In today’s data-driven world, managing your data effectively has become imperative for all businesses aiming to make more informed decisions. PostgreSQL, best known for its robust architecture and open-source nature is a common choice among businesses to store their data for analysis and reporting.
However, migrating your data to or from PostgreSQL could be a tedious task if you don’t use the right tools. Don’t worry, this blog will provide a detailed list of the best PostgreSQL ETL tools, their features, pros, cons, and pricing to make it easy for you to decide which tool suits your business needs the best.
What is PostgreSQL?
You must be wondering why we must migrate data to/from PostgreSQL. Probably one of the many reasons why the decision to learn about PostgreSQL will be an essential career investment in your life, Postgres is a free, open-source, Object-relational Database Management System that is robust, scalable, and supports advanced data types and performance optimization features— it’s used for small projects and substantial enterprise systems alike.
Looking for the perfect ETL solution for your PostgreSQL data warehouse? Hevo stands out among the top tools with its seamless integration and powerful features.
Why Choose Hevo?
Join industry leaders, including Freight Tiger, who rely on Hevo for efficient and reliable data integration from PostgreSQL.
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Benefits of Using PostgreSQL
- Open Source
- Highly extensible
- Supports MVCC (Multi-version currency control)
- Point-in-Time Recovery
- Tablespaces
- Asynchronous replication
- Nested transactions
What is a PostgreSQL ETL Tool?
- A PostgreSQL ETL tool extracts data from various sources, transforms it to fit desired formats, and loads it into a PostgreSQL database for storage or analysis.
- These tools automate and streamline the ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) process, allowing for efficient data migration and integration with PostgreSQL.
- They are especially useful when handling large datasets, complex transformations, or frequent data updates.
- PostgreSQL ETL tools often support various data formats, making it easier to integrate data from diverse sources like databases, APIs, or cloud storage.
- Using an ETL tool helps ensure data accuracy, reduces manual work, and speeds up the process of moving data into PostgreSQL for insights or reporting.
Also, take a look at how the process of ETL works step-by-step to get a detailed understanding of the process.
Key Considerations while choosing an ETL tool
Choosing an ETL tool based solely on others’ recommendations might not be helpful. Before selecting a Postgres ETL tool, you must assess your business and data requirements. A few key considerations are:
List of Most Popular ETL Tools for PostgreSQL
So now that we know why we need these PostgreSQL ETL tools, let’s examine some of the best ETL tools on the market ranked by G2.
1. Hevo
G2 Rating: 4.3 / 5(234)
Hevo Data is one of the most highly rated ELT platforms that allows teams to rely on timely analytics and data-driven decisions. You can replicate streaming data from 150+ Data Sources, including BigQuery, Redshift, etc., to the destination of your choice without writing a single line of code.
The platform processes 450 billion records and supports dynamic workload scaling based on user requirements. Hevo’s architecture ensures the optimal usage of system resources to maximize return on investment. Its intuitive user interface caters to more than 2,000 customers across 45 countries.
Pros:
- No-code Platform
- Real-time data streaming
- Robust error handling and data validation mechanisms.
- Fault-tolerant architecture
- Highest standards of data security
- Pre-Built 150+ connectors
- Great Customer Support
Pricing:
Hevo provides the following pricing plan:
- Free
- Starter- $239/per month
- Professional- $679/per month
- Business Critical- Contact sales
2. Fivetran
G2 Rating: 4.2 / 5(379)
Fivetran’s platform of valuable tools is designed to make your data management process more convenient. Within minutes, the user-friendly software retrieves the most recent information from your database, keeping up with API updates. In addition to ETL tools, Fivetran provides database replication, data security services, and round-the-clock support.
Pros
- Free plan available
- Usage pricing reduces costs
- Easy to use for all users
- Automated connections
- 300-plus pre-built connectors
Cons
- Pricing isn’t transparent
- May not handle complex data transformation
- Expensive for larger companies
- Slow customer support
Pricing
Fivetran offers the following pricing plans:
- Free
- Starter
- Standard
- Enterprise
3. IBM Datastage
G2 Rating: 4.0 / 5(69)
IBM DataStage is an industry-leading data integration tool that helps you design, develop, and run jobs that move and transform data. At its core, the DataStage tool mainly helps extract, transform, and load (ETL) and extract, load, and transform (ELT) patterns.
Pros
- User-friendly service and client architecture.
- Enables parallel processing.
- The drag-and-drop feature makes creating pipelines easy.
- Reduced data movement costs
Cons
- Cloud integration for DataStage is more complex.
- Licensing fees can vary
- Not a wide range of connectors is provided.
Pricing
IBM DataStage’s pricing model is based on capacity unit hours. It also supports a free plan for small data.
4. Pentaho Data Integration(PDI)
G2 Rating: 4.3 / 5(15)
Pentaho Data Integration is not just an ETL tool but a codeless data orchestration solution that consolidates several disparate data sources into one source of truth for further analysis and reporting.
They provide two tools- Spoon and Kitchen. Spoon enables the user to design these data tasks and transformations as the PDI client, which the Kitchen executes. Another example is using a PDI client when conducting real-time ETL with Pentaho Reporting.
Pros
- Flexible data integration
- Multi-cloud-based and hybrid architectures
- Highly scalable
- Provides flexible execution environments
Cons
- Limited documentation
- Occasional bugs and glitches
- Can be resource-intensive
- Limited customization options
Pricing
The software is available in free community and subscription-based enterprise editions. Users can choose one based on their needs.
5. Apache Airflow
G2 Rating: 4.3/5(86)
Apache Airflow is an open-source framework for orchestrating and managing complex data operations. It was primarily developed to meet the requirements of Airbnb’s data infrastructure but is now maintained by the Apache Software Foundation. Airflow has become the top choice of data engineers, data scientists, and DevOps practitioners who build credentials to automate data engineering processes.
Pros
- Open-Source
- Numerous Integrations
- Airflow’s UI helps monitor and manage workflows
- Highly Scalable
Cons
- No versioning of workflows
- Insufficient documentation
- Challenging learning curve
- The complexity of the production setup and maintenance
Pricing
Free because it is open-source.
Integrate PostgreSQL to BigQuery
Integrate PostgreSQL to Snowflake
Integrate PostgreSQL to Redshift
Other ETL Tools You Might Consider
1. Microsoft SSIS
SSIS is very versatile when dealing with data integration tasks: ETL processes, data migration, real-time data processing, etc. Users have often appreciated its usability, power in data transformation tools, scheduling, and a long list of available connectors. It enhances productivity and efficiency in any organization, allowing users to streamline data-related processes while improving the quality and consistency of data.
Pros
- Highly Flexible
- Easy to use
- Strong integration with Microsoft products
- Graphical tools for building packages.
- It provides a ‘Catalog database’ to store, run, and manage packages.
Cons
- Requires a license for SQL Server.
- Steeper learning curve
- Primarily designed for Microsoft ecosystems.
- SSIS can be complex and expensive.
Pricing:
It has various pricing models depending on the plan and version of SSIS you want to purchase. You can choose from their available plans to meet your needs.
2. Talend
Talend delivers a comprehensive contemporary data management platform that integrates with any data environment or architecture, reduces risk, and shortens time to value. As a cloud-independent solution, Talend enables you to operate seamlessly across your data landscape, whether it is cloud, multi-cloud, hybrid, or on-premises.
Pros
- Easy to use and set up.
- Compatible with a huge variety of data sources.
- Open source
- Some AI/ML capabilities allow data scientists to model data.
Cons
- Has a steep learning curve.
- Poor timely support from Talend’s customer service team.
- It can be expensive for small businesses and start-ups.
Pricing
Talend has been acquired by Qlik and you can contact their sales team for getting the quotation on your pricing plan.
3. Informatica PowerCenter
Informatica PowerCenter is a common data integration platform widely used for enterprise data warehousing and data governance. PowerCenter’s powerful capabilities enable organizations to integrate data from different sources into a consistent, accurate, and accessible format. PowerCenter is built to manage complicated data integration jobs. Informatica uses integrated, high-quality data to power business growth and enable better-informed decision-making.
Pros
- AI-charged master data management with Claire AI.
- It offers a range of features that can be used for data quality improvement, monitoring, and maintenance.
- Provides a collaborative and AI-powered data cataloging environment.
- Highly scalable
Cons
- It may be complex for new and non-technical users.
- Expensive for small to medium-sized businesses.
- consumes more time with bigger cloud replication.
Pricing
Informatica supports volume-based pricing. It also offers a free plan and three different paid plans for cloud data management.
4. Airbyte
Airbyte is a data replication and integration technology for building seamless pipelines. It’s an open-source connectivity library with over 350 pre-built connectors. Even though the pre-built connector list is vast, the user can still build a custom connection for sources and destinations that might not be present in the pre-built connector listing.
Pros
- Large library with more than pre-built connectors.
- Connector Development Kit (CDK) for building new connectors
- High-volume data replication with CDC and SSH tunnels
- Provides a version-control tool and options.
Cons
- Steep learning curve.
- The cost per credit can be vague.
- The scheduler is a little difficult to use and might kill jobs anytime.
- Frequent updates force users to always have new versions to be installed.
Pricing
It offers various pricing models:
- Open Source- Free
- Cloud—It offers a free trial and charges $360/mo for a 30GB volume of data replicated per month.
- Team- Talk to the sales team for the pricing details
- Enterprise- Talk to the sales team for the pricing details
5. Apache Nifi
Apache Nifi was designed to automate data transfer across systems. Its core design principles are very closely aligned with the foundational ideas of Flow-Based Programming.
NiFi automates cybersecurity-related tasks, observability, event streams, and generative AI data pipelines and dissemination for thousands of businesses globally in all industries.
Pros
- Loss-tolerant and guaranteed delivery
- Low latency and high throughput
- Dynamic prioritization
- Runtime modification of flow configuration
- Back pressure control
Cons
- Less documentation is available.
- State persistence issue in case of primary node switching.
- Challenging to run long SQL queries.
Pricing
Free since it is open source.
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Comparison of the PostgreSQL ETL Tools
ETL Tool | Ease of Use | Support | Integration Capabilities | Pricing |
Hevo | User-friendly interface, No-code | 24/7 customer support, comprehensive | Supports 150+ data sources, real-time data | transparent tier-based pricing |
SSIS | Moderate, requires some technical knowledge. | Strong customer support. Good amount of documentation. | Integrates with Microsoft tools. | SQL server license required. Various pricing models. |
Fivetran | Very easy, automated | 24/7 support, extensive documentation | Supports 400+ data connectors, automated ELT | Subscription-based, transparent pricing |
IBM Datastage | Complex, requires expertise | Robust support, comprehensive | Extensive integration capabilities | Enterprise pricing, typically expensive |
PDI | Moderate, some learning curve | Comprehensive support, community | Integrates with many databases and services | Subscription-based, tiered pricing, free trial available |
Apache Airflow | Complex, requires expertise | Community support, some enterprise | Highly customizable, many integrations | Free, open-source |
Talend | User-friendly Interface | Poor customer support | Contact sales to get the quotations. Free version is also available. | Various connectors are suited for real-time data flows. |
Informatica | Complex- requires expertise | Extensive support options, community | Highly scalable, 200 pre-built connectors | Expensive, enterprise-focused |
Airbyte | Easy, open-source, customizable | Community support | 350+ pre-built connectors | Free, open-source |
Apache Nifi | Low, requires technical knowledge. | Good, active and supportive community of users. | Contact sales to get the quotations. The free version is also available. | Free, open-source |
Why do we need to integrate Postgres with these ETL tools
- Integrating ETL tools with PostgreSQL is essential for several reasons. ETL tools streamline the data migration process and are beneficial in various ways:
- Reduces the development and maintenance time of pipelines.
- Efficient and effortless data movement
- Maintains data integrity and consistency.
- Can handle complex transformations.
- Provides real-time data integration.
Take a look at how you can integrate your PostgreSQL data to MongoDB in just 2 steps to learn more ways you can store your Postgres data.
Conclusion
Having an ETL tool to migrate your data to/from your PostgreSQL database can ease the pressure of creating manual data pipelines and provide more time for analyzing loaded data. This blog provides a list of various viable ETL PostgreSQL tools, along with the pros and cons of each.
Sign up for Hevo’s 14-day free trial and explore more about the numerous data migrations possible with its no-code platform.
FAQ on ETL Tools for PostgreS
1. Is Postgres an ETL Tool?
No, Postgres is a Relational database management system. It is not an ETL tool.
2. Is Snowflake a Postgres database?
No, snowflake is a cloud-based data warehouse. It is not an ETL tool.
3. Can I Use Postgres as a Data Warehouse?
Yes, Postgres can be a data warehouse for smaller datasets, but it will not offer the same performance as others.
4. What is the difference between Postgres and Redshift?
Postgres is an RDBMS, whereas Redshift is a managed data warehouse provided by Amazon.
5. Which tool is used for PostgreSQL?
pgAdmin, DBeaver, pentaho, etc.
Harshal combines his problem-solving approach with analytical thinking to tackle the complexities of data integration and analysis. His well-researched articles provide valuable insights into the data industry, helping professionals navigate and understand this intricate field.