What is Fivetran? And Why Hevo Might Be the Better Pick for You

“Data scientists spend 80% of their time cleaning and organizing data—and only 20% actually analyzing it.” – Forbes

It’s a painful truth.

You hire a data team to uncover insights, predict trends, and drive growth. But instead, they spend most of their time wrangling messy data from 20 different tools that barely speak to each other.

McKinsey found that companies using data-driven decision-making are 23x more likely to acquire customers, 6x more likely to retain them, and 19x more likely to be profitable.
But how can any business become “data-driven” if their team is stuck cleaning up CSVs?

The answer lies in automating your data pipelines, and tools like Fivetran and Hevo promise to do just that.

They help you pull data from tools like Salesforce or Shopify, clean it up, and send it to a data warehouse like Snowflake or BigQuery without any manual intervention.

But not all tools are created equal.

In this blog, we’ll explain what is Fivetran, what it does, where it shines, and why Hevo might be a better, more flexible, and more economical alternative for many teams.

What is Fivetran Used For?

Fivetran is a fully managed data pipeline platform that automates data integration from source to destination. It helps businesses move data from various sources into a centralized data warehouse without needing to write or maintain complex code.

Imagine your company uses Salesforce for sales, Stripe for payments, HubSpot for marketing, and PostgreSQL for product data. You want all that data in one place—like BigQuery or Snowflake—so your analysts and data scientists can build dashboards, run models, or track KPIs.

Doing this manually? Painful. Time-consuming. Prone to errors.

That’s where Fivetran comes in:

• Extracts data from your source systems (e.g., apps, APIs, databases)
• Loads it into your data warehouse
• Automatically updates it on a regular schedule (sometimes near real-time)
• Handles schema changes on its own—so if a field is added or renamed, it adapts without breaking your pipeline

Fivetran is especially loved by:

• Data teams that don’t want to babysit fragile data pipelines
• Analysts who want fresh, reliable data without delays
• Engineers who want to offload the heavy lifting of data syncing

How Fivetran Works

Consider Fivetran as a highly reliable “data delivery service” for your analytics team. You tell it where your data resides (like Salesforce, Stripe, or MySQL) and where you want that data to go (like Snowflake or BigQuery):

• Connect to Your Sources

Fivetran has over 300 pre-built connectors for popular SaaS apps, databases, and more. You log into your account, pick a source like Shopify, Zendesk, or Google Ads, and authenticate it securely. It provides no code platform so no scripts needed.

• Extract the Data Automatically

Fivetran uses APIs or log-based replication to pull data from the source. It pulls only what’s new or changed (this is called incremental sync), which saves time and resources.

• Load It Into Your Data Warehouse

Once the data is extracted, Fivetran loads it directly into your data warehouse—like Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery, or Databricks.

It uses the ELT approach:

• Extract
• Load
• Transform
  
  This means the filtering or joining data happens inside your warehouse, where compute is cheaper and scalable.
  
• Schema Mapping & Auto-Updates

Fivetran automatically normalizes and maps your source schema into tables and columns in your destination. If your source schema changes—say, a new field is added in Salesforce—Fivetran detects it and adapts without breaking the pipeline.

No manual updates needed. That’s a giant win for data engineers.

• Sync It All on a Schedule

You can choose how often data syncs—from every 5 minutes to every 24 hours. Reliability is one of the reasons companies like JetBlue use Fivetran for business-critical data.

Fivetran Connectors

One of Fivetran’s biggest strengths is offering built-in connectors. Fivetran offers 300+ pre-built connectors that let you pull data from just about any modern tool you’re already using.

These connectors serve as the foundation for Fivetran’s seamless integration. They manage the tedious tasks of data extraction, API management, schema adaptation, and consistent data syncing. They manage the tedious tasks of extracting data, managing APIs, adapting to schema changes, and syncing data consistently.

Types of Fivetran Connectors

Fivetran organizes its connectors into a few broad categories:

Connector Type	Examples	Use Case Example
SaaS App	Salesforce, Hubspot, Google Ads	Marketing and sales teams can integrate CRM data into Snowflake
Databases	MySQL, BigQuery, MongoDB	Centralize the customer data
Cloud Functions	AWS Lambda, Azure Functions	Trigger events and integrate event-based data
Event Streaming	Kafka, AWS Kinesis	Stream big data in real time
File Storage	S3, Google Drive, Dropbox	Integrate spreadsheets and logs data
Analytics Tools	Google Analytics 4	Connect web data with CRM data to build web analytics

Fivetran Pricing

Fivetran’s pricing model is based on Monthly Active Rows (MAR), which counts the number of rows inserted, updated, or deleted in your destination warehouse each month. This usage-based approach means you pay for the volume of data processed, making it scalable with your business needs.

1. Free Plan
   • Ideal for: Small teams or individuals testing the platform.
   • Includes:
     • Up to 500,000 MAR per month.​
     • Up to 5,000 model runs for transformations.
     • Cost: Free.
       
2. Standard Plan
   • Ideal for: Teams requiring robust analytics across departments.​
   • Includes:
     • Access to 700+ fully managed connectors.​
     • 15-minute syncs.​
     • Integration with dbt Core.​
     • Role-based access control and SSH tunnels.​
     • Pricing: Starts at $500 per million MAR, with costs decreasing as MAR increases.
       
3. Enterprise Plan
   • Ideal for: Large organizations with advanced data needs.​
   • Includes:
     • All Standard Plan features.​
     • 1-minute syncs.​
     • Enterprise database connectors.
     • Custom roles and VPN security tunnels.​
     • Choice of cloud provider (GCP, AWS, Azure).​
     • Pricing: Starts at $667 per million MAR.
       
4. Business Critical Plan
   • Ideal for: Enterprises requiring high-level data protection and compliance.​
   • Includes:
     • All Enterprise Plan features.​
     • Customer-managed encryption keys.​
     • Private networking options.​
     • PCI DSS Level 1 certification.​
     • Pricing: Starts at $1,067 per million MAR.
       

Additional Considerations

• Transformations: Fivetran charges based on the number of successful monthly model runs. The first 5,000 runs are free each month, with tiered pricing beyond that.
  
• Annual Contracts: Signing an annual contract can provide discounts and more predictable budgeting.​
  
• Enterprise License Agreements (ELAs): For organizations with extensive data integration needs, ELAs offer fixed annual pricing with no consumption limits.

According to data from Vendr, the median annual spend on Fivetran is approximately $47,700, with a range between $15,000 and $124,833, depending on usage and negotiated discounts

How does Hevo do it better? 

“Data scientists spend 80% of their time cleaning and moving data, not analyzing it.”

This statistic is particularly impactful, which is why numerous teams turn to ETL platforms such as Fivetran and Hevo for assistance. However, upon closer examination, Hevo consistently outperforms, particularly for rapidly evolving data teams and companies focused on product development.

Here’s how Hevo outshines Fivetran in the real world.

1. Real-Time Data Pipelines — No Extra Cost

Fivetran syncs most connectors in 15-minute batches (1-minute syncs cost extra). Hevo, on the other hand, offers real-time data syncing by default, without gating it behind premium plans.

Companies like Postman have seen giant wins with it.

Customer Success Story: Postman

The team at Postman needed real-time insights from product usage to optimize user experience and improve retention. After switching to Hevo:

• They eliminated manual pipeline maintenance
• Built real-time dashboards in hours, not days
• Enabled product teams to make faster decisions backed by fresh data

2. Simpler and More Predictable Pricing

Fivetran charges based on Monthly Active Rows (MAR)—a pricing model that feels opaque and scales poorly as your data grows.

Hevo uses event-based pricing, which many teams describe as:

• Easier to understand
• Easier to budget for
• More aligned with actual usage

Teams like Zivame and Postman found this pricing to be more transparent and significantly more affordable at scale.

3. More Control Over Transformations

Fivetran sticks with a classic ELT model (Extract, Load, then Transform using dbt). Hevo gives you more options:

• Transform before, during, or after loading
• Apply Python-based custom logic
• Clean and shape data in the pipeline itself

This flexibility helped Postman automate user event enrichment, allowing them to identify power users directly in their warehouse—without extra scripts or tools.

4. 24×7 Support — Even on the Free Plan

Fivetran’s support quality depends on how much you’re paying. Hevo, in contrast, offers 24/7 live support to all users, including those on free trials.

When Postman’s team needed help during integration, Hevo’s engineers jumped in instantly—no waiting for SLA escalations or emails lost in support queues.

5. Powerful, Yet No-Code Friendly

Hevo’s user interface prioritizes ease of use without sacrificing functionality.

• REST API ingestion
• Webhooks for event-driven data
• Schema evolution handling
• Complex data flattening (JSON, nested fields)

It gave Postman the control of a custom-built solution without the headache of maintaining one.

Sign up for a 14-day free trial with Hevo and streamline your data integration. Also, check out Hevo’s pricing page for a better understanding of the plans.

Frequently Asked Questions