dbt vs. Fivetran

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

[Fivetran is] very well suited when you are using popular and common data sources, such as the major ad platforms, and SaaS platforms such as Salesforce. If the majority of your data sources are custom internal applications or databases, may be less value as you aren't leveraging the delivered connectors.

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

• Simplified ETL from a wide range of data sources
• Stable and painless data pipeline
• Granular control over what parts of the data source are loaded

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

• Doesn't include support for a Kinesis stream as a data source so couldn't be used for some use cases under consideration
• Doesn't support the use of "BEFORE DELETE" triggers
• No support for serverless Aurora

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

Very easy and intuitive to setup and maintain as there usually are not that many options. Very well documented (e.g. how to setup each connector, how the schema looks like, any specific features of this connector etc.). Also the operation is intuitive, e.g. you have status pages, log pages, configuration pages etc. for each connector.

Incentivized

It runs pretty well and gets our data from point A to point cluster quickly enough. Honestly, it's not something I think about unless it breaks and that's pretty rare.

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

Fivetran came well with the connectors' availability and updates with the source changes. We had an idea on data requirements in our case which helped us to work out on cost implication and take a decision for Fivetran as a data provider for our organization. These were 2 places where Fivetran out-performed, other vendors.

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

• Saved a lot of manual development days (unable to quantify)
• Accelerated the time to add a new source to the data warehouse a lot

Incentivized