dbt vs Matillion
dbt and Matillion are both data integration & ETL tools. dbt is aimed at developers, while Matillion is aimed at enterprise and developers. Both have a free plan.
Transform data in the warehouse with SQL
Cloud ELT and pipeline platform with Maia AI data engineering agents
| Pricing | Freemium · $100 | Paid |
| Starting price | $100/mo | Not published |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days | 14 days |
| Built for | Developers | Enterprise, Developers, Small businesses |
| Platforms | web | web |
| Country | US · 2016 | GB · 2011 |
| Rating | — | — |
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.
Choose Matillion if
Mid-size and enterprise data teams on Snowflake, Databricks or Redshift that want visual ELT plus AI-assisted pipeline building.
- Ingestion, transformation and orchestration in one tool
- Visual canvas lowers the bar for analysts and new engineers
- Credits only consumed when pipelines actually run
Look elsewhere if: Small teams that only need simple managed connectors (Fivetran) or want a free open-source stack (Airbyte with dbt).
dbt vs Matillion pricing
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
Matillion
- Free trial$014 days with 500 credits, full Enterprise edition access
- DeveloperCustom1 developer user, low-code canvas plus SQL/Python, community help
- TeamsCustom5 developer users, audit log, SLA on annual subscription
- ScaleCustomCustom SSO, hybrid deployment, lineage, streaming CDC
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
Matillion · Key features
- Low-code pipeline canvas with SQL and Python components
- Maia AI agents that build and fix pipelines from prompts
- Pre-built connectors for SaaS apps, databases and files
- Pushdown ELT into Snowflake, Databricks and Amazon Redshift
- Built-in Git repository or bring-your-own Git integration
- Streaming change data capture pipelines on Scale
Cons
- No published prices; every plan requires a sales conversation
- Pushdown support centred on Snowflake, Databricks and Redshift
- Credit consumption can be hard to forecast at first
dbt vs Matillion: FAQ
Do dbt and Matillion have a free plan?
Yes, both dbt and Matillion have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.
Which is better for small businesses, dbt or Matillion?
Matillion lists small businesses as a core audience, while dbt is aimed more at developers.