Matillion vs Openflow: Which Data Integration Tool Is Better?

Key takeaways

• Choose Matillion if you want powerful SQL-based transformations, orchestration, and flexibility across multiple cloud data warehouses.
• Choose Openflow for streaming pipelines tightly integrated with Snowflake, especially if your workloads involve unstructured data.
• Go for Hevo if you want a no-code platform with predictable pricing, flexibility, enterprise-grade security, and auto-scalability, without technical overhead.

Choosing the right data integration tool can make or break your data strategy. If you’re contemplating between Matillion and Openflow, this article is for you.

Both platforms simplify how you move and transform data, but they take different approaches to get there.

Matillion offers a cloud-native platform designed specifically for major data warehouses, such as Snowflake and Databricks. Openflow, on the other hand, brings Apache NiFi’s power directly into Snowflake’s ecosystem. But which tool does your team need?This guide presents the features, pricing, pros, cons, and use cases to compare Matillion vs Openflow. By the end, you’ll gain clarity on which tool fits your use case and can help you achieve your data goals faster.

What Is Matillion?

G2 rating: 4.4 (81)

Garter Rating: 4.4 (174)

Matillion is a cloud-native data pipeline tool that helps you extract data from over 150 sources and load it into cloud data warehouses like Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift, and BigQuery.

It describes itself as a ‘data productivity cloud’ that lets both coders and non-coders build, manage, and orchestrate an entire data lifecycle. Unlike traditional ETL tools, Matillion is purpose-built for complex, high-volume transformations that run using the compute power of your warehouse.

Key features of Matillion

• Component-based orchestration: Combines prebuilt components that control data movement, logic, and dependencies across a pipeline to build complex workflows.
• Native Git integration: Provides version control and collaboration by connecting projects directly to Git repositories for easy tracking, rollback, and team management.
• AI-powered pipeline creation: Enables faster pipeline creation through Maia, an AI assistant that turns natural language prompts into optimized data workflows and transformation logic.
• Flexible script support: Supports advanced customization through native Python and SQL scripting to extend or fine-tune transformations.
• No-code connector wizard: Allows you to build custom connectors for REST APIs using a guided interface that quickly maps data endpoints and authentication details.

Use cases

• Automate ELT workflows: Schedule and trigger end-to-end data jobs to keep analytics dashboards up to date without manual intervention.
• Consolidate marketing data: Combine data from platforms like Google Ads, HubSpot, and Salesforce into a single warehouse for unified campaign analysis.
• Operational churn prediction: Push machine learning-derived churn risk scores back into Salesforce for an immediate sales team follow-up.

Pricing

Matillion offers a usage-based pricing model with a free trial that comes with 500 credits.

• Developer: Includes unlimited projects and Git version control for one user.
• Teams: Adds audit log and standard customer support for up to five users.
• Scale: Includes enterprise features like advanced security and hybrid deployment for up to five users.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Offers detailed data lineage.
• Supports Reverse ETL functionality.
• Strong governance controls for audit and compliance.

Cons:

• Pricing is unclear and might escalate with scaled operations.
• Complex workflows require technical assistance.
• Might have a learning curve for complex workflows.

What Is Openflow?

G2 rating: 4.6 (652)

Garter Rating: 4.6 (351)

Openflow is a data consolidation tool native to Snowflake. It is built on Apache NiFi and manages end-to-end data movement across multiple systems at enterprise scale.

It enables you to move data from various sources into Snowflake and handle both structured and unstructured data in batch or streaming modes. Openflow is ideal for teams already using Snowflake that want to simplify ingestion, transformation, and governance in a highly integrated environment.

Key features of Openflow

• Visual flow development: Lets you design and monitor data pipelines through an intuitive, drag-and-drop interface.
• Extensible processor library: Includes a variety of prebuilt processors for routing, filtering, transforming, and custom processor development.
• AI-powered insights: Integrates with Snowflake Cortex to apply AI and ML models to data ingested through Openflow for intelligent enrichment and analytics.
• Flexible deployment options: Runs on either Snowpark Container Services (SPCS), a Snowflake-managed infrastructure, or in a customer-managed, Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) environment.
• Bi-directional flow: Supports data movement from sources to load into Snowflake, and pushes data back to operational systems for analytics.

Use cases

• Stream IoT data: Capture and load real-time sensor or device data into Snowflake for live monitoring and analytics.
• Process raw content: Extract, parse, and organize data from files stored in SharePoint, Google Drive, or other repositories.
• Integrate third-party APIs: Pull data from REST or SaaS APIs into Snowflake for unified analysis and reporting.

Pricing

Openflow’s charges appear directly on your Snowflake bill. Here’s how the pricing works.

• SPCS (Snowflake-managed): Billed based on the number and size of Snowpark Container Services instances charged per second, with a 5-minute minimum.
• BYOC (customer-managed): Billed per vCPU-hour for active connector runtimes, plus separate cloud provider costs for compute, storage, and networking.

Openflow is not available in Snowflake’s free trials.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Enterprise-grade security through Snowflake’s native authentication.
• Does not have a separate licensing fee.
• Low-latency ingestion through Snowpipe Streaming and integrations like Kafka.

Cons:

• Requires a paid Snowflake account.
• Limited to the Snowflake ecosystem and not ideal for multi-warehouse setups.
• Demands Apache NiFi knowledge for advanced customization.

Matillion vs Openflow vs Hevo: Detailed Comparison Table

Core functions	Cloud Warehouse ELT & transformations	NiFi-based ingestion & flows	ELT/ETL automation
Ease of use	Moderate	Moderate	Easy
Connector	150+	Unspecified	150+
Real-time sync
Warehouse support	Multi-warehouse	Snowflake-native warehouses	Multi-warehouse
AI capabilities	Maia AI assistant	Snowflake Cortex	Supports AI-ready pipelines
Custom scripting	Python and SQL support	Custom NiFi processors	Python and SQL support
Vendor lock-in	Low	High	Low
Customer support	Tier-based support, paid plans	Tier-based support	24/7 chat, email
Security compliance	SOC 2, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS	SOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS, HITRUST, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023	SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, HIPAA, DORA, and CPRA
Free plan
Free trial
Starting Price	Custom pricing	Custom pricing	$239/month

Openflow vs Matillion: In-Depth Feature & Use Case Comparison

Now that we’ve explored each platform individually, let’s take a closer look at how Matillion and Openflow compare in real-world functionality.

1. Ease of use and user experience

Matillion provides a low-code interface with a component-based workflow builder. You can quickly design pipelines, schedule jobs, and manage transformations without deep engineering effort. Its visual layout and AI-assisted pipeline creation through Maia make building data workflows intuitive and fast.

Openflow also has a visual flow interface that lets you design batch or real-time pipelines. However, managing individual processors can feel tedious and error-prone for complex workflows.

For teams not fully invested in Snowflake, Matillion is easier and faster to deploy.

Matillion:

Matillion’s simple UI makes user comfortable to configure and easy to understand the flow. And it’s well maintained configuration section is a big plus for this platform. So even new users can easily understand this platform’s features and design. Additionally Matillion providing learning materials and courses for beginners to understand their tool and the topics in the course also few, because they teaching only necessary topics which can help beginners to work in their platform as a professional.

Syed A.

Associate Trainee (Data Engineering)

2. Connector and integration coverage

Matillion supports more than 150 data sources, including databases, SaaS platforms, files, and APIs. It allows custom connector creation through its wizard interface. Its strength lies in fully managing these integrations with complex authentication and incremental extraction logic.

Openflow is founded on Apache NiFi, which gives it access to a huge ecosystem of hundreds of processors that act as connectors and routers. It allows you to build custom integrations for additional sources.

Both platforms offer extensive integration capabilities, so the choice depends on whether you prefer managed connectors or flexible, processor-based workflows.

Matillion:

Matillion’s intuitive flow visualization makes orchestrating complex data pipelines feel like painting with digital brushes. The drag-and-drop interface transforms intricate ETL processes into a delightful canvas where connections flow seamlessly. Matillion’s connectors are like well-fitted puzzle pieces. They effortlessly link disparate data sources, allowing you to focus on insights rather than plumbing. Whether it’s cloud services, databases, or APIs, Matillion’s connectors are the bridge to your data dreams. In a nutshell, Matillion combines creativity and convenience, turning data wrangling into a captivating symphony.

Verified User

Non-Profit Organization Management

Openflow:

3. Data processing

Matillion excels at pushing down complex logic to a warehouse. It handles high-volume batch and incremental loads, and keeps data synchronized across sources using CDC tools. A combination of visual workflows, scripting support, and AI-assisted logic makes building repeatable and reliable transformations straightforward.

Openflow is notable for its strong real-time streaming capabilities on unstructured or binary data outside a warehouse. This is ideal for data governance and event-driven requirements.

Hence, Matillion might be better if your focus is on large-scale, structured workloads, while Openflow is better for streaming complex workflows.

Matillion:

Easy to learn if you’re familiar with any other data transformation tool. Allows easy drag and drop but also offers full power of native SQL or Python when needed. Very good value for money - scales very well, also for small use cases. Uses the processing power of modern cloud data warehouses by using SQL pushdown.

Dominik R.

User in Mid-market

Openflow:

4. Deployment and flexibility

Matillion is designed to be cloud-agnostic, and it connects to major cloud warehouses like Redshift, Snowflake, and BigQuery. Its deployment is straightforward and optimized for cloud-native performance.

Openflow, on the other hand, offers two modes. The SPCS is fully managed, and it simplifies setup, but creates high vendor lock-in as the flow architecture is tied to the Snowflake Data Cloud. The Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) option gives control over infrastructure and security, but still maintains significant lock-in due to proprietary integration with Openflow.

Openflow’s BYOC option offers greater control over infrastructure and security. However, if vendor lock-in is a concern, Matillion delivers better platform flexibility.

Matillion:

Best features: 1) Cloud based architecture so we can take advantage of all the available cloud tools 2) Can perform fast data transfers when the files are available in cloud 3) GitHub integration available 4) Functionality to migrate code between environment is awesome 5) Lots of native connectors available for different applications 6) The application is very fast compared to other non-cloud ETL/ELT tools

Madhankkumar S.

Senior Data Engineer

5. Pricing

Matillion follows tiered pricing depending on users and features, and a free trial is available to test workflows.

Openflow follows the same usage-based pricing model as the rest of Snowflake, so you only pay for the compute and storage you use, billed through Snowflake credits. However, it does not offer a free trial.

Matillion is a better choice if you want predictable costs and a free trial. However, if you are planning to migrate or already run on Snowflake, Openflow offers an affordable option without any additional licensing fees.

Matillion:

Matillion is the greatest of all times cloud data integration platform i have ever encountered. I like how it can perform fast data transfer when the files are available in the cloud and since it’s cloud-based we can take advantage of all the available cloud tools. Additionally, i love the fact that charges are based on Pay as you go thus allowing you to pay for what you need/use. The drag and drop functionality increases the ease of use thus saving much time.

Linus W.

Analyst, Information Technology and Services

When to Choose Matillion

Matillion is an ideal choice if your team handles complex transformations across multiple cloud data warehouses. It excels at advanced SQL capabilities, pipeline orchestration, and flexibility between visual design and custom coding.

If you already have a data engineering team, deeper configuration and optimization become much easier. Matillion strikes the right balance between ease and enterprise-grade, cross-cloud transformation requirements.

However, if your workflows rely heavily on real-time streaming or unstructured data, you may want to explore Matillion alternatives.

When to Choose Openflow

Openflow is a natural fit if you already use Snowflake or are starting to build on it. It’s designed for teams that need real-time ingestion, streaming pipelines, or frequent handling of unstructured data. You’ll get the advantage of tight integration, fast performance, and simplified billing that runs entirely through Snowflake credits.

For teams familiar with Apache NiFi or AWS operations, setup and management feel intuitive. However, if you plan to expand beyond Snowflake in the future, you may want to consider more flexible alternatives.

Why Does Hevo Stand Out?

Hevo eliminates the complexity that you might face with Matillion and Openflow while delivering enterprise-grade reliability. You get a no-code platform that takes just minutes to set up and minimal maintenance overhead.

It prioritizes auto-scalability with fault-tolerant pipelines that adjusts to your workloads. With over 150 pre-built connectors and the option to create custom ones through code or on demand, Hevo offers the flexibility to integrate complex workflows on a single platform.

With real-time monitoring, advanced security, and transparent pricing that starts at just $239/month, Hevo stands as a dependable choice.

Hevo, when compared to Matillion and Openflow, stands out for combining ease of use, reliability, and predictability without steep learning curves or vendor lock-ins.

Want to try it for yourself? Book a free demo today!

FAQs on Matillion vs Openflow

Sarthak Bhardwaj Customer Experience Engineer, Hevo

Sarthak is a skilled professional with over 2 years of hands-on experience in JDBC, MongoDB, REST API, and AWS. His expertise has been instrumental in driving Hevo's success, where he excels in adept problem-solving and superior issue management. Sarthak's technical proficiency and strategic approach have consistently contributed to optimizing operations and ensuring seamless performance, making him a vital asset to the team.