7 Best ETL Tools for PostgreSQL Data Warehouses and Databases

Are you working on a project where you need to transform data and load it into a PostgreSQL database? Or maybe you need to extract data from PostgreSQL and load it into some other data destination. Are you looking for some tools with an easy interface?

There are several PostgreSQL ETL tools out there in the market, and it can be quite a task to do all the research on your own. You need to identify the best tool from the list based on your requirements such as transparent pricing. Here we have outlined all the significant PostgreSQL ETL tools for you to explore and consider before making your decision.

Now that we have seen how GUI tools make our lives easier, let us look at a few of these tools that are used for PostgreSQL ETL. Let’s start from scratch.

What is PostgreSQL?

PostgreSQL is considered the most advanced open-source database in the world. It supports various data types such as XML, JSON, Full-text search, flexible indexing, etc. Not to mention, it is extensible.

Initially, PostgreSQL was designed to run only on Unix platforms. Not anymore. Its design has been made portable and can run on Microsoft, MAC OS, Solaris, etc.

PostgreSQL supports several programming languages like PLSQL, C, C++, Java, Ruby, and Python.

Take a look at some of its features:

• Support for User-defined Datatypes
• Inheritance of Tables
• Use of Subqueries, Views, Procedures
• Supports MVCC (Multi-version currency control)
• Savepoints are also known as Nested transactions
• Tablespaces
• Point-in-Time Recovery

PostgreSQL ETL Tools – Command line vs GUI

CLI (Command line interface) tool is the traditional method of working not only for PostgreSQL ETL but for any database however, many issues are working with CLI :

• The console display of CLI gives very little information at a time, and therefore it is difficult to find the information we need.
• It is challenging to browse through tables and databases, monitor databases, and check indexes in the console display.

To avoid these problems, we use PostgreSQL ETL GUI tools. They are convenient to use and make you far more productive.

If you are doubtful, the following list should make you consider GUI-based PostgreSQL ETL tools:

• Files, features and the operating system can be easily accessed through GUI Tools.
• They have a Windows-based interface. So it is effortless to manage your PostgreSQL data.
• PostgreSQL ETL tools help you to visualize data.
• New users can navigate PostgreSQL ETL GUI tools quite easily through its shortcut keys.

Here are some other considerations when choosing the best Postgres ETL tool:

• Was Postgres considered during tool development? Although almost all ETLs accept Postgres, not all of them integrate as a loading destination and source for extraction data. 
• Does the tool offer popular and rare connectors? Based on your requirements, is the platform accepting proposals for additional connectors?
• To what extent will you receive customer support?
• What is the price difference in relation to other solutions given your requirements for an ETL tool? Many people find a flat cost more appealing than a consumption-based pricing plan that may be unexpected.

7 Best PostgreSQL ETL (GUI) Tools

1) Hevo Data

Hevo is the only real-time ELT No-code Data Pipeline platform that cost-effectively automates data pipelines that are flexible to your needs. With integration with 150+ Data Sources (40+ free sources), we help you not only export data from sources & load data to the destinations but also transform & enrich your data, & make it analysis-ready.

Sign up here for a 14-Day Free Trial!

For the rare times things do go wrong, Hevo ensures zero data loss. To find the root cause of an issue, Hevo also lets you monitor your workflow so that you can address the issue before it derails the entire workflow. Add 24*7 customer support to the list, and you get a reliable tool that puts you at the wheel with greater visibility. Check Hevo’s in-depth documentation to learn more.

Hevo has a simple, transparent pricing model containing 3 usage-based pricing plans starting with a free tier, where you can ingest up to 1 million records.

Hevo was the most mature Extract and Load solution available, along with Fivetran and Stitch but it had better customer service and attractive pricing. Switching to a Modern Data Stack with Hevo as our go-to pipeline solution has allowed us to boost team collaboration and improve data reliability, and with that, the trust of our stakeholders on the data we serve.

– Juan Ramos, Analytics Engineer, Ebury

Key features of Hevo

• Data Transformation: It provides a simple interface to perfect, modify, and enrich the data you want to transfer.
• Schema Management: Hevo can automatically detect the schema of the incoming data and maps it to the destination schema.
• Incremental Data Load: Hevo allows the transfer of data that has been modified in real-time. This ensures efficient utilization of bandwidth on both ends.

Check out how Hevo set the best PostgreSQL ETL example by empowering Ebury to build reliable data products.

2) Microsoft SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services)

Microsoft SSIS is a potent data warehouse tool that can be used to perform PostgreSQL ETL. SSIS was released in the year 2005 with Microsoft SQL Server 2005. In SSIS, users create packages, including data sources and destinations, and use various transformations.

The SSIS package has different types of components like Dataflow, Controlflow, Package Explorer, and Event Handler. An SSIS package is a collection of control flow elements, data flow elements, parameters, variables, event handlers, and configurations. These components can be assembled by building a program or graphical design.

In SSIS, we have different types of connections like OLEDB, XML, ODBC, Excel, and flat files. We have variables that are used to store data. There are two types of variables in SSIS. They are system variables and user-defined variables.

SSIS packages can be stored in the File system, SQL server, and package explorer.

Important Features of SSIS

• User-friendly and  Interactive UI: SSIS has a  very user-friendly and interactive UI, which helps us easily create packages and modify them. We can easily navigate from data flow tasks to control flow tasks and vice-versa.

• High Implementation Speed: In SSIS, packages can be implemented quickly, as we easily define the sources, transformations, and destinations.
• Variety of SSIS Tasks: SSIS tasks are added to manage the control flow. Examples of SSIS tasks are Execute SQL tasks, Data Flow tasks, XML tasks, Script tasks, Bulk Insert tasks, FTP tasks, etc.
• Tight Integration with Visual Studio: This is an in-built feature of the Microsoft SQL server. SSIS is tightly integrated with Visual Studio. The deployment of the SSIS package can be done with the help of Visual Studio.
• Variety of SSIS Transformations: In SSIS we have different types of transformations like fuzzy lookup transformation, a conditional split, audit, copy column, lookup transformations, etc.

3) Informatica PowerCenter

Informatica PowerCenter is the next on our list of GUI tools for PostgreSQL ETL. Informatica is a software company which is headquartered in California, USA.

It was founded in the year 1993, and it has a total revenue of about 1.03 billion and a total employee count of about 4000.

PowerCenter is a product of Informatica, and it is developed for data integration. Let us discuss why it could be a suitable tool for PostgreSQL ETL.

Informatica PowerCenter is an ETL tool that is used to build enterprise data warehouses. Informatica has a variety of tools that help the developer to do a variety of tasks like managing repositories, defining mapping and the properties of the fields, reporting metadata, etc.

Informatica PowerCenter, which is the central repository, stores all the source and destination data along with mapping the fields. The Informatica PowerCenter server connects the sources and the destinations, allowing data transfer and transformations.

Informatica PowerCenter has different areas like data migration, data governance, data warehousing, data replication, SOA (service-oriented architectures), etc. You can check out Informatica PowerCenter’s pricing here.

Important Features of Informatica PowerCenter

• Supports Agile Process: Informatica PowerCenter supports Agile processes for the SDLC (software development life cycle). Therefore activities like requirement analysis, designing, coding, and testing are done in parallel, in the form of sprints.
• Automatic Data Validation: In Informatica PowerCenter, all the result validations, development, and testing can be automated in the production environments, which saves lots of time and effort.
• Cost Reduction: Informatica PowerCenter tool has straightforward training modules in such a way that even a non-technical person can run jobs and can also monitor them, which in turn helps in the reduction of costs.
• Expose Primary Functionality: It has a service gateway that exposes all the primary and essential functionality of the product to the clients and makes a very presentable UI.
• Tight Integration and Scalability: Informatica PowerCenter is tightly coupled and integrated with messaging systems and supports concurrent data processing.

• Central Repository system: Informatica PowerCenter has a central repository service that provides all the information to extract, transform and load the data from MS SQL server targets.

4) Pentaho Data Integration

Pentaho is a potent but simple tool used to extract, transform, and load data to Microsoft SQL Server. Pentaho is a software company that has developed an ETL tool known as Pentaho data integration. Pentaho is also known as a kettle.

Pentaho has its headquarters in Florida, USA, providing services like data mining, data integration, and data warehousing. Pentaho is used by many organizations to copy or move the data from SaaS applications and also from the databases into their data warehousing, which helps users to view the data on the dashboards and also in reports.

In Pentaho, developers can perform data replication which can help them schedule jobs and get the data in minutes to up to 24 hours. You can analyze MS SQL server data without writing SQL or ETL scripts in Pentaho.

The standard plan for Pentaho starts from $100 US to process 5 million rows. You can also use its free trial plan to checkout or test all of Pentaho’s services. You can also customize your plans according to your requirements by connecting with Pentaho’s sales representatives.

Important Features of Pentaho

• Total Self-Service tool: Pentaho is a Self-Service tool. We do not have to contact account managers and customer representatives as it is very simple and easy to understand.
• Documentation: The documentation provided by Pentaho is very accurate. If we study the documentation, we can easily set up the ETL integration process.
• User-Friendly GUI: The graphical interface provided in Pentaho is very user-friendly as it has simple drag-drop features.
• Metadata Approach: Pentaho data integration follows the metadata approach, which is the data inside the data approach.

5) IBM InfoSphere DataStage

The following GUI tool for PostgreSQL ETL is IBM Infosphere. IBM is a multinational company with its headquarters in New York, USA. IBM was first introduced to the world in the year 1911 and has offices across 170-plus countries.

IBM InfoSphere is a tool developed by IBM Technologies in the year 2008. This tool was mainly developed for large-scale companies and big data companies. This tool plays a significant role in understanding and delivering critical values to the business, and it is a leader in the data integration platform.

IBM InfoSphere can be integrated with multiple databases like Hadoop, Oracle, and IBM DB2 database. IBM InfoSphere DataStage can be used when multiple sources and destination systems exist.

It is a cross-platform integration tool used for extraction, transformation, and loading. You can check out the pricing here.

Important Features of IBM InfoSphere DataStage

• Support Programming Languages: In the IBM InfoSphere Datastage tool, various programming languages like VB (visual basic) and C (procedure-oriented) can be used.
• Large Data Processing: IBM InfoSphere is used to transfer and process colossal volumes of bulk data. This data can be in structured or unstructured data.
• Integration with Databases: IBM InfoSphere tool is integrated with various databases like Hadoop, Oracle, and the IBM DB2 system.
• Easy Implementation: In IBM InfoSphere, connections can quickly be established between source and destination, and it can also connect to different external data sources.
• Licensed Tool: IBM InfoSphere is a commercially licensed tool that can be easily integrated with existing IBM licensing tools.

6) Oracle GoldenGate

Oracle was founded in the year 1977, and it is one of the largest American multinational companies. It is headquartered in California, USA. Read on to find out if this is the tool for your ETL PostgreSQL needs.

Oracle GoldenGate tool is built to manage data integration, which is suitable for large companies with frequent data migration requirements. This tool is designed for CDC (change data capture), real-time delivery, and routing purposes.

This is a very comprehensive tool and is used for low-impact, high-speed, real-time data replication and integration in different IT environments. Oracle GoldenGate allows us to filter and transform data from one database to another.

Oracle GoldenGate tool can be replicated with flat files, Java messaging queue, and with big data. Oracle GoldenGate is used to move the data very quickly with zero downtime.

Oracle GoldenGate is available for a 30-day free trial period and its license cost for the standard edition is $5,800 and for the enterprise edition, its cost is nearly $47,500 per unit.

Important Features of Oracle GoldenGate

• Maintains Logs: Oracle GoldenGate tool maintains logs for any CDC (change data capture), replication, transformation, distribution, and delivery.
• Real-Time Data Movement: In the Oracle GoldenGate tool, data moves in real-time and it avoids latency or delays while moving the data.
• Easy Problem Analysis: Oracle GoldenGate tool helps developers to analyze problems or issues very easily because of its very simple design structure.
• Supports Popular Databases: Oracle GoldenGate supports very popular databases like Teradata, Sybase, IBM db2, Exadata, etc.
• Data Delivery and Fast Recovery: In Oracle GoldenGate, data can be delivered reliably and also data recovery is very fast after some interruptions or network traffic.

7) Talend Open Studio

Talend was launched in the year 2005 and it is a US-based software company headquartered in California, USA. It employs about 600 people.

In the year 2006, Talend introduced its first data integration tool known as “Talend Open Studio” which was the first product introduced by it.

Talend Open Studio supports database migration, data warehousing, and profiling.

It is one of the most powerful and innovative tools introduced in the market and it is open source. Talend Open Studio meets all the data integration needs of both small and big-sized companies.

It has a very interactive GUI that allows dragging and dropping components, connecting them together to create and then run the Postgres ETL pipelines. Talend Open Studio performs ETL PostgreSQL and can be deployed on-premise or on any of the SaaS applications.

In Talend Open Studio, there is no need to write any code as Java code is automatically generated. Talend Open Studio can be connected to various data warehouses like SaaS applications, Google Sheets, RDBMS, IBM db2, Oracle, etc. Talend Open Studio is an open-source software and it does not have any licensing cost as it is freely available.

Essential Features of Talend Open Studio

• No Licensing Cost: Talend Open Studio is open-source software, and it does not have any licensing costs.
• Interactive GUI: In Talend Open Studio, GUI is very interactive, and we can drag and drop the components to create and run the ETL pipelines.
• In-Built Components: Talend Open Studio has nearly about 900+ built-in components that are used to connect to the data sources.
• Deployment Methods: In Talend Open Studio, code can be deployed on-premise, or it can be deployed on SaaS applications.
• Improves Productivity: Talend Open Studio has inbuilt components. Therefore, it can improve productivity and can also save time.

Conclusion

When it comes to non-open-source software, Hevo, which is a No-code Data Pipeline, does a great job owing to its features like automatic schema management, easy setup, and interactive UI. You can seamlessly perform your PostgreSQL ETL activities with no need for setup or code.

Now you can also learn how to move real-time data from Postgres to Snowflake.

Visit our Website to Explore Hevo

Are you thinking of spending valuable resources and tech bandwidth on handling your PostgreSQL ETL needs?

Why don’t you give Hevo a try? Sign Up for a free 14-day trial so that you can try it for free and see the results for yourself. You can commit only after you are convinced! Just try it out and you can finally stop worrying about data troubles and focus on what matters to you the most – your business.

Tell us your thoughts on these PostgreSQL ETL tools in the comments. We would love to hear from you!