Comparing AWS Glue with Skyvia and Weld
Carolina Russ6 min read
What is AWS Glue
AWS Glue is a fully managed, serverless ETL service provided by Amazon Web Services. It automatically discovers and catalogs metadata (Glue Data Catalog), generates ETL code in PySpark, and runs jobs on demand or schedules them. Glue integrates natively with AWS data stores (S3, Redshift, RDS, DynamoDB) and third-party sources via JDBC.
Pros
- Serverless—no infrastructure to manage; Glue provisions compute as needed (Apache Spark under the hood).
- Built-in Data Catalog for schema discovery, versioning, and integration with Athena and Redshift Spectrum.
- Supports Python (PySpark) and Scala ETL scripts with mapping and transformation APIs for complex logic.
- Deep integration with AWS ecosystem (CloudWatch monitoring, IAM for security, S3 triggers).
Cons
- Cost can be unpredictable for long-running or high-concurrency jobs (billed per Data Processing Unit-hour).
- Debugging PySpark jobs in Glue requires jumping between AWS console logs and code; local testing is limited compared to local Spark.
- On-premises or multi-cloud data sources require additional setup (Glue has JDBC connectors but network config can be complex).
AWS Glue Documentation:
What I like about AWS Glue
Glue’s automatic schema discovery and code generation speed up ETL development—once you point it to a data source, it builds tables in the Data Catalog and scaffolds PySpark jobs for you.
What I dislike about AWS Glue
Managing large-scale Glue jobs can be tricky—job concurrency limits and developer debugging in PySpark jobs require more AWS expertise.
What is Skyvia
Skyvia is a cloud data platform that offers ETL, data replication, backup, and integration services via a web interface. It supports over 70 data sources (CRM, marketing, databases) and can load data into major data warehouses (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift) or cloud databases. Skyvia allows users to create simple ETL packages or schedule one-time and recurring data imports without coding.
Pros
- Fast, no-code setup for loading data from 70+ sources to warehouses or cloud DBs.
- Handles incremental loads and can auto-detect schema changes for many sources.
- Built-in data replication (one-way sync) and backup options for cloud data.
- Free tier available (limited rows and sources) for basic usage.
Cons
- No advanced transformation engine—only simple filters, mappings, and formula fields.
- Pricing based on rows and connectors; high-volume loads can be costly.
- Support and community resources are limited compared to major ETL vendors.
Skyvia Pricing:
What I like about Skyvia
Skyvia’s simple UI makes setting up data imports from Salesforce to BigQuery a few minutes’ work—no code needed, and minor schema changes auto-managed.
What I dislike about Skyvia
Limited transformation capabilities; you can only apply basic filters or field mappings. For complex transformations, you need downstream tools.
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.
AWS Glue vs Skyvia: Ease of Use and User Interface
AWS Glue
AWS Glue Studio provides a visual job authoring interface where you can drag-and-drop nodes to transform data, but deeper customizations still require PySpark code. The console UI can be intimidating for new users.
Skyvia
Skyvia’s wizard-driven UI guides users through connecting source and destination, selecting objects, and scheduling. For basic use cases, it’s extremely quick. Complex pipelines aren’t its focus.
AWS Glue vs Skyvia: Pricing Transparency and Affordability
AWS Glue
Glue charges per Data Processing Unit (DPU)-hour; for example, running a small job for one hour costs ~$0.44 * number of DPUs used. While serverless, large or long-running jobs can become costly if not optimized.
Skyvia
Free tier allows up to 5000 rows/day. Paid plans start at $15/month for 10k rows plus $15 per additional 10k rows. For large-scale or continuous replication, costs scale accordingly.
AWS Glue vs Skyvia: Comprehensive Feature Set
AWS Glue
Features include automated schema discovery (Glue Data Catalog), PySpark/Scala job generation, job scheduling & triggers, DataBrew for visual data prep, and Glue Workflows for orchestration. Also supports streaming ETL via Glue streaming jobs.
Skyvia
Supports: one-time or scheduled imports/exports, incremental loads (via key-based changes), data backup/restore, and firewall-friendly connectors. No transformations beyond mappings/filters.
AWS Glue vs Skyvia: Flexibility and Customization
AWS Glue
Glue allows custom PySpark scripts, supports Python libraries via wheel files, and you can integrate with AWS Lambda for custom triggers. However, debugging and local runs can be challenging compared to self-managed Spark.
Skyvia
Users can define simple formulas for fields (e.g., concatenation). For advanced transformations, they need external tools (e.g., dbt) after loading. No support for scripting within ETL.
Summary of AWS Glue vs Skyvia vs Weld
| Weld | AWS Glue | Skyvia | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connectors | 200++ | 50+ | 70+ |
| Price | €99 / Unlimited usage | $0.44 per DPUs-hour (development endpoints) + per-job costs | Free (limited); paid plans from $15/month for 10k rows |
| Free tier | No | Yes | Yes |
| Location | EU | AWS Global (multi-region) | 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 | No |
| AI Assistant | Yes | No | No |
| On-Premise | No | No | No |
| Orchestration | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lineage | Yes | Yes | No |
| Version control | Yes | No | No |
| Load data to and from Excel | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Load data to and from Google Sheets | Yes | No | No |
| Two-Way Sync | Yes | No | No |
| dbt Core Integration | Yes | Yes | No |
| dbt Cloud Integration | Yes | No | No |
| OpenAPI / Developer API | Yes | No | No |
| G2 Rating | 4.8 | 4.1 | 4 |
Conclusion
You’re comparing AWS Glue, Skyvia, Weld. Each of these tools has its own strengths:
- AWS Glue: features include automated schema discovery (glue data catalog), pyspark/scala job generation, job scheduling & triggers, databrew for visual data prep, and glue workflows for orchestration. also supports streaming etl via glue streaming jobs. . glue charges per data processing unit (dpu)-hour; for example, running a small job for one hour costs ~$0.44 * number of dpus used. while serverless, large or long-running jobs can become costly if not optimized. .
- Skyvia: supports: one-time or scheduled imports/exports, incremental loads (via key-based changes), data backup/restore, and firewall-friendly connectors. no transformations beyond mappings/filters. . free tier allows up to 5000 rows/day. paid plans start at $15/month for 10k rows plus $15 per additional 10k rows. for large-scale or continuous replication, costs scale accordingly. .
- 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..
