Fivetran vs Azure Data Factory

Building a modern data stack and stuck at the integration stage?

Assessing how Fivetran and Azure Data Factory handle data integration can help you optimize workflows, reduce ongoing maintenance, and execute operations at scale.

While Fivetran delivers plug-and-play simplicity with fully managed connectors, Azure Data Factory offers robust customization and integration within the Microsoft ecosystem. Both are market leaders, yet they serve different purposes depending on integration needs.

In this article, we break down the key features, ideal use cases, and major strengths of  Fivetran vs Azure Data Factory to help you choose the right tool for your organization.

What Is Fivetran?

Fivetran is a cloud-native data movement platform designed to continuously extract data from applications and centralize it in your preferred data warehouse, data lake, or database. 

Fivetran utilizes a set of fixed IP addresses to extract data from various sources and load it into the target destination. This keeps datasets within your private network and enables the tool to serve as a unified control plane, orchestrating pipelines across multiple clouds. The unified accessibility helps teams avoid integration complexity.

Fivetran’s standout feature is Fivetran HVR, purpose-built for real-time, high-throughput data replication from on-premises systems, like SAP, Oracle, and mainframes, to the cloud. Its prebuilt models enable parallel data loading and support post-load transformations within the destination using SQL, often integrated with dbt.

Key features of Fivetran:

Partner-built connectors: In addition to its vast connector library, Fivetran enables users to build custom connectors and destinations for specialized use cases through its SDK. You can visit the Partner SDK GitHub repo to access the necessary tools and guide.

Schema migration: The tool features in-built mechanisms to handle schema changes in the source data for maintaining data flow and integrity in downstream systems. This accommodates schema upgrades and rectifies issues while loading processed data.

REST API: Fivetran offers a robust REST API that enables programmatic control over connectors, destinations, users, and sync schedules. It’s ideal for automating workflows, integrating with CI/CD pipelines, and managing large-scale deployments.

I have been using Fivetran for over a year now and I love how easy it is to simply plug and play when it comes to connecting to almost any external SaaS platforms out there, saving us precious business time and resources. I heavily rely on Fivertran to collect data from offline spreadsheets scattered across the business into one place by using the out of the box Sharepoint connector. Once set up, there is zero effort from the user to automate the entire data pipeline and easily channel the data into one place for analysis, saving me hours of VB coding!

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Use cases:

Centralized marketing analytics: Using prebuilt connectors for Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn, and Google Analytics, teams aggregate spend, impressions, and conversions into a unified model.

Customer intelligence: Fivetran centralizes data from Salesforce (CRM), Zendesk (support), NetSuite (billing), and product databases into a single warehouse. SaaS companies get a complete, up-to-date view of each customer’s sales activity.

CI/CD automation: Fivetran’s REST API and Terraform enable teams to implement infrastructure-as-code (IaC), which means you can version, test, and deploy your data pipelines just like software, directly from tools like GitHub Actions or Jenkins.

Limitation:

• Fivetran pricing becomes expensive with large data volumes.
• Customer support lacks responsiveness.
• Transformations are restricted to SQL in the destination.
• Partner-built connectors are often unstable and lack official Fivetran support.

Note: You can check out our list of Fivetran alternatives for a holistic comparison.

What Is Azure Data Factory (ADF)?

Azure Data Factory is a serverless data integration ETL service that leverages Integration Runtimes (IRs) to orchestrate and execute data flows and transformation logic. These IRs include Azure IR, SSIS IR, and self-hosted IR, facilitating parallel data ingestion from hundreds of enterprise-scale connectors.

Azure Data Factory ETL ingests data through linked services and transfers them across diverse connectors natively supported by Azure. Transformation is performed on a Spark cluster, allowing developers to perform schema-aware transformations like joins and aggregations without writing code.

ADF is unique because it supports custom activities using external compute platforms like Azure Databricks, HDInsight, and Data Lake Analytics. Teams offload complex processing to specialized engines while maintaining centralized orchestration. This supports dynamic expressions and runtime logic, making it easy to build reusable pipelines.

Key features of ADF

Data movement: The Copy Activity in ADF handles high-throughput data movement across supported systems. It supports parallelization, staging for large files, format conversions, and schema mapping, ensuring data is efficiently and reliably moved from source to destination.

Parameterization: ADF supports dynamic expressions, variables, and parameters that allow you to create reusable, metadata-driven pipelines. You can handle dataset names, paths, control flow decisions, and activity configurations using expressions evaluated at runtime.

Monitoring: The platform offers deep observability into pipeline execution with built-in monitoring dashboards, real-time run views, activity-level logs, and performance metrics. Built-in dashboards facilitate centralized alerting with Azure Monitor and Log Analytics.

What I like best about Azure Data Factory is its robust and versatile data integration capabilities. It offers a wide range of connectors and tools to efficiently manage and transform data from various sources. Its user-friendly interface, combined with the flexibility to handle complex workflows, makes it an excellent choice for orchestrating data pipelines. The seamless integration with other Azure services also enhances its functionality, making it a powerful tool for data engineering tasks.

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Use cases:

Running ML workflows: Azure data factory trigger orchestrates Azure Machine Learning pipelines or Python/R scripts as part of a broader ETL workflow. This is particularly useful in scenarios like fraud detection, customer churn prediction, or recommendation systems.

Patient data integration: ADF is used to move and unify patient records from on-prem systems and cloud services into a centralized Azure Data Lake. Data is standardized, and sensitive health information is masked before being used in downstream analytics.

Modernizing SSIS workloads: Organizations using legacy ETL workflows can move their existing SSIS packages to ADF without changes, connect them to modern pipelines, and gradually upgrade them using Spark-based or no-code data flows.

Limitations:

• Not ideal for complex transformation scripts.
• Limited support for integrating with Power BI.
• Troubleshooting lacks clarity and real-time insights.
• Pipeline execution might take extra time.

Fivetran vs Azure Data Factory vs Hevo: Detailed Comparison Table

We have curated a detailed comparison table of the leading data pipeline tools, Hevo vs Fivetran vs Azure Data Factory, to help you make an optimal choice:

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Fivetran vs Azure Data Factory vs Hevo: In-depth Feature & Use Case Comparison

There’s no doubt that both Fivetran and ADF are acclaimed data pipeline tools, but their performance varies across distinct features and use cases. Here’s a breakdown of their performance across key factors:

1. Source integration

Fivetran’s REST APIs and webhooks support advanced workflow orchestration and integration into broad data architectures, such as Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and BI tools. Its connector SDK provides flexibility for non-native sources and adjusts to schema changes, supporting real-time data sync.

While ADF supports a comparatively smaller suite of roughly 90 native connectors, excelling in deep integration with the Azure ecosystem and custom sources via REST APIs and self-hosted IRs. Although initial connector setup may require technical expertise, ADF’s extensibility makes it a strong choice for enterprises working on the Azure platform.

While Fivetran is ideal for a broad plug-and-play source connectivity with minimal setup, ADF is for organizations focusing on hybrid integration and Azure ecosystem compatibility.

2. Pipeline orchestration

Fivetran follows the ELT model, which loads raw data into your warehouse with minimal transformation and relies on external tools like dbt for transformations post-load. This approach is ideal when data engineers want to leverage the scale and capabilities of their cloud warehouse for data modeling. It doesn’t natively support advanced transformations and complex orchestration.

In contrast, ADF is an ETL/ELT service, offering a visual pipeline designer and mapping data flows that support advanced transformations, like joins, aggregations, pivots, and custom logic. It supports automation using Azure data factory schedule configurations, conditional flows, event triggers, and granular error-handling.

Choose Fivetran for basic ELT and post-load transformation, and choose ADF if you prioritize visual, in-pipeline transformations and pipeline orchestration.

3. Deployment

In Fivetran, users can deploy pipelines by logging into the web-based UI or using Fivetran’s REST API to configure sources, destinations, and transformation logic. For on-premises, Fivetran supports secure local connectors that establish outbound connections to the cloud through SSH tunnels or VPN. This deployment model removes infrastructure and patching burdens, focusing on browser-based administration for all operations.

On the other hand, ADF supports deployment across the Azure ecosystem through its flexible IRs that enable execution in three modes:

• Azure services
• Self-hosted
• Azure-SSIS for package migration

This hybrid approach allows secure data integration across cloud and on-premises resources, supporting enterprises with diverse infrastructure requirements.

While Fivetran is ideal for SaaS-based deployment with little operational overhead, ADF is well-suited for cloud and on-premises deployment options in Microsoft environments.

4. Security and compliance

Fivetran features pipeline monitoring via built-in dashboards that automate failure alerts and schema updates. In addition, the platform provides strong encryption, SOC 2 and GDPR compliance, SSO, and detailed audit logs.

ADF has advanced monitoring and alerting integrated with Azure Monitor, activity logging, and fine-grained error analysis. The Azure platform offers encryption at rest and in transit, Microsoft Entra ID integration, robust role-based access control (RBAC), and compliance certifications, like HIPAA BAA, SOC 1,2,3, and CSA STAR.

Go for Fivetran if you want hands-off operational management, and ADF if you require enterprise-grade security integration and advanced monitoring within Azure.

When to Choose Fivetran?

Choosing Fivetran depends on your specific business requirements and integration needs. Here’s when to choose Fivetran:

For schema drift management

Fivetran’s core value lies in automatically adapting data pipelines whenever source structures shift, reducing the manual oversight and maintenance required to keep data flowing accurately.

For column hashing and privacy

Fivetran allows selective hashing of specific columns before data transfer to safeguard personally identifiable information (PII) at the source. This feature enhances compliance with privacy regulations and ensures sensitive data isn’t spilled in unprotected environments.

For real-time data movement

Through Fivetran’s HVR, the platform facilitates enterprise-grade real-time Change Data Capture (CDC) and high-volume bulk replication to support advanced scenarios, like ongoing SAP or legacy database migrations with low latency and minimal disruption.

When should you choose Azure Data Factory (ADF)?

ADF excels in enterprise data integration and pipeline orchestration in diverse environments. Here’s when to choose ADF:

For code migration support

ADF supports the direct execution of SSIS packages using Azure-SSIS IR. The direct execution allows you to migrate existing workloads to the cloud without rewriting code. You can scale in the cloud and simplify management without changing your existing ETL logic or tools.

For centralized monitoring and management

ADF’s centralized monitoring dashboard offers visual pipeline views, real-time run metrics, deep logging, and integrated alerting via Azure Monitor. The monitor promotes collaborative debugging, auditing, and resource optimization for large-scale organizations.

For customizable workflow orchestration

ADF enables you to design pipelines consisting of numerous chained activities. It provides the flexibility to run branches in parallel, incorporate error handling, retry logic, and sophisticated data flows.

Why Does Hevo Stand Out?

On comparing Hevo vs Fivetran vs Azure Data Factory, Hevo stands out as a combination of simplicity, flexibility, and real-time performance. With its pre-built connectors, you can integrate with major databases, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB.

It’s no-code interface simplifies learning, allowing teams to onboard quickly and start executing without delays. The platform is designed to provide real-time granular pipeline visibility and automate schema mapping.

Overall, it supports custom transformations, streaming ingestion, and robust control without complex orchestration, making it a perfect choice for SMBs with limited technical resources.

Moreover, the platform ensures compliance with SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA standards to guarantee secure handling of sensitive data.

If you’re looking for a modern data pipeline tool that combines ease of use, real-time sync, built-in transformations, and strong monitoring, Hevo is the ultimate tool. 

Sign up for Hevo’s 14-day free trial and witness uninterrupted data integration with advanced features.

FAQs on Azure Data Factory vs Fivetran

Skand Agrawal Customer Experience Engineer, Hevo Data

Skand is a dedicated Customer Experience Engineer at Hevo Data, specializing in MySQL, Postgres, and REST APIs. With three years of experience, he efficiently troubleshoots customer issues, contributes to the knowledge base and SOPs, and assists customers in achieving their use cases through Hevo's platform.