Comparing Census with MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform) 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 MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform)
MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform is an enterprise-grade iPaaS that supports batch ETL, real-time APIs, ESB, and more. With 150+ pre-built connectors (Anypoint Connectors) and the powerful DataWeave transformation language, MuleSoft can handle complex integrations between on-prem and cloud systems. It excels at high-throughput, mission-critical use cases and offers hybrid deployment (cloud or on-prem runtime).
Pros
- Extensive connectivity: 150+ enterprise-grade connectors (SaaS, databases, protocols, mainframes)
- Hybrid deployment: fully on-prem, private cloud, or CloudHub managed runtime
- Powerful DataWeave language for complex transformations
- API-led architecture supporting real-time APIs and batch ETL/ELT in the same platform
- Enterprise-grade reliability: high throughput, clustering, transactions, and monitoring
- Rich tooling: Anypoint Studio (IDE), API Manager, Exchange for reusable assets
Cons
- High complexity and steep learning curve—requires experienced integration developers
- Expensive licensing (vCore-based), typically suited for large enterprises
- Not focused on out-of-the-box simplicity—each pipeline is effectively a development project
- Maintenance overhead when self-hosted; even CloudHub needs ongoing ops for flow logic
- UI/IDE can feel dated and resource-intensive compared to modern low-code ETL tools
Tech Lead at a Financial Services Firm (G2 Review summary):
What I like about MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform)
MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform offers 100+ pre-built connectors and a powerful integration engine. It’s an enterprise integration solution that supports batch ETL as well as real-time API integrations, making it possible to connect virtually any system.
What I dislike about MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform)
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 MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform): 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.
MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform)
MuleSoft is a developer-centric platform with Anypoint Studio as an Eclipse-based IDE. It is powerful but not plug-and-play; teams need formal training and strong integration expertise to use it effectively.
Census vs MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform): 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.
MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform)
MuleSoft is among the most expensive integration platforms. Pricing is based on the number of vCores and features, making it a significant investment reserved for large enterprises with complex integration needs.
Census vs MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform): 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.
MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform)
Extensive feature set: batch and streaming ETL, real-time API creation, ESB, DataWeave transformations, API management, message queuing, hybrid deployment, high availability, and robust monitoring. Essentially, MuleSoft can serve as ETL, ESB, and API gateway in one.
Census vs MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform): 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.
MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform)
MuleSoft is highly flexible: you can extend connectors, write custom DataWeave scripts, embed custom Java code, and orchestrate complex multi-system transactions. The platform can be tailored to virtually any integration requirement but demands developer resources.
Summary of Census vs MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform) vs Weld
| Weld | Census | MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connectors | 200++ | 130+ | 150+ |
| Price | $99 / Unlimited usage | Free tier; Pro ~$350/mo for 2 destinations | Enterprise vCore subscription—high-end (six-figure annual) |
| Free tier | No | Yes | No |
| Location | EU | US | US |
| 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 | Yes |
| Orchestration | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lineage | Yes | No | Yes |
| Version control | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Load data to and from Excel | Yes | No | No |
| Load data to and from Google Sheets | Yes | Yes | No |
| Two-Way Sync | Yes | No | Yes |
| dbt Core Integration | Yes | Yes | No |
| dbt Cloud Integration | Yes | No | No |
| OpenAPI / Developer API | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| G2 Rating | 4.8 | 4.5 | 4.4 |
Conclusion
You’re comparing Census, MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform), 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..
- MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform): extensive feature set: batch and streaming etl, real-time api creation, esb, dataweave transformations, api management, message queuing, hybrid deployment, high availability, and robust monitoring. essentially, mulesoft can serve as etl, esb, and api gateway in one.. mulesoft is among the most expensive integration platforms. pricing is based on the number of vcores and features, making it a significant investment reserved for large enterprises with complex integration 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..
