Choosing the right ETL platform is crucial for businesses that need to move, clean, and sync data efficiently. A well-chosen ETL tool can improve data quality, automate workflows, and reduce engineering workload.
This article provides a detailed comparison of two leading ETL solutions - Fivetran and Airbyte - to help you decide which platform best suits your business. We’ll analyze their features, pricing (updated for 2025), performance, security, support, and ease of use, along with a quick-reference comparison table.
What is Fivetran?
Fivetran is a fully managed ETL and data pipeline automation platform designed for companies that need an easy-to-use, low-maintenance data integration solution. With 500+ pre-built connectors, it simplifies data extraction from multiple sources and loads data into cloud data warehouses like Snowflake, BigQuery, and Redshift.
Who is Fivetran for?
Fivetran is best suited for enterprise businesses that require fully automated ETL with minimal maintenance. It is ideal for companies using cloud data warehouses like Snowflake, Redshift, or BigQuery and teams that prefer a plug-and-play solution without managing connectors manually.
What is Airbyte?
Airbyte is an open-source ETL platform that allows teams to customize their data integration pipelines. It offers 550+ connectors and supports both self-hosted and cloud deployments. Airbyte is particularly appealing to engineering teams that need flexibility and want to build or adapt connectors.
Who is Airbyte for?
Airbyte is best for technical teams that require more control over their pipelines and configurations. With flexible pricing models and extensive customization, it's a great fit for businesses that want to scale with control over cost.
Platform overview
When it comes to core capabilities, both platforms are packed with features — but with slightly different approaches.
Fivetran provides 500+ out-of-the-box connectors, making it easy to integrate with popular SaaS apps, databases, and cloud tools. Airbyte, meanwhile, offers more than 550 connectors, and because it’s open-source, teams can build or customize their own integrations as needed.
In terms of destinations, Fivetran supports 15+ cloud data warehouses, such as Snowflake, BigQuery, and Redshift. Airbyte supports over 30, including newer options like ClickHouse, CockroachDB, and Elasticsearch.
Both platforms support dbt for transformations: Fivetran offers automated dbt integrations, while Airbyte’s support is more flexible, allowing deeper customization depending on your setup.
| Category | Fivetran | Airbyte |
|---|---|---|
| Connector count | 500+ connectors | 550+ connectors |
| Open source | ❌ | ✅ |
| Hosting options | Cloud | Cloud + self-hosted |
| Pricing model | MAR-based per connection | Capacity-based or PAYG |
| Starting cost | ~$500/month | ~$15/month |
| Ideal for | Enterprise teams with low-code needs | Data engineers & technical teams |
Features & customization
| Feature | Fivetran | Airbyte |
|---|---|---|
| Connector flexibility | No custom connectors | Build your own with low-code or Python |
| dbt transformations | Yes (prebuilt, opinionated) | Yes (flexible, customizable) |
| Reverse ETL support | ❌ | Limited, can be configured |
| Data destinations | 15+ cloud data warehouses | 30+ destinations incl. modern databases |
| Sync scheduling | Every 15 min / 1 min (Enterprise) | Hourly, daily, or real-time |
Usability & support
| Area | Fivetran | Airbyte |
|---|---|---|
| UI & onboarding | Polished, enterprise-grade | Improving, developer-oriented |
| Logging & monitoring | Detailed and intuitive | Functional, requires tuning |
| Security certifications | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR | Same + self-hosted control |
| Support model | Paid SLAs & enterprise support | Community + enterprise support |
Real-world pricing comparison
Fivetran has updated its pricing model as of March 2025, switching to per-connection MAR billing. This means each data integration is billed separately. Pricing starts at $500 per million MAR on the Standard Plan, with a minimum annual contract commitment of $12,000. A free plan is available for up to 500,000 MAR.
For a in depth deep dive in Fivetran’s pricing, visit our blog.
Airbyte has introduced capacity-based pricing for its Teams and Enterprise plans. Instead of charging based on data volume, pricing is now based on Data Workers, which measure the processing power required to run data pipelines efficiently. Customers pay for processing capacity, not fluctuating data usage.
Scenarios
To make this comparison more concrete, we’ve used each platform’s public pricing estimators to model what typical use cases might look like in practice. Below are three realistic scenarios — including sync frequency, data source types, and data volume — to help you visualize how Fivetran and Airbyte Cloud's volume-based pricing stacks up in 2025. For Airbyte Cloud, it's important to note that for each 10GB volume of data to replicate, $100 gets added to the price.
We used both platforms’ pricing calculators to estimate costs based on realistic usage scenarios:
Scenario 1: Daily sync from a database with 1 million rows/month
| Fivetran | Airbyte Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL |
| Sync Frequency | Daily | Daily |
| Monthly Active Rows | 1M | 1M |
| Estimated Cost | ~$500 | ~$15 ($100 added per 10GB volume of data to replicate) |
Scenario 2: Hourly sync from an API with 5 million updated rows/month
| Fivetran | Airbyte Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Facebook Ads | Facebook Ads |
| Sync Frequency | Hourly | Hourly |
| Monthly Active Rows | 5M | 5M |
| Estimated Cost | ~$2,500 | ~$75 ($100 added per 10GB volume of data to replicate) |
Scenario 3: 10M rows/month from mixed sources (daily sync)
| Fivetran | Airbyte Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Sources | Shopify, Google Ads | Shopify, Google Ads |
| Sync Frequency | Daily | Daily |
| Monthly Active Rows | 10M | 10M |
| Estimated Cost | ~$5,000 | ~$150 ($100 added per 10GB volume of data to replicate) |
Based on:
Which one should you choose?
Both Fivetran and Airbyte are strong ETL platforms, but they serve different types of teams and priorities.
Fivetran is built for simplicity and scale. It shines when you want minimal overhead, fast time-to-value, and a wide selection of stable, enterprise-ready connectors. If you don’t mind paying a premium for a highly managed experience, Fivetran may be the better fit.
Airbyte, on the other hand, is all about flexibility and control. It’s ideal for engineering teams that want to tailor their pipelines, self-host, or experiment with more cost-efficient workflows. While it requires more technical effort, the long-term savings and extensibility can be worth it - especially for companies with complex or evolving data needs.
Ultimately, the right choice depends on your team’s technical resources, data maturity, and how important pricing flexibility is to your business.
If you’re also evaluating other ETL options, consider Weld - a modern data platform that combines AI-powered transformations with both ETL and reverse ETL, offering flexible, predictable pricing.
Book a demo to learn more about how Weld can support your data needs.
Q&A
What is the main difference between Fivetran and Airbyte?
Fivetran is fully managed and optimized for ease of use. Airbyte is open-source and built for flexibility.
Is Airbyte cheaper than Fivetran?
In most cases, yes. Especially for high-volume or batch-style pipelines with low sync frequency.
Which tool offers better support?
Fivetran offers enterprise-grade SLAs. Airbyte offers community support and growing enterprise options.
Does Airbyte support reverse ETL?
Airbyte is focused on data ingestion (ELT), but with customization, some teams build reverse ETL workflows.
Additional resources
For more insights on ETL pricing and data automation, check out these articles:
