Fivetran vs dbt comparison

Read 26 Fivetran reviews

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dbt

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Fivetran and dbt compete in the data management category, with Fivetran focusing on data integration and dbt on data transformation. dbt has a slight advantage due to its robust feature set and in-depth data modeling capabilities.

Features: Fivetran offers seamless data integration, automated data pipelines, and reliable data movement. dbt provides advanced data transformation, complex data modeling, and powerful version control and testing capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fivetran emphasizes ease of deployment with minimal setup and extensive support during integration. dbt requires a more complex setup but offers detailed documentation and strong community support.

Pricing and ROI: Fivetran offers an attractive pricing model beneficial for simple data integration tasks, providing clear ROI through time savings. dbt, while higher in initial cost due to setup complexity, offers significant ROI in terms of data precision and transformation.

To learn more, read our detailed Fivetran vs. dbt Report (Updated: April 2025).

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Fivetran vs. dbt

April 2025

Helped 846,617 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

dbt

Ranking in Data Integration

38th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Fivetran

Ranking in Data Integration

12th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Replication (3rd), Cloud Data Integration (8th)

Featured Reviews

Ninad Magdum

Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Happiest Minds Technologies

Developer-friendly and easy to use, but doesn't have many optimization options

We also use stored procedures and Talend. They are not replaced by dbt completely. We use dbt only for the transformation process. My recommendations would depend on an organization’s requirements and problems. I will recommend the tool to others. The product is developer-friendly. However, it is still dependent on the data warehouse for big data and optimization. It's just a SQL transformation tool. It doesn't have a lot of optimization options like Spark. It's a good tool for Snowflake. If it were only for Snowflake, I would have rated it an eight out of ten. However, there are other data platforms. Overall, I rate the tool a six and a half out of ten.

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Erik Jones

Head of BI and Analytics at HyperScience

Solution reduces time-to-value; high ROI

Fivetran has room for improvement in data pipeline observability. The Fivetran logs are fairly basic, compared to, for example, the insight Fivetran gives into helping users understanding the performance of data pipelines. So I think their observability into the pipeline itself could be improved. In addition, Fivetran is in the very early stages of allowing other companies to access its metadata API, but that's something that could use improvement, and I know that they're working on right now. We use a separate tool for "reverse ETL", which is the opposite of what Fivetran does; it pushes data from your data warehouse back out to business applications. If Fivetran pulls data from those same applications, they should also enable users to push it back. I would love to do both ETL and reverse ETL in the same tool. It would be nice if Fivetran offered both their regular offering plus the reverse ETL option as well.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The product is developer-friendly."

"Fivetran offers native connectivity with Sybase"

"The most important feature of the solution is its ability to build data pipelines in less time."

"It is easy for users to get accustomed to the tool due to its gentle learning curve and clear error transparency."

"The most valuable feature of Fivetran is that it only synchronizes what needs to be synchronized."

"The product has some seamless connectors, which are readily available."

"For us, Fivetran has been able to scale both in terms of the data we bring into our warehouse and the amount of data that we use as well."

"The solution is stable. We've never faced any stability issues."

"The portal is very intuitive and easy to use."

More Fivetran pros

Cons

"The solution must add more Python-based implementations."

"The documentation is decent, but it's hard to find information online about Fivetran. For example, if you try to search for an error code, you won't find much information about it in forums."

"The documentation can be laid out better to make it easier to find things, and I really wish there was built-in support for changing passwords. Some features don't work as advertised for the platform/repository database, and HVR is not always the fastest at getting results."

"Fivetran is very expensive for data sources with a lot of rows, such as email data. I would like to see cheaper pricing for data sources like that."

"More connectors are needed for exotic, popular, and rising star portals."

"The environment must be more development-friendly."

"The customization could improve because Fivetran gives more thought to people who don't want to manage analytics workflows rather than engineers who want to be able to customize pipelines more thoroughly."

"I would like for them to incorporate additional transformations. A valuable aspect of the product is that it does inflight transformations and that could be expanded."

"We experience cost issues because Fivetran is charged on a usage basis. When you reach a certain level, the tool should focus on reducing the costs. The solution is expensive when you are moving gigabytes and petabytes of data. It should also focus more on REST APIs and webhooks."

More Fivetran cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution’s pricing is affordable."

"The licensing costs are extremely high for the usage of somebody who has one GB or two GB of usage per day for real-time traffic. There are many other players in the market which are similarly priced or competitively priced. On average per month, it used to come around 12,000-15,000 USD, which is very high."

"In the first year, we were given a very good discount. It was approximately 20,000 Euros per year. In the third year, we purchased credit for two years and the price was 33,000 Euros per year."

"The pricing model is okay and mid to large companies will not have an issue with it."

"I rate the pricing a six out of ten."

"When you have a lot of workflows and complex use cases, pricing goes down as you use it more."

"I've heard that the license for HVR is a bit costly compared to its competitors, but since it's reliable and efficient, I think the customer shouldn't be bothered about the cost."

"I can't give exact amounts because that's based on usage, but it's more expensive than some of its competitors."

"Fivetran is very expensive, and its database-driven pricing model is outdated."

More Fivetran pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Insurance Company

13%

Computer Software Company

Healthcare Company

Educational Organization

26%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for dbt?

It is cheap because dbt is open source. If you compare the pay-per-service of Dbt with the open source option you can manage. We are managing the solution, when we were acquiring service from them....

What needs improvement with dbt?

SQL statements that beyond DML, are not possible. Currently, they are not possible in Dbt. Having more features in SQL statements will support us. Another issue is the terms of data ingestion becau...

What is your primary use case for dbt?

We use the solution to deal with data transformations inside different organizations.

What's the deal with the HVR software acquisition?

As a user of HVR Software I followed this deal closely. Fivetran is apparently trying to establish more in its sector and by buying an already established data replication software, they become som...

Does HVR Software provide reliable insights?

I honestly can't think of another data replication software that can give you better statistics and insight than HVR Software. There's the feature for topology and statistics and both of them can ...

How much traffic can HVR Software handle?

As someone who works at a company where a high volume of information is replicated and has tried several data replication softwares, I can tell you that you're looking at the right one. HVR Softwar...

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Product Reports

Download dbt product report

Data Integration

March 2025

Download Fivetran product report

April 2025

Overview

dbt is a transformational tool that empowers data teams to quickly build trusted data models, providing a shared language for analysts and engineering teams. Its flexibility and robust feature set make it a popular choice for modern data teams seeking efficiency.

Designed to integrate seamlessly with the data warehouse, dbt enables analytics engineers to transform raw data into reliable datasets for analysis. Its SQL-centric approach reduces the learning curve for users familiar with it, allowing powerful transformations and data modeling without needing a custom backend. While widely beneficial, dbt could improve in areas like version management and support for complex transformations out of the box.

What are the most valuable features of dbt?

SQL-Based Development: Facilitates transformations using SQL, streamlining the data modeling process.
Modularity: Encourages reusable components, making projects easier to manage and scale.
Version Control: Integrates with version control systems to track changes and collaborate effectively.
Testing Framework: Ensures data quality through automated tests, increasing trust in data outputs.

What benefits should you expect from using dbt?

Efficiency: Cuts down data processing times, allowing faster access to insights.
Collaboration: Promotes teamwork through shared data models and a common working language.
Scalability: Supports growing data demands by transforming complex data more flexibly and modularly.
Transparency: Provides clear documentation and lineage tracking, aiding in troubleshooting and understanding.

In the finance industry, dbt helps in cleansing and preparing transactional data for analysis, leading to more accurate financial reporting. In e-commerce, it empowers teams to rapidly integrate and analyze customer behavior data, optimizing marketing strategies and improving user experience.

dbt Labs

Fivetran, the global leader in data movement, is trusted by companies like OpenAI, LVMH, Pfizer, Verizon and Spotify to centralize data from SaaS applications, databases, files, and other sources into cloud destinations, including data lakes. With high-performance pipelines, seamless interoperability, and enterprise-grade security, Fivetran empowers organizations to modernize their data infrastructure, power analytics and AI, ensure compliance, and achieve transformative business outcomes. Learn more at Fivetran.com

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Autodesk, Condé Nast, JetBlue, Morgan Stanley, OpenAI, LVMH, Pfizer, Verizon, SpotifyNational Australia Bank, Saks, Cemex, Okta, Dropbox, Pitney Bowes, World Fuel Services,Lufthansa, AutoZone, ASICS, ASOS, Coupa, Databricks, Hermes, New Relic, Intercom,Canva, Honeywell, Square, DocuSign, Nandos, Oldcastle Infrastructure