Comparing Census with Hevo and Weld
Carolina Russ6 min read
What is Census
Census is a leading Reverse ETL platform that syncs data from your data warehouse back into SaaS tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Marketo. It integrates deeply with dbt and modern warehouses, enabling no-code mapping, incremental upserts, and reliable syncs to operational systems in near real time.
Pros
- Warehouse-centric: works directly on tables or dbt models
- No-code field mapping with live previews
- Broad destination support: Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Google Sheets, etc.
- Incremental upserts ensure data consistency with no duplicates
- Deep dbt integration and “analytics-as-code” workflows (YAML config)
- Flexible scheduling and API triggers for near real-time use cases
Cons
- Focuses only on reverse ETL—requires a separate ELT tool for ingestion
- Pricing based on rows or syncs can be expensive at very large volumes
- Complex transformations must be done upstream in the warehouse/dbt
- Dependent on destination API rate limits, which can slow large syncs
- SaaS-only (no on-prem deployment)
Census Overview (G2):
What I like about Census
Census is the fastest and most reliable reverse ETL platform with 99.5% uptime and premium support for all plans. It delivers transformed data at time-of-use—fueling rapid data activation in operational tools without relying on leaky pipelines.
What I dislike about Census
What is Hevo
Hevo Data has ETL, ELT, and reverse-ETL capabilities, and is code-free with integrations to various tools and data warehouses. For non-technical users who want to get up and running with their data, Hevo can help.
That said, experienced data specialists may wish for some more technical depth in the platform, giving them room to do more complex work.
Pros
- Supports both ELT, ELT, and reserve ELT
- Plenty of fully maintained connectors
- Great for non-technical users
- Simple UI that's easy to work with
- Affordable pricing
Cons
- Limited features for more advanced use cases
- Limited custom scheduling features
- Only 50 connectors are available on the Free plan
- Lack of flexibility when wanting to edit pipelines
- Error messages and status codes could be better
As one reviewer on G2 puts it: :
What I like about Hevo
Hevo is really good for normal pipelines, but it has some limitations for more complex use cases.
What I dislike about Hevo
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.
Census vs Hevo: Ease of Use and User Interface
Census
Census provides an intuitive UI for mapping warehouse fields to destination fields, with live previews—non-technical business users quickly adopt it for operational data syncs.
Hevo
Hevo is designed with non-technical users in mind, offering a simple UI and code-free capabilities, making it easy for beginners to use.
Census vs Hevo: Pricing Transparency and Affordability
Census
While there’s a free tier to get started, professional plans based on usage can add up for large enterprises. Still, ROI often justifies the investment by automating data activation in CRM/marketing tools.
Hevo
Hevo offers affordable pricing and a free plan with limited connectors, making it accessible for startups and small businesses. However, the costs can rise with data volume and feature needs.
Census vs Hevo: Comprehensive Feature Set
Census
Census focuses on reverse ETL: no-code mapping, incremental upserts keyed on primary keys, scheduling, and deep dbt integration. It provides monitoring dashboards, alerting, and a CLI/API for GitOps workflows.
Hevo
Hevo supports ETL, ELT, and reverse-ETL, making it versatile for different data needs. It also has plenty of fully maintained connectors, although it may lack some advanced features required by seasoned data professionals.
Census vs Hevo: Flexibility and Customization
Census
Mapping logic is as flexible as your SQL—any complex query can feed Census. Users can customize scheduling (cron or event triggers) and configure failure handling. It adapts well but relies on warehouse transformations for complex logic.
Hevo
While Hevo is great for non-technical users, it lacks flexibility and customization options for more complex data tasks, making it less suitable for advanced data teams.
Summary of Census vs Hevo vs Weld
| Weld | Census | Hevo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connectors | 200++ | 130+ | 150+ |
| Price | $99 / Unlimited usage | Free tier; Pro ~$350/mo for 2 destinations | $299 / 5M rows |
| Free tier | No | Yes | Yes |
| Location | EU | US | INDIA |
| Extract data (ETL) | Yes | No | Yes |
| Sync data to HubSpot, Salesforce, Klaviyo, Excel etc. (reverse ETL) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Transformations | Yes | No | Yes |
| AI Assistant | Yes | No | No |
| On-Premise | No | No | No |
| Orchestration | Yes | Yes | No |
| Lineage | Yes | No | No |
| Version control | Yes | Yes | No |
| Load data to and from Excel | Yes | No | No |
| Load data to and from Google Sheets | Yes | Yes | No |
| Two-Way Sync | Yes | No | No |
| dbt Core Integration | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| dbt Cloud Integration | Yes | No | No |
| OpenAPI / Developer API | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| G2 Rating | 4.8 | 4.5 | 4.3 |
Conclusion
You’re comparing Census, Hevo, Weld. Each of these tools has its own strengths:
- Census: census focuses on reverse etl: no-code mapping, incremental upserts keyed on primary keys, scheduling, and deep dbt integration. it provides monitoring dashboards, alerting, and a cli/api for gitops workflows.. while there’s a free tier to get started, professional plans based on usage can add up for large enterprises. still, roi often justifies the investment by automating data activation in crm/marketing tools..
- Hevo: hevo supports etl, elt, and reverse-etl, making it versatile for different data needs. it also has plenty of fully maintained connectors, although it may lack some advanced features required by seasoned data professionals.. hevo offers affordable pricing and a free plan with limited connectors, making it accessible for startups and small businesses. however, the costs can rise with data volume and feature needs..
- 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..
