Best Fivetran Alternatives in 2026
Fivetran dominates managed ELT, but it's not cheap. Pricing scales with monthly active rows (MAR), which means costs can spike unpredictably as your data volumes grow. Some teams get hit with surprise bills after a busy month. Others simply want open-source flexibility or more control over their pipeline infrastructure. Whatever the reason, there are solid alternatives depending on what you're optimizing for.
At a Glance
| Tool | Price | Best For | Key Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbyte | Free (self-hosted) – Cloud from $25/mo | Teams wanting open-source flexibility with 300+ connectors | Open-source core with a growing connector catalog and self-hosted option |
| Stitch Data | $100/mo+ | Straightforward replication without transformation complexity | Simple, no-frills ELT replication. Now part of the Talend/Qlik family. |
| Matillion | Custom pricing, typically $2K+/mo | Complex transformations in Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift | Cloud-native ETL/ELT with a visual transformation layer |
| Census | $500+/mo | Syncing warehouse data back to business tools (reverse ETL) | Reverse ETL specialist. Moves data out of your warehouse, not into it. |
| Hightouch | $500+/mo | Activating warehouse data with composable CDP capabilities | Reverse ETL plus audience management and identity resolution |
| Hevo Data | $239/mo+ | Non-technical teams wanting simple data pipelines | Automated ELT with minimal setup and a no-code interface |
1. Airbyte
Coverage & Capabilities
300+ connectors covering databases, APIs, and SaaS tools. Self-hosted version is free with no row limits. Cloud version starts at $25/mo based on usage. Active open-source community building custom connectors.
The best open-source alternative to Fivetran. You trade managed convenience for complete control over your pipelines and zero per-row pricing. The cloud version bridges the gap if you don't want to self-host.
2. Stitch Data
Coverage & Capabilities
Focused on data replication from sources to warehouses. Limited transformation capabilities compared to Fivetran. Now under Qlik's umbrella after Talend's acquisition. Connector catalog is smaller but covers the most common sources.
A simpler, cheaper option if you just need to move data from A to B. Don't expect Fivetran-level transformation features or connector breadth.
3. Matillion
Coverage & Capabilities
Strong transformation engine that pushes compute down to your warehouse. More of an ETL tool than a pure ELT replicator. Visual interface for building complex data pipelines. Native integrations with Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, and Databricks.
Choose Matillion if your bottleneck is transformation complexity, not data ingestion. It's more ETL than ELT, so it complements Fivetran rather than replacing it for many teams.
4. Census
Coverage & Capabilities
200+ destinations for syncing warehouse data to CRMs, ad platforms, and marketing tools. SQL-based audience builder. Different use case than Fivetran but often purchased alongside it.
Census isn't a Fivetran replacement. It's the other direction. If you need to push warehouse data back into Salesforce, HubSpot, or ad platforms, Census handles that workflow.
5. Hightouch
Coverage & Capabilities
Reverse ETL with a composable CDP layer on top. Audience builder, identity resolution, and journey orchestration. Goes beyond simple data syncing into customer data activation territory.
More feature-rich than Census for data activation. If you want reverse ETL plus CDP capabilities without buying a traditional CDP, Hightouch fills that gap.
6. Hevo Data
Coverage & Capabilities
150+ connectors with automated schema mapping and error handling. Designed for teams without dedicated data engineers. Pre-built transformations via drag-and-drop. Good for straightforward data integration needs.
A solid pick for smaller teams that don't have data engineering resources. Less flexible than Airbyte, less polished than Fivetran, but easier to get started with than either.
How We Chose These Alternatives
We evaluated these alternatives based on job posting demand data, pricing models, connector breadth, and ELT capabilities across cloud data warehouses.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest Fivetran alternative?
Airbyte's self-hosted version is free with no row-based pricing. If you want a managed service, Airbyte Cloud starts at $25/mo. Stitch Data starts at $100/mo for basic replication. Both are significantly cheaper than Fivetran's MAR-based pricing at scale.
Are there open-source alternatives to Fivetran?
Airbyte is the leading open-source alternative. You can self-host it for free and build or customize connectors. The community has built 300+ connectors. Meltano (by GitLab) is another open-source option worth evaluating, though it's more of a DataOps platform than a direct Fivetran replacement.
Fivetran vs Airbyte — which should I choose?
Fivetran if you want a fully managed service and your budget can handle MAR-based pricing. Airbyte if you want open-source flexibility, predictable costs, or need to build custom connectors. Fivetran is more polished and reliable; Airbyte gives you more control and lower costs.