Fivetran vs. Stitch

Features

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Connectors

Pre-built connectors are the primary way to differentiate ETL / ELT solutions, as they enable data teams to focus only on the insights to build.

Fivetran

Fivetran offers connectors for more than 150 data sources. It supports the major data warehouses and databases as destinations. However, Fivetran doesn’t support any data lakes.

Customers can pay extra and request that Fivetran build a new data source, but no one outside the Fivetran team can build new data sources or make improvements to existing sources. 

Fivetran’s customers often end up having to build and maintain custom connectors in-house with their own data engineering teams to address all their custom needs. 

Stitch

Stitch supports more than 100 database and SaaS integrations as data sources, and the major data warehouse and data lake destinations. 

Customers can contract with Stitch to have them build new sources for them, and anyone can add a new source to Stitch using Singer, their open-source toolkit for writing scripts that move data. 

Singer integrations can be run on Stitch to take advantage of their monitoring, scheduling and credential management features. However, most Singer integrations are now deprecating in quality. So you never know the quality of a tap or target until you have actually used it. 

Transformation

Fivetran

Fivetran is an ELT tool, and does not transform data prior to loading, either. It offers its own opinionated normalization out of the box, and recently added support for post-load transformations via copy-and-paste SQL and dbt. 

Stitch

Stitch, among other stitch alternatives, as an ELT tool, specializes in executing transformations necessary for ensuring compatibility with the destination platform. These transformations primarily involve tasks like translating data types and denesting data when applicable. However, beyond these essential functions, Stitch does not offer any additional transformation features.

Customizability

Every company has custom data architectures and, therefore, unique data integration needs. A lot of tools don’t enable teams to address those, which results in a lot of investment in building and maintaining additional in-house scripts. 

Fivetran

Fivetran released cloud functions to let their customers edit connectors by writing small function to fetch data using Go, Java, Node.js, Python, C# or F#. Customers will need to host their functions on a serverless platform. 

Stitch

Stitch’s customers can leverage Singer to build custom Singer connectors that they can plug on their Stitch account. However, of the approximately 200 Singer connectors Stitch can leverage to adapt to their needs, most are low quality, as only the top connectors are maintained actively by the Singer community.

Support & docs

Data integration tools can be complex, so customers need to have great support channels. This includes online documentation as well as tutorials, email and chat support. More complicated tools may also offer training services.

Fivetran

Fivetran provides support through an in-app form, but does not offer chat support.

Their documentation is comprehensive, but Fivetran doesn’t offer a Slack or Discourse community. 

Fivetran does not provide any training services. 

Stitch

Stitch provides in-app chat support to all their customers, and phone support is available for Enterprise customers. 

Their documentation is comprehensive and is open source — anyone can contribute to it. 

Stitch does not provide training services.

User-Friendly Interface

Fivetran

Fivetran’s interface is easy to use, making the tool user-friendly not only for technical but also for non-technical users. It simplifies the process of selecting sources, configuring transformations, and scheduling the pipelines via drag-and-drop. Fivetran provides pre-built connectors and data models for common applications, which eases configuration. This brings a high level of efficiency into implementing and managing business data pipelines with less involvement from IT.

Stitch

Stitchdata’s interface is also intuitively simple and user-friendly, making the service viable for data engineers and different teams in the organization. Setting up its integrations on the platform is easy, allowing users to connect sources and destinations with minimal hassle. 

The choice between Fivetran and Stitch may come down to personal preference and the needs of your business. If your business is looking for something easy to use, simple, and automated, Fivetran is the best choice for you. On the other hand, if a company wants flexibility and more control, then Stitch is the suitable option.

Use Case

Fivetran

Fivetran is best suited for enterprises looking to build robust, scalable solutions for data integration. It offers wide connectivity, making it relevant for large enterprise companies with complicated data ecosystems. It is very good at automating the process of the data pipeline, which in turn reduces manual intervention. 

Stitch

Stitch Data primarily focuses on ELT and is a go-to solution for any business looking to implement data pipelines quickly without getting involved in complex configurations. Its simple setup empowers every team in an organization to make use of it—not just data engineers. If you have data that needs complex transformations, Stitch is not the best solution.

Security and Compliance

Fivetran

Fivetran is SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 compliant. The company ensures very high security levels. It complies with GDPR and HIPAA, hence giving assurance to companies dealing with critical data​ . All data moved between Fivetran and its clients are encrypted with industry-standard protocol - TLS1.2+. Every database and SaaS source connectivity is encrypted via SSL, securing inbound data in transit​.

Stitch

As a SOC 2 Type II-compliant platform, it has stringent standards on the handling of customer data, based on five "trust service principles": security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. Stitch also adheres to the GDPR guidelines in the processing of personal data from EU citizens with high regard toward privacy and security.

Vendor Lock-in

Fivetran

Fivetran offers monthly and annual subscriptions and can be easily dropped if a business wants to switch providers. There are no long-term commitments required in terms of contracts; therefore, there is less risk of lock-in.  However, in case you build custom connectors within Fivetran, these might be contingent upon their framework; this could make it rather difficult to relegate these connectors to another platform without substantial modifications.

Stitch

Stitch has a basic plan with a monthly subscription model. You can try the platform and see how things go without much hassle. Users are not bound to a long-term contract and can migrate if required. Its connectors are based on the open-source Singer standard, making them more portable.

Pricing

Fivetran

Fivetran provides a 14-day free trial. It discloses a pricing based on monthly active rows, i.e., rows that are added or edited in a given month. 

Fivetran’s volume-based pricing doesn’t adapt well with database replication use cases that involve the replication of millions of rows. 

Stitch

Stitch provides a 14-day free trial. It discloses a pricing based on rows synced. 

Stitch’s volume-based pricing doesn’t adapt well with database replication use cases that involve the replication of millions of rows. 

Standard plans range from $100 to $1,250 per month depending on scale, with discounts for paying annually. 

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About the services

About Fivetran

Fivetran is a closed-source, managed ELT service that was created in 2012. As of September 2021, they have built 150 data connectors and have over 2,000 customers. They are considered a reliable choice and have a large customer base. Fivetran charges on monthly active rows (in other words, the number of rows that have been edited or added in a given month). 

About Stitch

Stitch is a cloud-based platform for ETL — extract, transform, and load. More than 3,000 companies use Stitch to move data records every day from SaaS applications and databases into data warehouses and data lakes, where it can be analyzed with business intelligence tools. Stitch is a Talend company and is part of the Talend Data Fabric.