About Airbyte
Airbyte is the open standard in data movement, and can be deployed self-hosted, cloud, or hybrid. Airbyte is used by 18% of the F500 and has over 25,000 community members.
About Boomi
Pentaho (now part of Hitachi Vantara) offers ETL through Pentaho Data Integration (PDI/Kettle) plus analytics and reporting. Pentaho faces challenges with modern cloud architectures and limited ongoing development.
Airbyte vs. Boomi: Feature Comparison
Feature |
Airbyte |
Boomi |
Deployment Model |
On-premise, cloud, or hybrid on one codebase |
Cloud-based iPaaS |
Pricing |
Predictable capacity-based pricing (with free and volume options) |
Per-connection pricing |
Number of Connectors |
600+ including unstructured sources |
200+ application connectors |
Custom Connectors |
Yes, with AI-assisted connector builder and CDK |
Low-code connector SDK |
Supported Destinations |
All major warehouses, RDBMS, and lakehouses |
Apps and databases |
Security Certifications |
SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA Conduit |
SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001 |
Enterprise Features |
SSO, RBAC, Audit logs, Multi-workspace |
API management, B2B/EDI |
Support SLAs |
99.9% Uptime Enterprise SLAs |
Tiered support plans |
Python Development Capabilities |
Full Python support with PyAirbyte |
Limited |
Community Support |
25,000 members, 1000+ contributors |
Boomi community (smaller) |
Open Source Availability |
Yes |
No |
Benefits of Using Airbyte
Control your data
Airbyte gives you complete control over your data infrastructure with flexible deployment options that adapt to your security and compliance requirements. Whether you need to keep sensitive data on-premise for sovereignty requirements, leverage cloud scalability, or implement a hybrid approach, Airbyte's single codebase architecture ensures consistent functionality across all deployment models. This flexibility helps organizations meet strict compliance standards like GDPR and HIPAA while maintaining full ownership of their data pipeline infrastructure.
Build without limits
With over 600 pre-built connectors and an AI-powered connector builder, Airbyte removes the traditional barriers to data integration. The platform's extensive connector library covers everything from modern SaaS applications to legacy databases and unstructured data sources. When you need a custom connector, the no-code Connector Builder and low-code CDK enable rapid development in hours instead of weeks. This is amplified by a vibrant community of over 1000 contributors who continuously expand the ecosystem, ensuring you're never blocked by connector availability.
Scale with confidence
Airbyte's predictable capacity-based pricing model means you can scale your data operations without worrying about surprise bills or budget overruns. Unlike consumption-based models that penalize growth, Airbyte's transparent pricing grows predictably with your infrastructure needs. Combined with enterprise-grade reliability featuring 99.9% uptime SLAs and the freedom to choose between deployment options, organizations can confidently scale their data operations without vendor lock-in concerns.
Limitations of Using Boomi
High Costs
Boomi's per-connection pricing model becomes prohibitively expensive as organizations scale their integration needs. Each additional connection, whether for a new data source, destination, or application, adds to the monthly bill, creating a direct penalty for comprehensive data integration. Organizations frequently report that achieving enterprise-wide integration with Boomi costs several times their initial budget projections. The pricing structure discourages experimentation and innovation, as teams hesitate to add new connections due to cost implications. Many companies find themselves limiting their integration scope or seeking alternatives for high-volume connections to control costs.
iPaaS Focus
While Boomi excels at application integration, its iPaaS-centric design makes it less suitable for pure data integration and ETL use cases. The platform prioritizes real-time API integration and application workflows over batch data processing and transformation. This application focus means Boomi lacks many features essential for data engineering, such as sophisticated transformation capabilities, data quality management, and warehouse optimization. Organizations with primarily data integration needs find themselves paying for iPaaS features they don't use while missing critical ETL functionality.
Deployment and Vendor Lock-in
Boomi's proprietary platform creates significant vendor lock-in with no option for self-hosting or bringing your own infrastructure. All integrations must run through Boomi's cloud infrastructure, raising concerns about data sovereignty and security for sensitive information. The proprietary nature of Boomi's integration definitions and mappings makes it extremely difficult to migrate to another platform without completely rebuilding integrations. Organizations lose flexibility in their architecture choices and become dependent on Boomi's roadmap, pricing decisions, and platform availability. This lock-in becomes particularly problematic when organizations need to adapt to changing requirements or adopt best-of-breed solutions.
FAQs
How difficult is it to migrate from my current data integration platform to Airbyte?
Migration is straightforward. Airbyte supports the same sources and destinations as other platforms, so you can recreate your pipelines quickly. Our team provides migration assistance for Enterprise customers, and our community has created guides for switching from specific competitors. Most customers complete migration in days, not weeks.
Will I lose my custom connectors when switching to Airbyte?
No. If you've built custom connectors on platforms like Singer (used by Stitch), they'll work with Airbyte. For proprietary connectors, our AI-powered Connector Builder lets you recreate them in hours. Plus, with 600+ pre-built connectors, you may find we already support your custom sources.
How does Airbyte's open source model affect security and reliability?
Open source enhances security through transparency - you can audit every line of code. Airbyte maintains SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and HIPAA compliance. Enterprise customers get SLAs, dedicated support, and the option to self-host for maximum control. Our code is battle-tested by thousands of companies worldwide.
What happens to my costs when switching from row-based or consumption pricing?
Most customers see significant cost savings with our predictable capacity-based pricing. No more surprise bills from data spikes or seasonal variations. You'll know exactly what you'll pay each month, and you can scale without fear.
Can Airbyte handle near real-time data syncs or is it limited like some batch-only platforms?
Airbyte excels at high-frequency batch workloads. We support log-based CDC for database replication and can sync as frequently as every 5 minutes for APIs. While we're optimized for reliable batch processing rather than streaming, our performance meets the freshness requirements of most modern analytics and AI applications.
Do I need engineering resources to manage Airbyte, or can my analysts handle it?
Airbyte is designed for both technical and non-technical users. Our UI makes pipeline creation point-and-click simple. The Connector Builder requires little coding knowledge. However, having technical resources unlocks advanced features like custom transformations, API deployment, and infrastructure optimization.