Context.dev vs dbt
Context.dev and dbt are both data integration & ETL tools. Context.dev is aimed at developers and small businesses, while dbt is aimed at developers. Context.dev costs less, from $20/mo versus $100/mo for dbt. Both have a free plan.
One API for scraping, search, brand data and people search
Transform data in the warehouse with SQL
| Pricing | Freemium · $20 | Freemium · $100 |
| Starting price | $20/mo | $100/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | 14 days |
| Built for | Developers, Small businesses, Enterprise | Developers |
| Platforms | web | web |
| Country | — | US · 2016 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Context.dev if
Developers and AI agent builders who want scraping, search, brand data and people search behind one API and one credit balance.
- One credit pool covers scraping, search, brand and people data
- Free tier with 1,000 monthly credits and no credit card
- Strong agent tooling: MCP server, Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor guides
Look elsewhere if: Sales teams that want a ready-made prospecting app with sequences rather than an API (Apollo), or pure neural web search (Exa).
Choose dbt if
Data teams with a warehouse who want tested, documented, version-controlled transformations.
- Industry standard with huge community
- Brings software engineering practices to analytics
- Free open-source core
Look elsewhere if: Organizations without a warehouse or with only spreadsheet-scale data.
Context.dev vs dbt pricing
Context.dev
- Free$0/mo1,000 credits/mo, no overage, no credit card required
- Developer$20/mo10,000 credits, $3 per 1,000 overage; 2 months free yearly
- Pro$90/mo100K credits; tiers up to 2.5M cost up to $950/mo; $2/1K overage
- EnterpriseCustomCustom credits, dedicated Slack, 99.9% uptime SLA
dbt
- Developer$01 seat, 3,000 models built/mo, 1 project
- Starter$100/user/mo5 seats, 15,000 models built/mo, 1 project
- EnterpriseCustomBilled annually; 100,000 models built/mo, 30 projects
- Enterprise+CustomUnlimited projects
Context.dev · Key features
- Scrape any URL to Markdown, HTML, screenshots or JSON with JS rendering
- Crawl and Map endpoints for whole-site content and URL discovery
- Web Search and Answers that return source-backed JSON in your shape
- Brand, Styleguide and Logo Link endpoints for logos, colors and fonts
- People Search in fast or ultra mode with country and experience filters
- Company search, person enrichment and news search endpoints
Cons
- Credit cost per call ranges from 1 to 100, which complicates budgeting
- Larger credit tiers cost $300 to $950 a month before Enterprise
- 99.9% uptime SLA only on the custom Enterprise plan
dbt · Key features
- SQL models with ref() dependencies and DAG
- Tests, documentation and lineage graphs
- Incremental models, snapshots and seeds
- dbt Cloud IDE, scheduler and CI/CD
- Semantic Layer for consistent metrics
- dbt Mesh for cross-team projects
Cons
- Cloud pricing per developer seat adds up
- Jinja templating can get complex
- Long-running DAGs need orchestration tuning
Context.dev vs dbt: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Context.dev or dbt?
Context.dev starts at $20/mo and dbt at $100/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Context.dev and dbt have a free plan?
Yes, both Context.dev and dbt have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.
Which is better for small businesses, Context.dev or dbt?
Context.dev lists small businesses as a core audience, while dbt is aimed more at developers.