Visibility in this ranking can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within the
shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review. The largest vendors in ETL and data integration tools
cannot hold places 1 to 3. Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category,
wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. How it works: placement disclosure ·
editorial process.
The 12 tools, reviewed
#1 Airbyte
Open-source data movement with a managed cloud option · United States · airbyte.com
open source credit pricing self-hostable
Airbyte earns first place because it is the only product here where the engine is open source and the managed cloud prices are printed on the page. A 14-day trial includes 400 credits, so a team can test real sources before paying. If the cloud bill grows, Airbyte Core can be run on your own servers with the same connector model.
- Pricing: Usage-based. Cloud Standard starts at $20 a month with 5 credits included and extra credits at $5. Free plan: open source.
- Best for: Cost-aware teams wanting an exit
- Strengths: Open-source Airbyte Core; Managed cloud; Credit-based billing.
Where it falls short
Standard support runs through a portal with no SLA during US business hours, and the 24-hour response SLA only arrives with Plus. SSO is not in Standard.
Wrong for
Teams with no engineer and a need for fast phone support should look at Hevo or Fivetran.
Visit Airbyte →
#2 Hevo
Managed no-code pipelines billed by events · United States · hevodata.com
no-code event pricing dbt
Hevo is second because a small team can get from sign-up to a running pipeline without a data engineer, and the pricing page says exactly what each tier costs. The free plan covers 1 million events a month with up to 5 users, which is enough for a first marketing or product dataset.
- Pricing: Usage-based. Free plan up to 1M events a month. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Small teams without engineers
- Strengths: 150+ connectors; dbt integration; Database CDC replication.
Where it falls short
The free plan schedules hourly at best and the Starter tier caps users at 10, with add-ons not available on Free or Starter.
Wrong for
Companies needing hundreds of niche connectors or application-to-application workflows should choose Portable, Boomi or SnapLogic.
Visit Hevo →
#3 Matillion
Low-code pipelines that transform inside your warehouse · United Kingdom · matillion.com
low-code credits warehouse-native
Matillion is third because it handles both loading and the transformation work that follows, which suits an analytics team that already thinks in SQL. Editions are clear: Developer for one user, Teams and Scale for five developer users with unlimited admins. Credits are consumed by pipeline execution time, so spend tracks work done rather than seats.
- Pricing: Usage-based. Consumption-based credits across Developer, Teams and Scale editions; the pricing page shows no per-credit figure, so expect to ask for a quote. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Warehouse teams wanting visual jobs
- Strengths: Low-code canvas; SQL and Python components; Built-in Git.
Where it falls short
No credit price is published, so the first number you see comes from sales. Developer is limited to one user, custom SSO and lineage sit in Scale, and the edition applies to the whole subscription.
Wrong for
A company that just wants to copy SaaS data without designing transformations is paying for more than it needs, so look at Hevo or Fivetran.
Visit Matillion →
#4 Fivetran
Fully managed ELT billed by monthly active rows · United States · fivetran.com
managed ELT MAR pricing enterprise
Fivetran is the vendor most buyers shortlist first and the reason the category has a name for hands-off pipelines. Connectors are maintained by the company, a free plan exists, and each new connection gets a 14-day trial. Its pricing page shows median list prices as low as $15.88 for Google Analytics 4.
- Pricing: Usage-based. Usage-based on monthly active rows per connection across Free, Standard, Enterprise and Business Critical plans. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Teams with many SaaS sources
- Strengths: SaaS replication; Database replication; SAP replication.
Where it falls short
Row-based metering punishes noisy sources: its own example shows Marketo at a median $424.54 a month, against $22.06 for Facebook Ads. The bill is per connection, so many small sources add up.
Wrong for
Teams with a few very large, constantly changing tables will find the meter hard to forecast.
Visit Fivetran →
#5 Keboola
Data platform with pipelines, transformations and governance · Czech Republic · keboola.com
platform European compute minutes
Keboola takes fifth place as the one platform here that is both European and priced in public. The free tier gives unlimited pipelines across 1,500+ sources, so a team can prototype with no card on file, and extra compute is a stated per-minute rate.
- Pricing: Usage-based. Free plan with 120 compute minutes in the first month and 60 a month afterward, extra minutes at $0.14; Enterprise is quoted. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: European teams wanting one platform
- Strengths: 1,500+ data sources; SQL and Python transformations; Flow Builder.
Where it falls short
Compute-minute billing is harder to translate into a monthly figure than rows or events, and the free tier allows one project on an extra-small Snowflake backend.
Wrong for
A team that only wants a dozen SaaS connectors synced with no transformation work will find Hevo simpler.
Visit Keboola →
#6 Skyvia
Cloud data integration with published low-cost plans · Slovakia · skyvia.com
low cost browser-based published prices
Skyvia sits sixth because it is among the few that print a full price ladder from free up to $499 a month. Plans scale by records per month and by how often integrations run, with unlimited users and connections on all tiers.
- Pricing: Usage-based. Free tier at 10,000 records a month; Basic $99, Standard $199 and Professional $499 monthly with discounts on annual billing; Enterprise is quoted. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Small companies with simple loads
- Strengths: Data integration; ELT and ETL scenarios; Automation.
Where it falls short
Scheduling on the free and Basic tiers is once a day, and hourly runs need Standard. Overage records are billed per thousand.
Wrong for
A data team replicating large production databases with log-based change capture should choose Matillion, Hevo or Fivetran.
Visit Skyvia →
#7 Azure Data Factory
Azure-native orchestration and data movement service · United States · azure.microsoft.com
Azure pay as you go orchestration
Azure Data Factory is the sensible default when your warehouse, storage and identity already live in Azure and your team is comfortable building pipelines in a designer or code. There are no seats or editions, only meters for orchestration, copy activity and pipeline activity, and a self-hosted integration runtime reaches data behind your firewall.
- Pricing: Usage-based. Pay as you go, with separate meters for orchestration runs, data movement in DIU-hours and pipeline activity hours. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Azure-first engineering teams
- Strengths: Pipeline orchestration; Data movement activities; Self-hosted integration runtime.
Where it falls short
Costs spread across several meters, so forecasting needs the pricing calculator and a pilot. Connector upkeep and error handling are your team's job, and the design experience is aimed at engineers.
Wrong for
A company on AWS or Google Cloud gains little from it, and a team with no engineers will struggle.
Visit Azure Data Factory →
#8 AWS Glue
Serverless Spark ETL and data catalog on AWS · United States · aws.amazon.com
AWS serverless Spark
AWS Glue fits a company whose data lake is already in S3 and whose engineers write Spark or Python. Billing is per second with a 1-minute minimum on current versions, so a small nightly job costs cents, and the Data Catalog is free to the first million objects.
- Pricing: Usage-based. ETL jobs, crawlers and sessions are billed per DPU-hour, shown as $0.44 on the pricing page's examples and billed by the second. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: AWS shops with Spark engineers
- Strengths: Apache Spark jobs; Spark Streaming; Python Shell jobs.
Where it falls short
Glue gives you tools for building pipelines rather than ready-made SaaS connectors, so each source is something your team writes or configures. Spark jobs require a minimum of 2 DPUs, and costs depend on region and job tuning.
Wrong for
Teams without Spark skills, or whose data sits in SaaS apps rather than AWS storage, should choose Hevo, Fivetran or Airbyte.
Visit AWS Glue →
#9 Portable
Flat-fee ELT with a very long connector list · United States · portable.io
flat fee long tail 1,500+ connectors
Portable is ninth because its price is easy to budget but high for the smallest buyers. A flow is one source-to-destination pair, volume is unlimited, and the catalog's 1,500+ connectors reach niche tools that bigger vendors ignore. It also sells custom connector builds as a monthly service, which helps when one obscure system is the blocker.
- Pricing: Flat monthly. Standard $1,800 a month for 6 enabled flows, Pro $2,800 for 15, Enterprise quoted. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Companies with unusual SaaS sources
- Strengths: 1,500+ connectors; Unlimited data volumes; Incremental syncing.
Where it falls short
At $1,800 a month for 6 flows the entry price is steep for a company with two or three sources. Standard syncs hourly at best, and 15-minute syncs and cron scheduling come with Pro.
Wrong for
Small teams with few sources and light data volumes will overpay and should look at Hevo, Skyvia or Airbyte.
Visit Portable →
#10 Boomi
iPaaS with data integration, CDC and API management · United States · boomi.com
iPaaS API management CDC
Boomi ranks tenth because it solves a wider problem than loading a warehouse. The same platform handles ingestion, change data capture, reverse ETL, application connections and API management, so a company moving orders between systems and also feeding analytics can buy once. The Base edition includes one environment and two users with unlimited connections, a modest starting point for an iPaaS.
- Pricing: Quote only. Data Integration comes in Base (introductory pay as you go), Professional, Pro Plus and Enterprise editions, all marked talk to sales. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Mixed app and data integration
- Strengths: Data ingestion; Data transformation; Data orchestration.
Where it falls short
Nothing is priced publicly, so comparison shopping requires sales calls. The platform has many parts, and you pay for editions that include API management whether or not you use it.
Wrong for
A team that only needs SaaS data in a warehouse should start with Hevo, Airbyte or Fivetran.
Visit Boomi →
#11 SnapLogic
Visual data and application integration platform · United States · snaplogic.com
iPaaS visual enterprise
SnapLogic is eleventh because a small buyer cannot try it or price it without talking to sales. Where it fits, a mid-sized or large company with analytics loads, application connections and API work, the visual builder and prebuilt Snaps cover all of it under one subscription, and the vendor states that pipelines and data movement are unlimited.
- Pricing: Quote only. Packages named Essential, Professional and Enterprise One with no prices shown; pricing is by quote. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Enterprise integration teams
- Strengths: Prebuilt Snaps connectors; Data integration; Application integration.
Where it falls short
No self-serve plan, no public price, and a heavy enterprise sales cycle. The product has moved toward agent and AI features, which is a distraction for a buyer who just wants nightly loads.
Wrong for
Small teams, startups and anyone who wants to test with a card before talking to sales.
Visit SnapLogic →
#12 Informatica
Enterprise data management cloud, part of Salesforce · United States · informatica.com
enterprise governance Salesforce
Informatica is the heavyweight option, and the right one when integration is one piece of a larger program covering data quality, master data, cataloging and privacy. Its IPU model lets a customer move spend between modules instead of buying each separately. The company now sits within Salesforce, whose notice appears on its site, which gives it stability and ties to Salesforce customers.
- Pricing: Quote only. Consumption pricing in Informatica Pricing Units across modules, by quote; no list prices are published. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Large regulated data estates
- Strengths: Data integration; API and app integration; Data quality and observability.
Where it falls short
It is expensive and slow to start for a small team, pricing is private, and the breadth of modules overwhelms a buyer who wants three connectors.
Wrong for
Companies with a small data team and a limited budget should choose Hevo, Airbyte or Matillion.
Visit Informatica →
Questions and answers
What is the best ETL tool in 2026?
Airbyte ranks first of 12, best for cost-aware teams wanting an exit. Hevo is second (small teams without engineers) and Matillion third (warehouse teams wanting visual jobs). Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands, wherever the category has them.
What is the difference between ETL and ELT?
ETL transforms data before it reaches the warehouse, on the vendor's servers or your own runtime. ELT loads raw tables first and transforms them in the warehouse with SQL.
Do I need an ETL tool if I already use a data warehouse?
A warehouse stores and queries data, it does not collect it. If your sources are few and stable, a scheduled export or the warehouse's own loaders may be enough.
How is ETL software priced?
There are five common meters: monthly active rows (Fivetran), events (Hevo), credits (Airbyte and Matillion), compute hours (AWS Glue and Azure Data Factory) and flat fees by number of flows (Portable).
Is there a free ETL tool?
Yes, several.
Should I pick Azure Data Factory or AWS Glue over a SaaS tool?
Choose them when you already run in that cloud and have engineers who write code. Glue bills DPU-hours at $0.44 on its pricing page and is strong for Spark jobs on S3 data.
What is change data capture and do I need it?
Change data capture reads a database's transaction log and replicates only what changed, instead of re-querying whole tables.
How long does it take to switch ETL tools?
Plan on weeks, not days. The data is already in your warehouse, but each pipeline must be recreated, historical backfills re-run, and downstream models checked for renamed tables or columns.
Is Fivetran worth the money for a small company?
For a small company with a handful of low-volume SaaS connectors, often yes: Fivetran's own pricing page shows median list prices of $15.88 for Google Analytics 4 and $22.06 for Facebook Ads, and it offers a free plan.
What is the difference between ETL tools and iPaaS?
ETL tools move data in bulk into a store for analysis. iPaaS platforms connect applications to each other in near real time: a new order in the shop creates an invoice, a record update triggers an approval.
Can a European company keep data inside the EU with these tools?
It depends on the product. Several managed services run the control plane in the US, with only the processing region configurable. Airbyte's Flex plan advertises in-boundary deployment, and Fivetran lists a hybrid deployment option, and Keboola is a Prague-based company.
