batch-based ELT, with transforms being done using external tools like dbt (Data Build Tool). It is also not as scalable or reliable as some others like Estuary or Fivetran. 

• Founded: 2020
• Headquarters: San Francisco, California
• Unique Selling Point: Open-source or cloud, with a library of open-source connectors.

Fivetran: Managed SaaS ELT Platform Features

Fivetran was originally founded in 2012, and after a few years began to focus just on data integration. In 2020 it integrated dbt core into its SaaS offering, and started to add change data capture (CDC). Today it is one of the more widely used ELT tools for data integration in the market. 

Fivetran has several strengths including its ease of use, number of native and lite (API) connectors, its scalability, and reliability.  It also has many features you’d expect in a more mature platform, including various load options. However, Fivetran pricing is a common concern, as it is the most expensive ELT tool on the market. Several users complain about high, unpredictable costs, in part due to how it measures monthly active rows (MAR). For a detailed breakdown, visit Fivetran Pricing Model.

It is also, like most other ELT tools, batch-only ELT that can only load one destination at a time. If you need to lower latency or load multiple destinations, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

• Founded: 2012
• Headquarters: Oakland, California
• Unique Selling Point: Easy-to-use SaaS ELT with a large number of connectors that are reliable and scale.

Estuary: Right-time 

Estuary, founded in 2019, is the Right Time Data Platform that unifies change data capture (CDC), streaming, and batch data movement in one system. Right time means teams can choose when data moves, whether sub second, near real time, or batch, depending on their workloads.

Built on the Gazette open source project, Estuary’s architecture has evolved for more than a decade to power low latency, high throughput data processing at scale. It combines open source foundations with a modern SaaS experience that simplifies the creation and management of data pipelines.

Estuary supports both real time and batch sources and destinations, making it a strong choice for organizations that need dependable pipelines not just for data warehouses, but also for operational analytics and event driven systems.

Key strengths include ease of use, with the ability to create new pipelines in minutes, unified CDC and streaming capabilities, support for both ETL and ELT, and enterprise reliability with exactly once delivery. Estuary also provides predictable total cost of ownership through transparent usage based pricing, giving teams flexibility and control as they scale.

While it currently has fewer native connectors than Fivetran, Estuary offers broad compatibility with open source ecosystems and continues to expand its native connector library rapidly.

• Founded: 2019
• Headquarters: New York, New York
• Unique Selling Point: Right time CDC and streaming, unified ETL and ELT, scalable performance, and predictable pricing.

Feature Comparison of Airbyte vs Fivetran vs Estuary

The table below provides an updated snapshot of key features across Airbyte, Fivetran, and Estuary, based on their current 2025 capabilities.

1. Pipeline Latency: Airbyte vs Fivetran vs Estuary

How data is moved and processed through a pipeline is one of the most important factors when choosing a data integration platform. Each vendor takes a different approach to latency, scalability, and reliability.

Airbyte: Batch CDC and ELT

Airbyte primarily uses batch processing for data extraction and loading. Its CDC support, built largely on Debezium, also operates in scheduled intervals rather than continuously. Airbyte offers five sync modes that combine incremental and full refresh approaches, including append and deduped variants.

• Full Refresh Overwrite: Re-syncs all data from the source and replaces existing records.
• Full Refresh Append: Re-syncs all data and appends to existing records.
• Full Refresh Overwrite with Deduplication: Overwrites existing data after deduplication.
• Incremental Append: Syncs only new or modified records.
• Incremental Append with Deduplication: Syncs only changed records and merges duplicates.

Airbyte’s pipelines are append-only, meaning they do not update rows in place. Deletions are handled as “soft deletes,” where a new record with a delete flag is appended. This batch model is suitable for warehouse-based analytics but introduces latency when near-real-time data is needed.

Fivetran: Batch CDC and ELT

Fivetran also relies on batch processing for CDC and ELT. Even though it captures change data, it reads updates in timed intervals rather than continuously. This can increase latency and, in some cases, add read pressure on the source database, especially for high-volume transactional systems.

Fivetran’s managed design simplifies setup and reliability but limits flexibility for workloads that require sub-minute or event-driven updates.

Estuary: Right Time Streaming and Batch

Estuary supports both right-time streaming and batch processing within the same architecture. Right-time means teams can choose when data moves — sub-second, near real time, or scheduled batch — depending on their operational or analytical needs.

Data changes are captured as soon as they occur and can be streamed continuously to one or multiple destinations. This architecture reduces latency, supports exactly-once delivery, and scales elastically for both streaming and batch workloads.

Advantages of Estuary’s Right-Time Processing:

• Low latency: Delivers fresh data in near real time.
• Elastic scalability: Handles high-volume streaming and batch pipelines with reliability.
• Flexibility: Works seamlessly with both event-driven and scheduled syncs across databases, warehouses, and SaaS platforms.

Category Insight:

Estuary leads in this category due to its unified right-time architecture, which enables continuous data movement alongside batch workflows, giving teams the flexibility to balance freshness, cost, and performance.

2. Data Connectors: Airbyte vs Fivetran vs Estuary

The availability and flexibility of data connectors are critical in determining a data integration platform’s versatility. Connectors serve as standardized components that enable communication between data sources and destinations, forming the foundation of any data movement system.

Airbyte: Extensive Open Source Connector Ecosystem

Airbyte offers one of the largest connector libraries in the open-source ELT ecosystem, with over 600 total connectors. However, only around 150 are maintained by Airbyte’s core team, while the remainder are community-built and maintained through its open marketplace.

• Custom Connector Support: Airbyte provides several options for building connectors, including an API-based Connector Builder, a low-code CDK (using YAML), and a full Python SDK for advanced users.
• Community Contributions: Roughly half of Airbyte’s connectors come from community developers, creating a fast-growing but uneven ecosystem in terms of reliability.
• Future Outlook: Airbyte aims to reach more than 1,000 connectors, though scaling quality and maintenance remains an ongoing challenge.

Fivetran: Managed and Lite Connectors

Fivetran offers over 500 connectors, of which around 400 are fully managed and maintained in-house. The remaining 100+ are Lite connectors, lightweight API-based integrations that rely on simplified extraction logic and longer refresh intervals.

• Custom Connector Limitations: Fivetran does not offer direct custom connector development. Users needing unsupported data sources must rely on Lite connectors or partner-built integrations, often resulting in slower updates and additional costs.
• Enterprise Focus: Fivetran’s connectors are optimized for stability, documentation, and compliance, making them appealing for enterprises that prioritize reliability over flexibility.

Estuary: Native and Open Connector Hybrid

Estuary takes a hybrid approach by combining its high-performance native connectors with open source compatibility. As the Right Time Data Platform, Estuary enables connectors that operate across both streaming and batch modes, allowing data to move when it matters most — sub second, near real time, or scheduled batch.

• Focus on High-Performance Technologies: Estuary’s 200+ native connectors are built for right time streaming, strong CDC reliability, and scalable performance across databases, warehouses, and SaaS systems.
• Open Source Compatibility: Estuary extends coverage through support for 500+ community connectors from Airbyte, Meltano, and Stitch, ensuring flexibility without sacrificing performance.

Category Insight

The best platform depends on your priorities:

• Airbyte is ideal for teams that value open-source extensibility and community-driven expansion.
• Fivetran offers the broadest selection of native connectors with managed reliability.
• Estuary uniquely supports right time streaming and batch connectors, combining native performance with open-source flexibility for the most versatile data integration approach.

3. Data Transformation: Airbyte vs Fivetran vs Estuary

Data transformation is the process of converting data from one format to another, or updating, enriching, merging or joining data. Transforms are critical to any data pipeline. There are two modes, ETL, where transforms are done as part of the data movement, and ELT, where the transforms are done inside the destination using SQL or tools like dbt.

Airbyte: Basic translation, and dbt support for ELT

As an ELT platform, Airbyte focuses on extracting and loading data first, with transformations typically occurring after the data has been loaded into the destination system.

• Transformation Options: Airbyte offers basic transformation capabilities, allowing users to retrieve data as a serialized JSON object or a normalized version as tables. Custom transformations can be performed using SQL, and deeper integrations are possible with dbt.
• Limitations: Airbyte’s transformation capabilities are relatively basic compared to other platforms, as it does not perform transformations before loading the data.

Fivetran: Opinionated Normalization and ELT (dbt core)

Fivetran also follows an ELT model, but it offers more robust out-of-the-box transformation options compared to Airbyte.

• Opinionated Normalization: Fivetran normalizes data during the extract process, which can simplify loading data for users but also fixes the destination model. 
• Post-Load Transformations: Fivetran supports post-load transformations using SQL and dbt core, the open source part of dbt, allowing users to perform complex transformations after the data has been loaded into the destination system.

Estuary: Real-Time and batch ETL (SQL, TypeScript) and ELT (dbt)

Estuary stands out with its real-time transformation capabilities, which are integrated directly into its data pipelines.

• Transformations: Estuary allows users to perform real-time data transformations using SQL or TypeScript, which lets you accomplish just about any transforms. They work with real-time and batch data movement.
• Integration with dbt: Estuary’s integration with dbt enables users to perform ELT within their data warehouses, with the added advantage of real-time data feeding into dbt using incremental models.
• Webhooks for Customization: Estuary also supports customization through webhooks, allowing users to trigger specific actions or transformations based on real-time data events.

Category Winner – Estuary

Estuary’s real-time transformation capabilities, combined with its support for SQL,  TypeScript, and dbt, make it the best choice for businesses that require on-the-fly data transformations.

4. Platform Reliability and Support: Airbyte vs Fivetran vs Estuary

Reliability and support are two of the most important factors when selecting a data integration platform. Beyond performance, organizations need confidence that data will be delivered consistently and securely, along with timely support when issues arise.

Airbyte: Community-Supported and Configurable

As an open-source platform, Airbyte gives teams full control over deployment and customization, but reliability varies depending on how it is configured and maintained.

• Community Support: Airbyte benefits from an active community that contributes to connector development and troubleshooting through forums and GitHub. However, community-based fixes can take time to be reviewed and merged.
• Enterprise Support: Airbyte Cloud and Enterprise users can access paid support options that improve response times, though costs rise quickly with usage tiers.
• Reliability Considerations: Connector quality varies due to community contributions, and performance often depends on the underlying infrastructure managed by the user.

Fivetran: Managed Reliability with Limited Flexibility

Fivetran is designed for reliability through a fully managed SaaS model. Its connectors are extensively tested, and enterprise customers can rely on comprehensive SLAs and 24/7 support.

• Enterprise Support: Fivetran offers dedicated support plans with strong documentation and monitoring tools.
• Reliability Considerations: While dependable, Fivetran’s batch CDC can introduce latency and increased load on source systems during extraction cycles. A past multi-day outage in 2022 also raised concerns about dependency on a single managed environment.

Estuary: Reliable by Design with Right Time Delivery

Estuary is engineered for reliability and flexibility through its Right Time Data Platform architecture. It guarantees exactly once delivery and durable stream storage, ensuring that every change is captured and delivered without duplication or loss.

• Support Options: Estuary is recognized for its responsive and knowledgeable support team. Customers consistently highlight rapid resolution times and proactive engagement, with enterprise packages available for mission-critical workloads.
• Reliability Features: Estuary’s fault-tolerant architecture is built for right time performance, supporting both streaming and batch workloads without sacrificing consistency or scalability.

Category Insight

• Airbyte offers freedom and flexibility but depends on user management for reliability.
• Fivetran delivers strong managed reliability at a higher cost with batch limitations.
• Estuary leads this category with exactly once delivery, right time data movement, and high-touch customer support, making it ideal for dependable, large-scale operations.

Pricing Model: Airbyte vs Fivetran vs Estuary

Pricing is a critical factor when choosing a data integration platform, especially for businesses that need to scale. Understanding each tool’s cost structure will help you make an informed decision.

Airbyte Pricing

Airbyte offers a free self-hosted option for teams comfortable managing their own infrastructure. For its cloud service, Airbyte uses usage-based pricing (data volume or credits). As of 2025 Airbyte is rolling out a capacity-based pricing model for Teams and Enterprise, which aims to bring more predictability.

While this makes Airbyte cost-effective for self-hosters or small workloads, the cloud edition may become expensive at high volumes.

Fivetran Pricing

Fivetran uses a usage-based model centered on Monthly Active Rows (MAR), where each unique primary key synced within a month counts as one MAR. Pricing tiers include a free option for low volumes, then Standard and Enterprise levels. Available analyses show that recent updates in 2025 moved toward connector-level MAR billing, which may increase costs for multi-source workflows.

While Fivetran provides managed simplicity and enterprise support, its cost may scale more rapidly in high-volume or complex environments.

Estuary Pricing

Estuary presents transparent usage-based pricing. Their standard plan starts at $0.50 per GB moved, and associated connector instance fees begin at $100/month for the first six instances, then $50/month for additional instances. The free tier allows up to 10 GB/month and two connector instances. 

As a “Right-Time Data Platform,” Estuary’s pricing is designed to align with unified streaming and batch data movement — helping keep total cost of ownership (TCO) more predictable as data and pipeline complexity grow.

Category Insight

• For teams prioritizing full control and open source, Airbyte remains a strong choice—especially for self-hosting.
• For organizations prioritizing managed infrastructure and support, Fivetran is reliable, though its cost may grow significantly with scale and multiple data sources.
• For teams seeking streaming, near-real-time movement (right-time), and predictable TCO, Estuary offers compelling value and transparency.

Final Verdict: Airbyte vs Fivetran vs Estuary

Choosing the right data integration platform depends on your organization’s technical maturity, latency requirements, and growth strategy. Each of these tools has distinct advantages and trade-offs.

• Airbyte: Best suited for teams that prefer an open-source, community-driven approach. It provides flexibility and cost savings for self-hosted environments but requires engineering resources for setup, maintenance, and connector reliability.
• Fivetran: Ideal for enterprises that need a fully managed and reliable platform with minimal configuration. It excels in simplicity and compliance but operates on batch cycles and can become expensive as data volumes and sources grow.
• Estuary: The best choice for teams that need dependable, low-latency pipelines and unified streaming and batch integration. As the Right Time Data Platform, Estuary lets you choose when data moves — sub second, near real time, or batch — all with exactly once delivery, predictable total cost of ownership, and enterprise reliability.

Estuary delivers the balance between flexibility, cost efficiency, and performance that modern data-intensive businesses need.

Get Started with Estuary

Ready to experience dependable, right time data movement? Register here to get started with Estuary and build your first right time pipeline today.

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