Fivetran Pricing Model Update: What’s Changing and How It Affects Users

If you’re a data professional or business leader responsible for managing data pipelines, you’re likely familiar with Fivetran, one of the top data integration platforms, trusted by organizations to seamlessly connect data from over 500 sources to their analytics and reporting tools. However, as your data needs grow, Fivetran’s pricing structure may start to feel complex and costly.

With the recent pricing update that took effect in March 2025, you might be concerned about how these changes could impact your budget. 

In this article, we’ll dive into Fivetran’s updated pricing model, explain the key adjustments, and help you explore cost-effective alternatives that better align with your data integration needs.

Understanding Fivetran’s Pricing and Key Changes in 2025

Fivetran’s pricing model was built around Monthly Active Rows (MAR), which tracks the number of rows added, updated, or deleted in your Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW) each month. This ensures that businesses pay only for the data they actively process. The pricing model is volume-based, so as your data usage grows, your costs increase accordingly.

Fivetran offers a tiered pricing structure with various plans suited for different business needs:

• Free: Designed for light users, with 500,000 MAR and up to 5,000 model runs.
• Standard: For teams with basic cross-department analytics, offering access to 700+ connectors and 15-minute syncs.
• Enterprise & Business Critical: For larger organizations with advanced needs, offering faster syncs, enterprise-level connectors, and more security features.

Feature	Free	Starter	Standard	Enterprise	Business Critical
Best For	For individuals, automating ELT for small volumes of data.	Small businesses or teams with simple data needs.	Mid-sized businesses with moderate data volumes and slightly more complex workflows.	Large organizations with stringent security and compliance needs.	Designed for enterprise companies that need the highest data protection and compliance levels.
Users	Unlimited	10	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Usage Limit	Up to 0.5M MAR	NA	NA	NA	NA
Sync Frequency	15-minutes	1- Hour	15-minutes	1-minute	1-minute
Connectors	400+	400+ connectors, excluding Database connectors	400+ connectors, along with Database connectors.	400+ connectors, including the enterprise database connectors(Oracle and all High-Volume Agent connectors)	All the connectors that are included in the Enterprise plan.
Database Connectors	✅		✅	✅	✅
Enterprise Database Connectors				✅	✅
24/7 global email support	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
1-Hour Support Response				✅	✅
Core Service SLA			✅	✅	✅
Data Delivery SLA.				✅	✅

Each of these plans came with different features, limits on connectors, and sync frequencies. The core metric, MAR, drives the costs across all these tiers.

The Shift to Per-Connector Pricing

Feature	Old Pricing Model	New Pricing Model (2025)
Pricing format	Account-wide MAR calculation, with bulk discounts for more connectors.	Per-connector MAR calculation, no account-wide discounts.
Discounts	Bulk discounts applied across all connectors.	Discounts only apply to individual connectors.
Plan Changes	Starter and Private Deployment plans available.	Starter and Private Deployment plans discontinued.

• MAR Calculated at the Connector Level: Fivetran has shifted from calculating Monthly Active Rows (MAR) across the entire account to calculating it for each individual connector. This means that businesses now see costs reflecting the usage of each connector independently, which can lead to higher costs, especially if data is spread across multiple connectors.
• Elimination of Bulk Discounts: Bulk pricing discounts that once applied when adding more connectors have been removed. Now, discounts are only available per connector, meaning businesses with multiple connectors will likely face higher overall costs. The previous cost benefits from adding more connectors to your account are no longer applicable.
• Independent Connector Pricing: Each connector now has its own independent pricing, which has made cost optimization more complex. Companies need to monitor each connector’s usage and pricing more carefully, as the new model requires adjusting the number of connectors and sync frequencies to manage costs. This also reduces pricing transparency and predictability, making it harder to forecast future bills. 
• Plan Changes: Fivetran discontinued the Starter and Private Deployment plans. The remaining available plans are  Free, Standard, Enterprise, and Business Critical.

And how did this change affect businesses using Fivetran?

As a Reddit user points out, with Fivetran’s new pricing model, adding more connectors will lead to higher overall costs, as bulk discounts are no longer available. Additionally, with each connector now priced individually, cost optimization has become more complicated, making it harder to predict and manage expenses.

Fivetran Pricing Pitfalls: Key Challenges and Unexpected Costs

While Fivetran justifies the price increase by highlighting improved infrastructure, enhanced features, and better support, many users feel the value no longer justifies the steep costs. Here are some key issues with the new pricing update: 

1. Lack of Transparency and Predictability

Fivetran’s pricing structure is not straightforward, making it hard for users to predict their monthly or annual costs. According to a reddit comment, the recent pricing changes have led to a significant 70% cost increase for businesses with many connections, as the loss of the overall MAR discount impacts overall costs. 

Users have also found discrepancies in Fivetran’s pricing estimator, which underestimates consumption. While evaluating alternatives, many struggle to find platforms that offer similar API and authentication features, particularly those allowing users to set up connections seamlessly within their own platform.

2. Complexity of the MAR (Monthly Active Row) Model

The shift to Fivetran’s new per-connector pricing has made the Monthly Active Row (MAR) model more complex.  This process inflates the MAR count, particularly for semi-structured data such as JSON or nested formats.

Unlike the previous account-wide MAR calculation, where adding more connectors reduced costs, the new model calculates MAR at the individual connector level, leading to separate billing for each connector based on its data usage. 

This change can result in unexpected cost spikes, particularly when factors like nested data or minor row updates drive up prices.

A Reddit user shared their experience of how a simple oversight in their data flow led to a bill that was three times higher than expected. With MAR now calculated for each connector, they faced unpredictable charges, which were difficult to manage, and Fivetran’s unhelpful response added to their frustration.

In this new model, cost optimization becomes harder, as businesses must track each connector’s usage individually. 

3. Scaling and Growth Lead to Higher Costs

As data grows, especially in real-time or streaming scenarios, costs increase significantly. Large-scale data operations quickly accumulate Monthly Active Rows (MAR), making Fivetran less affordable for scaling businesses.

The recent pricing changes have significantly raised costs, particularly for businesses with large data volumes or a few big connectors. Businesses are now facing 2-4x price increases, which makes Fivetran 4-8x more expensive compared to alternatives. This pricing model disproportionately impacts growing companies, as their costs rise sharply with the addition of each connector. As a result, many businesses, especially larger ones that require business intelligence solutions are now seeking more affordable options, as they can no longer justify the high cost of Fivetran.

4. Hidden Costs

Features like database and enterprise database connectors are not provided in starter pricing models and require you to purchase expensive plans. And now with the pricing update it can make it even more expensive. Customers on G2 have often reported discrepancies in the actual usage and the amount that Fivetran billed them for. 

Fivetran charges extra for retaining historical data beyond a certain period. While this feature is helpful for compliance and reporting, it adds another layer to the cost structure. Fivetran doesn’t have streaming capabilities in their SaaS deployment. If you need database replication and streaming capabilities, you need to have an on-premise HVR setup. 

All of these complexities can make using Fivetran feel like trying to solve a puzzle, leaving you both drained and out of pocket!

Real-World Cost Implications of Fivetran

With Fivetran’s connector-based pricing, businesses are charged based on Monthly Active Rows (MAR), which tracks the number of rows updated, added, or deleted in the data warehouse every month. The cost per million MAR decreases as your data usage increases, but adding more connectors results in higher costs that can spiral quickly.

Let’s break down the real-world costs for each of Fivetran’s pricing plans (Free, Standard, Enterprise, and Business Critical) with practical examples. We’ll also compare these costs to Hevo, a data integration platform that offers predictable, flat-rate pricing, as an alternative to Fivetran.

Plan	Number of Connectors	Monthly MARs	Monthly Cost (Fivetran)	Monthly Cost (Hevo)	Example Business
Free Plan	3	450,000	$0	$0	Small E-Commerce Startup
Standard Plan	6	5 million	$2,500	$239	Growing SaaS Business
Enterprise Plan	12	10 million	$6,670	$679	Large E-Commerce Platform
Business Critical Plan	20	25 million	$26,675	$679	Financial Services Firm

Free Plan: 

Let’s take a small e-commerce startup that is just beginning its journey with data integration. The Free Plan is perfect for businesses with minimal data requirements. This plan includes up to 500,000 MARs per month and gives users access to a limited set of connectors, making it an excellent starting point for small businesses or individual users.

Example: Small E-Commerce Startup

• Connectors Used: 3 connectors (e.g., Shopify, Google Analytics, Google Sheets)
• Monthly MARs: 450,000
• Monthly Cost: $0 (within the 500,000 MAR limit)

Impact: The Free Plan is an ideal starting point for small businesses;  however, as the business scales and the amount of data grows, they will likely outgrow the free tier and need to upgrade to a paid plan.

Hevo Alternative: Hevo’s Free Plan offers up to 1 million rows per month and more than 100 connectors, which gives businesses more room for growth compared to Fivetran’s Free Plan.

Standard Plan: 

Let’s take a growing SaaS business with a moderate number of data connectors. The Standard Plan is perfect for businesses that need more connectors and faster data syncing. It is priced at $500 per million MARs, and provides 15-minute sync intervals.

Example: Growing SaaS Business

• Connectors Used: 6 connectors (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe, Google Analytics, PostgreSQL)
• Monthly MARs: 5 million
• Monthly Cost: $2,500 (based on $500 per million MAR)

Impact: The Standard Plan is a good choice for growing businesses but can become expensive if data usage spikes. As the business expands and adds more data sources, the monthly costs can rise quickly.

Hevo Alternative: Hevo’s Professional Plan offers a flat-rate price for up to 5 million events at $679/month, which may be a more cost-effective and predictable option for businesses that want to keep their data costs manageable.

Enterprise Plan: 

Let’s take a large e-commerce platform that needs to integrate data from various systems across its operations. The Enterprise Plan is designed for businesses with high-volume data needs, offering 1-minute sync intervals, advanced security, and access to enterprise-grade connectors. It is priced at $667 per million MARs.

Example: Large E-Commerce Platform

• Connectors Used: 12 connectors (e.g., Oracle, MySQL, Shopify, Google Ads, Klaviyo, AWS)
• Monthly MARs: 10 million
• Monthly Cost: $6,670 (based on $667 per million MAR)

Impact: The Enterprise Plan supports faster sync speeds and additional connectors, but with the increasing data volume, the platform’s costs will quickly rise. Businesses with multiple complex data sources will need to manage their usage carefully to avoid unexpectedly high costs.

Hevo Alternative: Hevo’s Professional Plan offers a flat-rate pricing model for up to 20 million events, priced at $679/month, making it a cost-effective alternative for businesses that want to simplify their budgeting and reduce the uncertainty of variable pricing.

Business Critical Plan:

Let’s take a financial services firm that operates in a highly regulated industry. The Business Critical Plan is priced at $1,067 per million MARs and is tailored to organizations with strict security, compliance, and performance requirements. This plan offers customer-managed encryption keys, private networking options, and 24/7 support.

Example: Financial Services Firm

• Connectors Used: 20 connectors (e.g., Oracle Database, Salesforce, QuickBooks, AWS, SQL Server)
• Monthly MARs: 25 million
• Monthly Cost: $26,675 (based on $1,067 per million MAR)

Impact: The Business Critical Plan provides the necessary security and compliance features required by enterprises in regulated industries, but it comes at a high price. As the business continues to grow and add more data connectors, the costs will increase accordingly.

Hevo Alternative: Hevo’s Enterprise Plan offers flat-rate pricing with enhanced security and compliance features at a more predictable cost, making it an attractive alternative for businesses with strict security needs.

Hevo vs. Fivetran: Which is More Predictable?

While Fivetran offers powerful data integration solutions, its connector-based pricing can be unpredictable, especially as businesses scale. The costs can increase rapidly based on the number of connectors used and the volume of data processed. On the other hand, Hevo’s flat-rate pricing model offers predictable costs, making it easier for businesses to plan their budgets and avoid unexpected cost spikes.

For instance, the Hevo Professional Plan offers up to 5 million events for $679/month, while the Fivetran Standard Plan would cost $2,500 for 5 million MARs. This makes Hevo a more predictable and often more cost-effective alternative for businesses with fluctuating or scaling data needs.

Looking for an Alternative That Is Cheaper Than Your Current Bill?

Yes, you heard it right. If Fivetran’s pricing feels like a puzzle that’s both confusing and expensive, it might be time to consider a better alternative—Hevo Data. Hevo provides a better ROI and can save you up to 40% on your current plan. How? Well, let me break it down for you. 

• Unlike Fivetran’s MAR-based pricing, Hevo has a transparent, tier-based pricing model that helps you avoid any surprises in your bill. 
• With Fivetran, some premium connectors and features like dbt transformations come with additional costs. Hevo, on the other hand, bundles all its connectors in all its paid plans without costing extra. 
• Hevo provides auto-schema management and allows manual overrides if necessary without charging extra. 
• Hevo doesn’t charge for every little thing. There are no hidden costs for data retention. You get clear pricing upfront, making it easy to plan your budget.
• As your business grows, so does your data. Fivetran cost can skyrocket with usage, making it difficult to scale efficiently. On the other hand, Hevo manages costs with its flat-rate pricing tiers that grow incrementally. For example, 100 million events in Fivetran will cost you around $5205 monthly, whereas Hevo will only cost you $1759. 

With Hevo, you pay for peace of mind, not just for a tool. Hevo is the smart, reliable, and cost-effective option for businesses that require heavy-duty data integration without making holes in the wallet. Ready to say goodbye to all that confusion and hello to saving money? Hevo’s here to help.

You can check out our blog on Hevo vs Fivetran for a more detailed comparison

Here’s a graphical representation of how Hevo’s transparent, tier-based pricing compares against Fivetran’s complex, expensive pricing model.

1. For DB Sources:

2. For SaaS Sources:

3. For Both DB + SaaS Sources:

Note that:

• These graphs are not based on absolute numbers and are subject to various assumptions.
• I have compared the prices for Hevo’s Professional plan and Fivetran’s Starter plan.  

As you can see through these graphs, Hevo’s best pricing plan is compared to Fivetran’s Starter plan(basic without most of the necessary features) and is still more cost-effective. 

Overview of Hevo vs Fivetran Pricing Model

Feature
Pricing Model	Connector based	Tier-based, transparent and predictable
Free Plan	Limited and restrictive	Robust and startup-friendly
Cost Transparency	Complex and variable	Clear and Transparent
Scalability	Ideal for enterprises, it can get very expensive as data volume increases	Flexible for SMBs and startups, it scales efficiently with growing data volumes.
Connector Fees	Additional charges for some	No additional fee, all connectors are included in most paid tiers

So, Is Fivetran Worth It?

The pricing complexity of Fivetran is undeniable, but that does not mean it is a bad platform. The new pricing model can be cost-effective and flexible for large enterprises with stable data needs. However, the pricing structure can feel like a constant challenge for small and medium-sized businesses or those with unpredictable data loads.

An alternative pricing model, such as Hevo’s tiered, reliable, and transparent structure, may be the better choice if you prefer simplicity and predictable costs. Hevo also provides transparent pricing and removes most of the pain points associated with Fivetran’s pricing system.

In a nutshell, it is up to you to determine the right platform based on your data needs, budget, and tolerance for complexity. To try Hevo’s feature-rich platform and explore more about its competitive pricing, Sign up for a 14-day free trial. 

FAQs on Fivetran’s Pricing Model