Fivetran vs RudderStack
Fivetran and RudderStack are both data integration & ETL tools. Fivetran is aimed at enterprise and small businesses, while RudderStack is aimed at developers and small businesses. Both have a free plan.
Automated data pipelines to your warehouse
Warehouse-native customer data pipelines, a Segment alternative
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium · $265 |
| Starting price | Not published | $265/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days | 30 days |
| Built for | Enterprise, Small businesses | Developers, Small businesses, Enterprise |
| Platforms | web | web |
| Country | US · 2012 | US · 2019 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Fivetran if
Data teams who value reliability over cost control.
- Set and forget reliability
- Broad, well-maintained connectors
- Excellent for lean data teams
Look elsewhere if: Budget-conscious teams with engineering capacity (Airbyte).
Choose RudderStack if
Data and engineering teams with a cloud warehouse that want a developer-friendly, cost-controlled Segment alternative.
- Warehouse-first design keeps customer data in your own infrastructure
- Generous free tier of 250K events per month
- Event-based pricing usually undercuts Segment at similar volumes
Look elsewhere if: Marketing teams without engineering support or companies without a data warehouse (Segment, Customer.io, Hightouch).
Fivetran vs RudderStack pricing
Fivetran
- Free$0500,000 MAR, 5,000 model runs/mo
- StandardUsage-basedPer-MAR spend rate; $5 base charge per connection
- EnterpriseUsage-basedHigher spend rate, enterprise features
- Business CriticalUsage-basedHighest security tier
RudderStack
- Free$0250K events/mo, 10 reverse ETL connections, 5 transformations
- Growth$265/mo1M events/mo; 15% off annually; scales to 25M events
- EnterpriseCustom5-min warehouse sync, Profiles, HIPAA, SSO, VPC deployment
Fivetran · Key features
- 700+ managed connectors
- Automatic schema migration and incremental sync
- Database replication with CDC
- dbt transformations and orchestration
- Data lake destinations and governance
- Private networking and compliance options
Cons
- MAR pricing can spike
- Less control than open-source tools
- Costs grow with data volume
RudderStack · Key features
- Event stream SDKs for web, iOS, Android and server languages
- Over 200 cloud destinations plus warehouse and data lake loading
- Reverse ETL that syncs warehouse tables back to SaaS tools
- JavaScript and Python transformations on events in flight
- Tracking plans that validate event schemas and catch bad data
- Profiles for identity resolution and customer 360 tables in the warehouse
Cons
- Needs engineering ownership; less marketer-friendly than Segment
- Profiles, HIPAA and VPC deployment are Enterprise-only
- Elastic License 2.0 is not an OSI open-source license
Fivetran vs RudderStack: FAQ
Do Fivetran and RudderStack have a free plan?
Yes, both Fivetran and RudderStack have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.