Today’s digital landscape is heavily dependent on data, and with development teams globally churning out data management software and services routinely, this reliance is increasing. One such popular example is Fivetran. But despite its popularity and widespread use, the software is far from perfect and there are many Fivetran alternatives in the market with better offerings.

Data is challenging to manage and consolidate, considering the multiple sources it is fetched from. It is the reason why Data Integration Platforms exist today to aid data scientists, analysts, and software developers to build bigger and more complex pipelines without the stresses of improper unification and consolidation. 

Most businesses have existing external data sources but accessing them is a challenge. Today, we’ll be listing down the 7 best alternatives you can use in place of Fivetran. Once you’re finished reading this post, you’ll know exactly what to look for in a data integration tool and be fully equipped with the knowledge to pick the right Fivetran alternative for your data consolidation needs.

What is Fivetran?

Fivetran is a leader in the data integration space and uses automation to automatically adapt and consolidate data from a variety of sources. The software was born out of the necessity to help businesses move away from traditional ETL tools that underperformed on modern cloud-based architectures.

Headquartered in California, the company has become a global leader featuring robust clientele such as Autodesk, ASOS, Lufthansa, and DocuSign.

Fivetran helps improve the accuracy of data-driven decisions by letting analysts work with the latest data and continuously sync data from source to destination. The company also automates warehouse transformations to accelerate analytics and aids in managing ready-to-query schemas.

Understanding The Reasons For Fivetran’s Global Popularity

I. Fivetran Charges For Consumed Rows

The software only charges for the amount of ‘monthly active rows’. In simple terms, you pay for your usage, and the pricing scales logarithmically. While the software has other pricing models available, paying for row consumption is a vital part of its functionality.

When you replicate data through Fivetran, the worth of credit scales with it. More rows are added too once the credit goes up.

II. Fivetran Doesn’t Require Engineering

The software effectively replaces manual engineering and the need to hire multiple data engineers and analysts, thanks to automation. The UI is simple to understand and use as well which makes the software easy to program to fetch and organize data.

III. Fivetran Transforms Data Using ELT

The software doesn’t rely on ETL and simplifies processing using ELT for cloud-based architectures. Data is first loaded and then transformed as opposed to the legacy ETL method.

There are pros and cons to ELT. ELT helps lower the duration to load data and has fewer instances of failed data transformations that could break the pipeline; however, it postpones the heavy lifting of data transformation until later and can cause messy data to linger in the warehouse.

IV. Fivetran Features Pre-built Connectors

The software has 160+ data connectors to choose from including: 

• Shopify
• Zendesk
• Mailchimp
• Salesforce 
• Facebook Ads

These connectors help companies to save time and effort by creating an automated flow of data. Plus, the software keeps adding newer connectors in almost every iteration.

4 Reasons To Pick Other Data Integration Platforms

Fivetran is far from the complete solution and most users will note the following challenges with the ELT tool:

A. Slow Support Desk

Responses from support staff tend to be slow in case of UI or feature issues. While the company strives to provide unparalleled support to its users, many customers have claimed that their customer service and helpdesk can be slow to respond to queries and problems.

B. Lack Of Enterprise Data Management Capabilities

Fivetran does not have auto-discovery of data semantics, data governance, and data quality capabilities. This lack of data management capabilities requires companies to have a separate data management system (DMS).

C. Limited Transformation

The software lacks pre-load data transforming capabilities. Fivetran also uses dbt for complex transformations, which leads companies to handle multiple software and tools when most other options combine data integration and data management in the same package.

D. Lacks Integration Capabilities

Fivetran lacks many integrations that would make working with data more extensive. While it does have more than 150 connectors, integration with other tools is limited, and exporting data or working in parallel is very difficult. Most other options on our list help correct this issue by providing external integration support.

7 Of The Best Fivetran Alternatives

Here is a detailed comparison of the 8 best Fivetran alternatives that can improve your business intelligence.

1. Estuary – Top Pick

Estuary is our first pick on the list of the best Fivetran alternatives and reserves this spot thanks to it being a complete package. The Estuary Flow data integration software is a real-time ELT tool that can help engineers and business users alike build future-proof pipelines. Our software is just as easy to set up as Fivetran and can handle both historical and real-time datasets.

Our flagship Estuary Flow can guide data through its entire lifecycle from collection to operationalization and its event-based pipelines collect new data instantly from all data sources. Data teams around the world leverage Flow as a real-time CDC and ELT tool.

The software has built-in schema validation and unit testing features, ensuring that your data is as accurate as possible. Data transformation and scalability features also make Flow a handy software for most companies. Our solution is available for cloud-based and self-hosted environments.

The platform has turnkey support for your databases, SaaS, cloud providers, and warehouses because of the hundreds of connectors already pre-built into it. You can browse the complete list of sources and destinations here.

Pros And Cons Of Estuary

2. Matillion – Best For Logical Data Management

Matillion is a data integration platform with cloud-ready use cases that helps in the orchestration and transformation of data. The software allows quick ingestion of data from any source and has connectors and pipelines that are easy to deploy.

Mattilion’s Change Data Capture also helps simplify data pipeline management and batch loading from a singular control panel. The platform is low-code, which implies that it doesn’t need development teams to help set it up.

What’s more, Mattlion’s ELT system has data lakes, preparation, and analytics all rolled into one platform, making it the most versatile option on our list.

Pros And Cons Of Mattilion

3. Stitch – Best For Streamlining Data Enhancements

Stitch is a pre-built analysis-ready ETL platform built for data teams that allow great control over all data sources. The software does not require any coding to set up and is great for enterprises of all scales and sizes. Platforms such as IndieGoGo, Postman, and InstaPage all utilize the platform for their data integration and management requirements.

Stitch has compatibility with other data platforms too and can present and offload data after acquiring it from some of the most popular data sources such as: 

• Asana
• GitHub
• SQL Server
• Oracle Eloqua
• Microsoft Azure
• Amazon PostgreSQL

Stitch also gives companies the power to analyze, secure, and govern their data by centralizing it into their data infrastructure and warehouses. Its pricing model is also flexible but most companies may find it on the expensive side, especially compared to some of the other options on our list.

Pros And Cons Of Stitch

4. Oracle GoldenGate – Best For Managing Replication Data

Oracle GoldenGate is a real-time mesh platform that allows users to analyze and interpret data within the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. The software uses replication to keep data highly available and enables real-time analysis.

GoldenGate also lets users integrate data with existing technologies such as: 

• Kafka
• NoSQL
• Hadoop
• BigQuery
• MongoDB

It provides real-time capturing of  CSV, JSON, and Avro files in Kafka and JMS queues too. Users have the option to stream transactional data into Kafka, REST, Autonomous Database, or other data lakes. 

The program has extensive API compatibility and even has additional features such as automated scaling which helps companies and analysts achieve optimal workloads without downtimes and delays.

And with automated monitoring on its graphical user interface, the program is the best tool to remain updated with your data processing progress.

Pros And Cons Of Oracle GoldenGate

5. Hitachi Vantara (Pentaho Data Integration) – Best For Bulk Data

Hitachi Vantara (formerly Pentaho Data Integration [PDI]) provides ETL capabilities to end users and IoT technologies and facilitates the process of ingesting, cleaning, and storing data in an accessible form.

The software has a host of repositories that can be easily configured and managed to help manage and export data content with version control capabilities. Furthermore, the platform can transform data using ETL tasks and has multiple tools for data mining and data extraction.

Hitachi Vantara also features best-in-class reporting tools and has great flexibility and integration options built-in. Analysts can use almost any source for data integration and have up-to-date documentation too. 

Finally, since the platform is open-source, it is completely free to use and has great support from the PDI community too that extends its features and keeps the platform up to date.

Pros And Cons Of Hitachi Vantara

6. Qlik Integrate – Best For Comprehensive Data Integration

Qlik Data Integration is a modern platform that delivers real-time analytics-ready data to any environment. The integration platform has support for many environments from Qlik to Tableau, Power BI, and more.

The platform features real-time data streaming using CDC and can extend enterprise data into live streams. This helps businesses power modern analytics and microservices with a simple universal solution. 

Qlik Integrate can also quickly design, build, deploy and manage purpose-built cloud data warehouses without manual coding. Automation of data is a breeze too using its managed data lake creation techniques.

Pros And Cons Of Qlik Integrate

7. FME (Safe Software) – Best For Spatial Data

Safe Software (formerly, FME) is a data integration solution for modern enterprises of all scales and sizes. As the only integration solution focused on spatial data, it can help eliminate data silos and transition information between 450+ apps using FME’s visual interface.

Users can also use the tool to transform data and automate workflows. Today, the company has garnered a lot of attention and praise with names like Shell, McDonald’s, and Alabama Power, all using the platform for their data management and integration needs.

Pros And Cons Of FME (Safe Software)

What To Look For In A Fivetran Alternative?

Every organization has different needs and requirements. It is impossible to find a Fivetran alternative that “suits all”. But there are a few aspects that you must take into account before making the final purchase decision. It will be your guiding light if you match the elements listed below with the needs that are unique to your business.

A. Instant Data Previews

At any point in the flow, the input or output data should be previewable by a data integration platform before it is executed. Data previews can help with better flexibility and visibility into the mappings and even has the additional benefit of letting users check for issues at different stages and correct them before ruining the entire workflow.

Clean and refined data can be processed well and is much more valuable and instantly used to extract useful insights and statistics.

B. Quick Data Processing

Another trait you should look for in any data integration tool is its ability to quickly and efficiently process volumes of data.  Most of the options on our list work with an ELT model and are relatively quick. Plus, with plenty of integrations on their side, workloads automatically become faster and more efficient.

However, only a few of the options here offer true real-time data integration, which might be vital for your use case. Similarly, pick a platform that has support for multiple integrations and sources.

C. Support for Your Most Important Source Systems/Formats

You cannot call data integration software a complete solution if it doesn’t integrate data from multiple resources. Companies today rely on a whole host of systems. The best option for your company will be a platform that has robust support for your most valued systems. Without these integrations, all the other features of the platform are virtually useless.

D. Protection Against Failure

Data pipelines can fail for a variety of reasons: schema mismatches or changes in the source data; server outages; transformation errors, and more. At minimum, make sure that your data integration platform validates data and can be re-deployed without data loss in the event of failure. Likely, you’ll want more robust mechanisms than just these.

E. Provide Multiple Deployment Options

A data integration platform must support operating environments both on-premises and in the cloud. Since ETL tools are still present and in use, having the option to support cloud-based and server-based solutions is key for any data integration platform.

While the world is transitioning away from in-warehouse data storage and management, an entirely cloud-based option may not be the best yet since the transition isn’t still complete. Having a tool that can perform a double duty is essential.

Conclusion

Data integration platforms are a core part of today’s robust IT environments and data-hungry architectures. Most software will tick some of the boxes for your unique needs but no single type is going to be the ideal one. It is especially true for Fivetran and you may find that other options on our list may fit your specific requirements better.

In our list of the 8 best Fivetran alternatives, each tool has its unique trait (and flaw). While the top three are listed in terms of overall capabilities, selecting any one of them can get your data integration requirements underway.

My preference for the best data integration tool is Estuary because of its versatility and scalability features, followed by dbt and Mattilion for their expansive feature list. To learn more about Estuary products and solutions and how they can help in informed decision-making and subsequent scalability of your business, visit our website.

Or if you’d rather try Flow out, you can get started for free today.