Comparing Alooma with StreamSets Data Collector and Weld
Carolina Russ6 min read
What is Alooma
Alooma (acquired by Google Cloud in 2019) was a streaming ETL platform that enabled real-time ingestion of data from various sources into BigQuery. It provided a visual pipeline editor to map, transform, and route data with minimal code, automatically handling schema changes and ensuring exactly-once delivery. While Alooma as a standalone product is retired, many of its features have been integrated into Google Cloud’s Dataflow and Pub/Sub pipelines.
Pros
- Real-time streaming ETL with automatic schema drift handling.
- Minimal coding: visual pipeline UI with built-in connectors to databases, Kafka, APIs, and SaaS apps.
- Exactly-once delivery guarantees to BigQuery, eliminating duplicate data.
Cons
- Standalone Alooma product is discontinued—functionality now lives in GCP services (e.g., Dataflow, Data Fusion).
- Migrating legacy Alooma pipelines to GCP-native services requires rework, as UI and features differ from original Alooma.
Google Cloud’s Dataflow (Alooma integration):
What I like about Alooma
Alooma’s ease of connecting live streaming data sources directly into BigQuery with automated schema management was revolutionary for our real-time analytics.
What I dislike about Alooma
Since Google integrated Alooma into its native services, the standalone product no longer exists, so new users must migrate to Dataflow or Data Fusion.
What is StreamSets Data Collector
StreamSets Data Collector is an open-source data integration engine built for continuous ingestion, transformation, and delivery—often referred to as a DataOps platform. It supports both streaming (Kafka, Kinesis) and batch (JDBC, files) data sources, with a drag-and-drop canvas to design pipelines. The standout feature is Schema Drift Detection: pipelines automatically adapt to changes in incoming data schemas. Commercial editions add operational monitoring, metadata management, and lineage.
Pros
- Schema Drift Detection automatically adjusts to incoming data changes, preventing many pipeline breaks.
- Supports both streaming (Kafka, Kinesis, JMS) and batch (JDBC, files) in the same pipeline.
- Drag-and-drop pipeline builder with over 200 connectors and transformation processors.
- Open-source core (Data Collector); enterprise edition adds operational monitoring, lineage, and governance.
Cons
- Open-source lacks robust monitoring and lineage features; must pay for the Data Ops Platform for full enterprise functionality.
- UI performance can degrade for very large pipelines; memory usage can be significant.
- Steep learning curve for advanced pipeline patterns, especially around custom scripting in Groovy or Java.
StreamSets Data Operations Platform:
What I like about StreamSets Data Collector
StreamSets’ ability to automatically detect and adapt to schema changes (drift) in streaming sources greatly reduces pipeline failures.
What I dislike about StreamSets Data Collector
The open-source feature set is limited—monitoring, lineage, and enterprise support require the paid Data Ops Platform. Debugging complex pipelines can be tricky if not familiar with the UI.
What is Weld
Weld is a powerful ETL platform that seamlessly integrates ELT, data transformations, reverse ETL, and AI-assisted features into one user-friendly solution. With its intuitive interface, Weld makes it easy for anyone, regardless of technical expertise, to build and manage data workflows. Known for its premium quality connectors, all built in-house, Weld ensures the highest quality and reliability for its users. It is designed to handle large datasets with near real-time data synchronization, making it ideal for modern data teams that require robust and efficient data integration solutions. Weld also leverages AI to automate repetitive tasks, optimize workflows, and enhance data transformation capabilities, ensuring maximum efficiency and productivity. Users can combine data from a wide variety of sources, including marketing platforms, CRMs, e-commerce platforms like Shopify, APIs, databases, Excel, Google Sheets, and more, providing a single source of truth for all their data.
Pros
- Premium quality connectors and reliability
- User-friendly and easy to set up
- AI assistant
- Very competitive and easy-to-understand pricing model
- Reverse ETL option
- Lineage, orchestration, and workflow features
- Advanced transformation and SQL modeling capabilities
- Ability to handle large datasets and near real-time data sync
- Combines data from a wide range of sources for a single source of truth
Cons
- Requires some technical knowledge around data warehousing and SQL
- Limited features for advanced data teams
A reviewer on G2 said:
What I like about Weld
First and foremost, Weld is incredibly user-friendly. The graphical interface is intuitive, which makes it easy to build data workflows quickly and efficiently. Even with little experience in SQL and pipeline management, we found that Weld was straightforward and easy to use. What really impressed me, however, was Weld's flexibility. It was able to handle data from a wide variety of sources, including SQL databases, Google Sheets, and even APIs. The solution also allowed us to customize my data transformations in a way that best suited my needs. Whether I needed to clean data, join tables, or aggregate data, Weld had the necessary tools to accomplish the task. Weld's performance was also exceptional. I was able to run large-scale ETL jobs quickly and efficiently, with minimal downtime via a Snowflake instance and visualization via own-hosted Metabase. The solution's scalability meant that I could process more data without any issues. Another standout feature of Weld was its support. I never felt lost or unsure about how to use a particular feature, as the support team was always quick to respond to any questions or concerns that I had. Overall, I highly recommend Weld as an ETL solution. Its user-friendliness, flexibility, performance, and support make it an excellent choice for anyone looking to streamline their data integration processes. I will definitely be using Weld for all my ETL needs going forward.
What I dislike about Weld
Weld is still limited to a certain number of integrations - although the team is super interested to hear if you need custom integrations.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Ease of Use & Interface
Alooma
Alooma’s web-based pipeline builder allowed users to drag-and-drop connectors for streaming or batch data, apply transformations, and route data to BigQuery with just a few clicks. The interface auto-generated SQL when possible.
StreamSets Data Collector
The Data Collector UI is a canvas where users drag origin, processor, and destination stages. Schema drift is highlighted automatically. While basic pipelines are easy to build, complex transformations may require custom scripting in Groovy/Java.
Pricing & Affordability
Alooma
No longer available as a separate product. Users adopt equivalent GCP services (Dataflow, Data Fusion) which have pay-as-you-go pricing under the GCP pricing model.
StreamSets Data Collector
Data Collector is free, but enterprise features (monitoring, lineage, role-based access) require paid Data Ops Platform licenses. Pricing is custom based on number of nodes and connectors.
Feature Set
Alooma
Alooma supported real-time ingestion from Kafka, databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL), logs, REST APIs, and SaaS apps, with built-in transformations (masking, enrichment). It automatically handled schema changes, and could write to BigQuery partitions.
StreamSets Data Collector
Features: streaming & batch pipelines, schema drift detection, transformation processors (masking, joins, lookups), origin/destination connectors (Kafka, S3, HDFS, JDBC), and enterprise ops (alerting, lineage, governance) in paid edition.
Flexibility & Customization
Alooma
Users could write custom JavaScript transforms or Python UDFs for complex logic. The platform managed infrastructure, but custom connectors required Eloqua code or support.
StreamSets Data Collector
Supports custom processors in Groovy/Java for bespoke logic. Pipelines can be parameterized and deployed in containers or VMs. Integration with external schedulers (Airflow) and monitoring tools (Prometheus, Grafana).
Summary of Alooma vs StreamSets Data Collector vs Weld
| Weld | Alooma | StreamSets Data Collector | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connectors | 200+ | 100+ | 200+ |
| Price | $79 / No data volume limits | N/A (product retired; GCP service pricing applies) | Data Collector: Free (OSS); Data Ops Platform: Custom enterprise pricing |
| Free tier | No | No | Yes |
| Location | EU | Sunnyvale, CA, USA (pre-acquisition) | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| Extract data (ETL) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sync data to HubSpot, Salesforce, Klaviyo, Excel etc. (reverse ETL) | Yes | No | No |
| Transformations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI Assistant | Yes | No | No |
| On-Premise | No | No | Yes |
| Orchestration | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lineage | Yes | No | Yes |
| Version control | Yes | No | Yes |
| Load data to and from Excel | Yes | No | Yes |
| Load data to and from Google Sheets | Yes | No | No |
| Two-Way Sync | Yes | No | No |
| dbt Core Integration | Yes | No | No |
| dbt Cloud Integration | Yes | No | No |
| OpenAPI / Developer API | Yes | No | No |
| G2 Rating | 4.8 | 4.5 |
Conclusion
You’re comparing Alooma, StreamSets Data Collector, Weld. Each of these tools has its own strengths:
- Alooma: alooma supported real-time ingestion from kafka, databases (mysql, postgresql), logs, rest apis, and saas apps, with built-in transformations (masking, enrichment). it automatically handled schema changes, and could write to bigquery partitions. . no longer available as a separate product. users adopt equivalent gcp services (dataflow, data fusion) which have pay-as-you-go pricing under the gcp pricing model. .
- StreamSets Data Collector: features: streaming & batch pipelines, schema drift detection, transformation processors (masking, joins, lookups), origin/destination connectors (kafka, s3, hdfs, jdbc), and enterprise ops (alerting, lineage, governance) in paid edition. . data collector is free, but enterprise features (monitoring, lineage, role-based access) require paid data ops platform licenses. pricing is custom based on number of nodes and connectors. .
- Weld: weld integrates elt, data transformations, and reverse etl all within one platform. it also provides advanced features such as data lineage, orchestration, workflow management, and an ai assistant, which helps in automating repetitive tasks and optimizing workflows.. weld offers a straightforward and competitive pricing model, starting at $99 for 2 million active rows, making it more affordable and predictable, especially for small to medium-sized enterprises..
