Many teams are rethinking their pipeline strategies, with Stitch ending its free plan. People are deciding whether Stitch's customization is worth keeping or if the very easy-to-maintain features from Fivetran are enough to jump ship.
Below, we'll examine how Fivetran and Stitch handle everything from connectors to pricing so you can find the best fit for your needs.
Fivetran vs Stitch: Side-by-side comparison
Both Stitch and Fivetran are single-stop, low-maintenance ETL platforms that are easy to understand and use.
However, when comparing Fivetran and Stitch side-by-side, there are some notable differences in product philosophies, capabilities, and use cases.
Fivetran overview
- Enterprise-grade, fully managed: Prioritizes automation, scalability, and reliability with hands-off data pipeline management.
- Extensive connector library: All connectors are built and maintained in-house.
- Standardized connect logic: Vendor-managed for reliability, but limits flexibility.
- Scalable infrastructure: optimized for growing data volumes and high-throughput syncs.
Stitch overview
- Developer-friendly: Open framework allows for more control and customization.
- Built on Singer: Open-source framework that allows teams to create and modify connectors.
- Lightweight design: Its simple design suits smaller teams with straightforward integration needs.
- Manual scaling requires more engineering effort, especially for unique data sources.
Use cases and ideal customer profiles
Let’s start by analyzing which use cases and customer profiles best suit both technologies.
Fivetran vs Stitch: Features and performance
This section will focus on concrete differences between Fivetran and Stitch in terms of how they operate and function.
This is a category where Fivetran has a clear advantage.
Bottom line:
Most teams prefer broad coverage with minimal hassle, and Fivetran checks both boxes. Stitch appeals to developer-oriented teams willing to invest the time to customize and maintain connectors, leading to more manual effort.
Schemas and modeling can directly impact setup time, data readiness, and the manual effort required for analytics. Let’s see how these tools handle schema management and data modeling:
Bottom line:
Fivetran saves analysts time by creating well-organized schemas that work well with BI tools and later modeling layers like dbt.
Stitch offers more flexibility for developers who prefer to make their own models, translating into much more manual effort (and added costs).
Stitch and Fivetran have simple pre-load transformation capabilities, like normalizing data types and handling schema changes during ingestion. However, they take significantly different approaches to post-load transformations.
Bottom line: Fivetran allows for a streamlined and less resource-intensive transformation workload, while Stitch sacrifices convenience for an edge in flexibility. It requires significantly more engineering work, while Fivetran minimizes engineering overhead for faster time to insight.
Compatibility, performance, reliability, and speed are some of an ETL tool's most important aspects.
Bottom Line:
Fivetran’s enterprise-grade platform has extensive connector coverage, near-real-time updates, and handles 1M+ syncs daily with minimal latency and downtime. Stitch’s batch-based syncs are often suitable for teams with less frequent data needs but may introduce latency in dynamic environments.
Though there is no fixed price that you can expect to spend with either Fivetran or Stitch, here is what you need to know about the difference between Stitch’s and Fivetran’s payment plans:
Bottom Line: Fivetran's active row model is often more efficient. The tradeoff is that complex data flows can make monthly costs harder to predict.
Like most modern ETL tools, Fivetran and Stitch meet security and compliance standards, including HIPAA, GDPR, and SOC 2. This ensures trust that sensitive data is handled safely throughout data pipelines.
Bottom line:
Stitch does meet key compliance standards, but connector maintenance and support are variable and community-based. Enterprise-grade security with RBAC, encryption, and full compliance certifications gives Fivetran an edge and a level of trust and reliability that Stitch has yet to match.
Reliability is a key selling point for both tools, but they are not perfect. In the rare instances when something does go wrong, having strong support, documentation, and a track record of customer success is crucial.
Fivetran has a support experience with in-app help, 24/7 email support, and dedicated Customer Success Managers (CSMs) for enterprise accounts. They also have proactive error handling and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on higher tiers.
Fivetran’s documentation is comprehensive, with visual aids through ERDs and setup guides. Users mention its reliability and ease of use.
Here’s what some had to say:
Stitch, by comparison, only has basic chat support on its Standard plan, while phone and email support are only available to Premium users. There are also fewer customer success touchpoints overall, according to Skyvia.
Reviews on G2 reflect these limitations:
Bottom line:
While Stitch’s documentation is serviceable, lower tiers offer only basic chat support, limited customer success resources, and slower connector updates. Fivetran also takes this category with 24/7 support, dedicated CSMs, setup guides, and rich documentation with ERDs.
Fivetran vs Stitch: Which one should you choose?
For most companies, Fivetran is the better choice. It can stay with your company from the start and grow as your needs change. It barely needs any work put into it, which saves costs by removing engineering overhead.
Stitch can be helpful for teams that need customization, but Fivetran, with its 700+ connectors and various destinations, covers virtually all use cases.
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