Fivetran vs Talend: Which is Better?

Can’t decide what tool to choose for your data integration needs? Choosing the right one isn’t as simple as it seems.

While Fivetran supports diverse data sources and automates ELT workflows, Talend offers a unified platform that combines integration, governance, and data quality capabilities.

One focuses on data integration and transformation, and the other has an entire data management product suite with Qlik.

Both tools top the list of modern data integration solutions, but the right fit for your organization depends on factors such as data volume, complexity, technical resources, and infrastructure.

In this article, we compare Fivetran vs Talend, their key features, and use cases, so that you gain clarity on which tool better suits your objectives.

What Is Fivetran?

Fivetran is a modern, cloud-based data integration platform that enables organizations to extract, load, and transform data between numerous sources (databases, SaaS applications, files, etc) and destinations. It is best for organizations that want to aggregate data from disparate systems.

The platform is fully automated and features built-in security mechanisms to ensure secure data movement across cloud and on-premise networks. The division between a user’s local environment and the customer cloud enhances flexibility and secures sensitive data. With improved security measures, Fivetran pricing model becomes transparent for various business sizes, offering an extensive connector library to facilitate ETL workflows for multiple use cases.

Fivetran’s core offering is data pipeline automation, which automates data ingestion and transformation, allowing teams to focus on high-value tasks. Unlike traditional ETL tools that require frequent maintenance, Fivetran manages error detection and schema upgrades. It’s built to manage large-scale datasets, fulfill enterprise-level data integration demands, and discourage users from switching to Fivetran alternatives.

Key features of Fivetran:

• History mode: Fivetran features a history mode that lets you view the history of datasets and destinations. This mode gives you a comprehensive view of past data transformations and schema relocations for selected tables.
• Data blocking: The tool blocks specific tables and columns from replicating into the destination. This prevents the exposure of sensitive information like Personally Identifiable Information (PII), saves storage, and syncs only relevant data.
• Pre-built models: Fivetran features pre-built dbt to integrate with popular connectors. This standardizes data and fosters seamless ETL workflow.

Use cases:

Here are some common use cases of Fivetran: 

• Custom connectors: Build custom connectors in Fivetran when you are dealing with private APIs, unsupported files, custom applications, data that needs filtering, and formats requiring pre-processing.
• Marketing analytics: Teams can integrate data from marketing platforms for quick access and analyze campaign performance to yield better ROI. This facilitates real-time marketing optimization and budget allocation.
• Finance: Organizations leverage Fivetran to integrate financial data from accounting software like QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite. Automated data synchronization ensures financial dashboards are always current and accurate.

What Is Talend?

Talend (owned by Qlik) is a versatile ETL tool for data integration to support any data source and architecture. Talend’s offerings are a part of Qlik’s broader portfolio, providing an end-to-end suite of data products. These standalone products offer solutions for ETL/ELT, data quality, governance, API integration, and analytics. 

Its principal offering is the Talend Data Fabric, a unified low-code solution that combines data governance, data quality, and data integration. It simplifies data workflows and maintains data integrity while enhancing accessibility for analysis.

The solutions offered by Talend simplify the extraction, transformation, and migration of large-scale datasets between SaaS applications and databases in both real-time and batch-oriented environments. These advanced capabilities help business analysts and data engineers seek modern data integration solutions.

Talend’s uniqueness lies in its customization that allows users to leverage community-developed plugins, custom components, and a drag-and-drop UI to manage complex ETL jobs. The offered solutions support on-premise, cloud, and hybrid environments and enable native code generation.

Key features of Talend:

• Built-in tools: Talend offers robust built-in tools for deduplication, cleansing, and validation. This embeds quality data throughout the system and minimizes errors, inconsistencies, and missing data.
• Integration: Talend integrates with big data technologies such as Apache Hadoop, Spark, and NoSQL databases to expedite large-scale processing and modern data architectures.
• Change Data Capture (CDC): Its CDC functionality keeps datasets up-to-date to promote real-time data replication. This enhances decision-making and provides analysts with fresh data every time.

Use cases:

Here are some popular use cases of Talend:

• Modernization: Talend enables secure data migration across diverse data sources while maintaining data quality. It also supports flexible deployment, which helps enterprises looking to modernize their data infrastructure without disrupting operations.
• Data processing: Financial and telecom companies prioritizing low-latency data insights can use Talend for real-time data processing to build operational dashboards, monitor user satisfaction, and detect security breaches.
• Self-service: Businesses with limited technical expertise and a requirement for rapid accessibility can use the intuitive UI, drag-and-drop tools, and visual data pipelines to manage ETL/ELT workflows. This clearly empowers non-technical users.

Fivetran vs Talend vs Hevo: Detailed Comparison Table

Choose the best fit for your data pipeline needs based on the following Fivetran vs Talend vs Hevo comparison:

Use cases:

	Fivetran	Talend	Hevo
Primary use cases	-Automate ELT pipelines to data warehouses -CDC for analytics -Batch data replication	-Both cloud and on-prem for ETL/ELT workflows -Supports complex data transformations	-No-code ELT pipelines -Automated schema mapping
Secondary use cases	-dbt integration for transformations-Automate schema upgrades-API data extraction	-Data cleansing and enrichment -API and B2B integration	-Data pipeline monitoring -Integration with BI tools

Connectors:

	Fivetran	Talend	Hevo
Connector library	700+ connectors (450+ “lite” API connectors	1000+ connectors for cloud, on-prem, legacy, databases, and APIs	150+ battle-tested connectors for cloud storage, database, and SaaS
Connector support	Pre-built but limited	Supports custom connectors	Features a REST API connector to fetch data from several APIs
Notable integrations	Major databases, SaaS API, and cloud storage	Facilitates enterprise integration	Popular cloud data warehouses like Snowflake and Redshift

Total cost of ownership:

	Fivetran	Talend	Hevo
Pricing model	MAR (monthly active rows) based model	Subscription model, custom enterprise pricing	Volume-based tiered pricing
Predictability	Unpredictable, can spike	Predictable for enterprise	Predictable
Cost considerations	Might become expensive for large-scale datasets	Expensive resource and licensing costs for premium plans	Low entry cost, which can rise with scale

Deployment:

Platform	Fivetran	Talend	Hevo
Options	Cloud-based and self-hosted	Cloud, on-premise, hybrid	Cloud-based SaaS
Setup complexity	Easy	Moderate	Easy
Maintenance needs	Low, high for HVR	Medium to high	Low

Performance:

	Fivetran	Talend	Hevo
Performance	High for batch processing	High for ETL/ELT; supports large workloads	Good for both real-time and batch processing
Scalability	Ideal for cloud and batch-focused scaling	Enterprise-grade scaling features	Scales for cloud-native workloads
Latency	Standard	Near real-time	Real-time (seconds to minutes)

Security:

	Fivetran	Talend	Hevo
Certifications	SOC 1/2-3, PCI-DSS, and ISO27001	SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR, ISO/IEC 27001:2013, ISO/IEC 27701:2019	DORA, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, CPRA
Compliance support	Strong	Enterprise-grade compliance	Good for cloud-native workloads

Fivetran vs Talend: In-Depth Feature & Use Case Comparison

Both Fivetran and Talend excel in their capabilities and serve multiple use cases. Here’s a detailed comparison between their core features and use cases:

Features

1. Connector ecosystem

Fivetran offers an extensive connector library of 700+ connectors to support diverse sources such as SaaS applications, files, and formats. The connectors are fully managed and can handle schema drifts automatically with minimal maintenance. For complex datasets, the platform enables users to build custom connectors.

Talend has more than 1,000 connectors to facilitate data integration from almost any source, like legacy databases, IoT devices, and back-office applications. Users can even extend connectors with evolving data needs. However, some featured connectors require advanced configuration and technical expertise.

Although Talend offers a broader range of connectors but given its steep learning curve, Fivetran excels under this criterion. With a 4.2 G2 rating, users say,

“Fivetran truly simplifies the process of connecting and syncing data across systems. Its out-of-the-box connectors are very robust, requiring minimal setup and almost no ongoing maintenance.”

2. Data governance

Fivetran supports enterprise-grade security with compliance certifications like SOC 1/2-3, PCI-DSS, and ISO27001. Additional features include role-based access, audit logging, and data encryption in the transit stage.

Talend provides advanced data governance capabilities like metadata management, lineage tracking, and data quality monitoring. These features help organizations ensure regulatory compliance and data integrity.

3. Data processing

Fivetran is primarily designed to handle batch ELT workflows. The platform syncs data at scheduled intervals with minimum latency. This is effective for large-scale datasets and simplified data processing. However, the tool falls short when it comes to real-time data processing and sub-second or streaming use cases.

On the other hand, Talend facilitates real-time data processing capabilities through specific tools in the Talend ecosystem. It supports event-driven architectures and can process high-velocity data streams, suitable for IoT, fraud detection, or operational analytics scenarios requiring immediate data insights.

4. Scalability

As already mentioned, Fivetran is a cloud-based serverless data integration tool that scales with evolving data needs. It facilitates integration with major data warehouses like BigQuery, Redshift, and Snowflake. Additionally, it supports flexible deployment models, which makes it ideal for fast-growing startups.

The Talend Data Fabric integrates data ingestion, transformation, governance, and quality, supporting end-to-end data management at scale. The platform scales horizontally across diverse environments and offers cloud-based, on-premise, and hybrid deployment options. Its scalability is rooted in flexibility, extensibility, and support for complex, large-scale data landscapes.

Use cases

1. Cloud data warehouse integration

Fivetran is purpose-built for migrating data from SaaS applications and databases to data warehouses and data lakes. The platform is fully automated with pre-built connectors for low-maintenance data ingestion. These features manage schema drifts and ensure stability in data pipelines without manual intervention.

Talend supports multiple deployment models and enables cloud data warehouse integration across legacy and on-premise systems. While it can connect to cloud warehouses, the setup is more involved, often requiring desktop tools for job design and more technical expertise.

2. Data transformation and workflow orchestration

Fivetran mainly focuses on data extraction and loading, with transformations delegated to downstream dbt tools. Although it features dbt for SQL-based transformations, it doesn’t have a visual transformation layer, making it unsuitable for complex, multi-step workflows. Users have to rely on external tools for handling complex orchestration requirements.

Talend excels at facilitating complex data transformations and multi-step workflow orchestration. Built-in tools like Talend Studio and Talend Data Fabric are designed to support advanced orchestration, anomaly detection, and conditional logic, making it ideal for sophisticated processing needs.

3. Data synchronization

Fivetran is capable of replicating data in real-time, leveraging log-based Change Data Capture (CDC) for supported sources. This enables continuous syncs to provide analytical teams with up-to-date datasets with minimal latency.

Although Talend supports batch-oriented and real-time data integration, the real-time functionality requires additional configuration. Therefore, data teams use it for batch and scheduled workflows in complex data environments. The platform is not as seamless as Fivetran CDC solutions.

When to Choose Fivetran?

Choosing Fivetran depends on meeting specific business objectives. Here’s when to choose it:

For a fast data integration solution

Businesses often rely on Fivetran HVR for seamless data replication and to reduce manual labor in developing and managing data pipelines. Given its extensive connector library, the platform promotes quick integration with diverse data sources without custom coding.

For centralizing data from diverse data sources

If you source data from Google Analytics, MySQL, and Salesforce and want to consolidate data into popular data warehouses like Snowflake and BigQuery, then Fivetran can be an excellent choice.

For reliable and continuous data synchronization

Fivetran supports batch workflows and uses incremental updates to minimize latency. This keeps your data warehouse up to date through continuous automated synchronization.

When to Choose Talend?

Choosing Talend depends on your organization’s data landscape and integration needs. Here’s when to choose it:

For integrating data from diverse sources

If you need to extract, transform, and manage data from a broad range of complex sources, Talend is the ideal solution. Its library of over 1,000 connectors and components allows seamless integration with virtually any data environment.

For data quality and governance

Talend’s embedded data quality mechanisms maintain data integrity and ensure compliance with industry-standard privacy regulations. The key functionality is that the platform allows you to cleanse, validate, and enrich datasets as it moves through pipelines.

For unified data management

Talend’s Data Fabric combines data quality, integration, governance, and loading in a unified platform. This minimizes the complexity of handling multiple complex tools and simplifies management for both technical and non-technical users.

Why Does Hevo Stand Out?

In Hevo vs Fivetran vs Talend, Hevo stands out if you prioritize simplicity, automation, and accessibility to low-maintenance data pipelines.

Hevo offers a no-code, real-time ELT platform that simplifies data integration in multiple ways. The platform is designed to automate schema handling and real-time data synchronization.

The flexibility to perform data transformations through a visual, drag-and-drop interface and custom Python scripts makes it ideal for startups and mid-sized businesses.

Additionally, Hevo provides real-time granular pipeline visibility for better monitoring of data movement and pipeline health.

To sum it up, with a transparent pricing model and large connector library, Hevo positions itself as a compelling choice for teams looking for automation with control.

Sign up for Hevo’s 14-day free trial and explore its extensive features to expedite data integration.

Frequently Asked Questions About Talend vs Fivetran