CloverDX vs. dbt

CloverDX designer as a standalone is well suited for fairly straightforward transformations of data. If you want to do large scale data integrations, then their server edition adds an extra level of automation and job control.

Incentivized

dbt (Data Build Tool) is best suited for doing the data transformation. dbt is just a transformation tool and it is not suitable for building a data pipeline which requires extraction of data and loading. dbt is well suited for SQL based transformation logic and it is less appropriate when transformation logic requires python.

Incentivized

• Connects with Salesforce very well
• The graphical view of the transformations allows for easy creations and maintenance
• Support has always been eager to assist with any graph creation difficulties I run into

Incentivized

• user experience makes it easy to work with SQL and version control
• customer success team and the dbt (data build tool) community help establish best practices
• thorough and clear documentation

• The initial learning curve is a little steep. Not very steep or super steep, just a little steep.
• Having enough memory for large multi-step problems can be an issue if the graph isn't designed well.

Incentivized

• Slow load times of the dbt cloud environment (they're working on it via a new UI though)
• More out-of-the-box solutions for managing procedures, functions, etc would be nice to have, but honestly, it's pretty easy to figure out how to adapt dbt macros

Incentivized

dbt is very easy to use. Basically if you can write SQL, you will be able to use dbt to get what you need done. Of course more advanced users with more technical skills can do more things.

Incentivized

While CloverDX has an active forum for users to submit questions and assist with answers, their in house support team is incredibly responsive when I've contacted them for assistance. This seems almost at odds with most other software companies who try to save money on tech support by promoting a forum or knowledge base.

Incentivized

CloverDX was a less expensive alternative to Talend and had a more intuitive interface from what I could see during the evaluation.

Incentivized

Matillion is graphical versus dbt, which is SQL code-based (that, of course, is a matter of personal preference and not an objective advantage). The integrated testing, documentation generation, lineage, etc., were additional criteria that led us to choose dbt.

Incentivized

• Work that use to take multiple people 20 to 30 hours a week to complete each has now been fully automated to where only 1 or 2 hours a week for maintenance is required.

Incentivized

• In 3 months we re-wrote the data warehouse (15-20 sources) in dbt with 3 developers.
• We are using it continually for the past year with no issues.
• Sorry, I don't have ROI numbers but the impact was huge.

Incentivized