Comparing Hevo with Pentaho Data Integration and Weld
Carolina Russ6 min read
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 Pentaho Data Integration
Pentaho Data Integration (PDI), also known as Kettle, is an open-source ETL tool from Hitachi Vantara. It provides a graphical Spoon interface for building ETL transformations and jobs, supporting over 150 data sources (relational, NoSQL, cloud, files). PDI includes built-in steps for data cleansing, join, lookup, and can execute transformations in a clustered environment. It also integrates with Pentaho’s BI platform for analytics.
Pros
- Open-source (Community Edition) with no licensing costs; Enterprise Edition provides additional features and support.
- 150+ connectors (databases, cloud storage, big data, files, NoSQL) and flexible step-based transformations.
- Graphical Spoon interface for visual ETL job design; transformations can be previewed and tested in real-time.
- Support for clustered execution (Carte server) for parallel processing and higher throughput.
Cons
- Community Edition lacks advanced features (lineage, data quality, enterprise monitoring), requiring Enterprise Edition for production readiness.
- Performance can suffer with very large data volumes if not properly tuned (Java memory, clustering).
- User interface and user experience are dated compared to newer cloud-native ETL tools.
Pentaho Data Integration Overview:
What I like about Pentaho Data Integration
PDI’s free community edition and Spoon GUI allow rapid ETL prototyping; its step library is extensive, and clustering support is solid for scale.
What I dislike about Pentaho Data Integration
Limited data quality features and slower development speed compared to modern cloud ETL. Community support can be slow for fixes.
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
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.
Pentaho Data Integration
Pentaho’s Spoon GUI uses a canvas paradigm: drag "steps" onto a transformation, connect them, and configure. While powerful, it can feel clunky, especially for very complex flows with many steps.
Pricing & Affordability
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.
Pentaho Data Integration
The free Community Edition is attractive for experimentation. Enterprise Edition pricing is usage-based and includes support, lineag, and more; typically suited for mid-sized to large organizations.
Feature Set
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.
Pentaho Data Integration
PDI features: GUI-based transformation designer, job orchestration, data cleansing, lookups, joins, scripting (JavaScript, PDI’s built-in “User Defined Java Expression”), logging, clustering, and integration with Pentaho BI for reporting. Lineage and monitoring in Enterprise.
Flexibility & Customization
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.
Pentaho Data Integration
Users can embed Java, JavaScript, or invoke external scripts. PDI’s open architecture allows custom plugins for new steps/connectors. The code is open-source, so full extensibility is available, though it requires Java development.
Summary of Hevo vs Pentaho Data Integration vs Weld
| Weld | Hevo | Pentaho Data Integration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connectors | 200+ | 150+ | 150+ |
| Price | $79 / No data volume limits | $299 / 5M rows | Community Edition: Free; Enterprise Edition: Custom pricing |
| Free tier | No | Yes | Yes |
| Location | EU | INDIA | Santa Clara, CA, USA (Hitachi Vantara HQ) |
| Extract data (ETL) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sync data to HubSpot, Salesforce, Klaviyo, Excel etc. (reverse ETL) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Transformations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI Assistant | Yes | No | No |
| On-Premise | No | No | Yes |
| Orchestration | Yes | No | 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 | Yes |
| Two-Way Sync | Yes | No | No |
| dbt Core Integration | Yes | Yes | No |
| dbt Cloud Integration | Yes | No | No |
| OpenAPI / Developer API | Yes | Yes | No |
| G2 Rating | 4.8 | 4.3 | 4.1 |
Conclusion
You’re comparing Hevo, Pentaho Data Integration, Weld. Each of these tools has its own strengths:
- 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..
- Pentaho Data Integration: pdi features: gui-based transformation designer, job orchestration, data cleansing, lookups, joins, scripting (javascript, pdi’s built-in “user defined java expression”), logging, clustering, and integration with pentaho bi for reporting. lineage and monitoring in enterprise. . the free community edition is attractive for experimentation. enterprise edition pricing is usage-based and includes support, lineag, and more; typically suited for mid-sized to large organizations. .
- 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..
