Fivetran is one of the most popular data integration platforms, enabling users to link data from over 400 sources to their preferred reporting and analytics destinations.
But the pricing packages offered by Fivetran can be both costly and intricate. In this article, we will delve into the intricacies of Fivetran pricing, examining how it operates and exploring alternatives if the existing pricing model proves unsuitable for your needs.
Fivetran Pricing Explained
The pricing structure of Fivetran operates on a volume-based model, focusing on Monthly Active Rows (MARs), which represent the amount of data from your sources uploaded or updated and loaded into your Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW). This approach ensures that users only pay for the data they utilize.
However, a challenge with the MARs pricing strategy lies in the potential for fluctuating data volumes. Businesses may encounter periods of rapid data growth or spikes due to seasonal changes, campaigns, events, and other factors, leading to unexpected increases in Fivetran pricing.
Fivetran provides the option to subscribe on a monthly or annual basis, and payment can be made using either a credit card or through invoicing.
How Fivetran Pricing Works
Apart from being volume-based, Fivetran offers distinct pricing plans tailored to different business needs for data integration:
Free
Access all the features included in our Standard plan for up to 500,000 Monthly Active Rows (MAR) per month.
If you exceed your monthly volume limit of 500,000 MAR, you have the option to optimize your usage by removing tables or connectors, or you can upgrade to a paid plan.
This plan is for users with minimal data volumes or those interested in trialing Fivetran with lower data quantities.
Starter Plan
This plan is well-suited for smaller teams not yet prepared to connect a database source.
Geared towards smaller businesses with up to 10 users, the Starter Plan includes features like analytic-ready schemas, prebuilt data models, and 24/7 global customer support.
Syncs are rather time-consuming and can take up to 1 hour.
Standard Select
Designed for one-person teams with lower data volumes, this plan includes the Starter Plan features and additional benefits. The Standard plan, our most sought-after option, is perfect for teams requiring robust cross-departmental analytics.
Syncs take up to 5 minutes on average.
Enterprise Plan
Tailored for large organizations, the Enterprise Plan has no user or usage restrictions and offers advanced features. The Enterprise plan caters to data teams seeking real-time data delivery and stringent governance requirements.
Business Critical – Ensure the utmost levels of data protection and compliance with the Business Critical plan. This option is highly favored among large enterprise businesses and those operating in healthcare, insurance, and finance industries.
Syncs take up approximately 1 minute.
Business Critical Plan
Designed for global enterprise teams requiring high-level data protection and compliance, Fivetran provides the Business Critical Plan.
This option is highly favored among large enterprise businesses and those operating in healthcare, insurance, and finance industries.
Pricing details are not disclosed, and businesses qualifying for this plan are encouraged to contact the sales team for an accurate quote.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Fivetran Pricing
To ensure budget predictability and avoid unexpected charges, businesses are advised to estimate MARs accurately, considering potential spikes and growth in data volume.
Pros
- The Fivetran pricing model allows businesses to add or remove connectors without incurring additional charges.
- The pricing is based on the amount of data used, not on the number of connectors, making Fivetran easily scalable for businesses of any size.
Cons
You can start out really cheap but thanks to the concept of monthly active rows (MAR) it becomes expensive quickly especially when querying granular ads (Google Ads and Facebook Ads data) and Search Console.
For example, Salesforce and CRM data syncs with Fivetran should be ok as it does not change so frequently but media data is making their clients really unhappy.
How can you secure a discount on your Fivetran subscription?
For Y Combinator companies, joining the Fivetran Startup Program is a valuable option, offering $50,000 worth of Fivetran services, tech support, and resources at no cost to selected YC companies.
For those who don’t meet the Y Combinator criteria, negotiating a Fivetran discount is a viable alternative, as suggested by our data.
Fivetran not only presents a moderate possibility of obtaining a discount but also reveals inconsistencies in pricing among companies of similar size and use cases.
Summary
When selecting a data integration platform, it’s crucial to consider the pricing approach that aligns with your requirements. Fivetran follows a volume-based approach, wherein the cost is mainly determined by the data you utilize.
Fivetrans MAR concept is well thought through. Onboarding comes at no cost. There are many discounts and grants provided.
The approach is similar to the hyper scalers (Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure) so its well known in the market.
The big catch is that once you start to grow and the data volume expands the costs can become unpredictable.
After talking to Fivetran users and following the topic closely on Reddit this discussion comes to mind:
Since we started buidling our data stack we used Fivetran for the data pipelines. Its great and it works well. Now we’re growing and our costs went from $20/month to $2000/month.
The main challenge is marketing data as Monthly Active Rows do change really quickly. If I pull granular Facebook Ads or Google Search console data my bill goes through the roof.
What works well with Fivetrans pricing for me is syncing Salesforce data. It doesn’t change so often and I can keep the costs low.
Could this be you?
As an alternative to Fivetran and one of the top alternatives to Supermetrics, Windsor.ai adopts a pricing model based on the connector’s data flow needs. All subscription plans offer unrestricted access to destinations, with limitations on data sources and accounts. While some users may only need a few destinations for analytics and reporting, many businesses prefer the flexibility to work with multiple destinations without incurring additional charges.
Try Windsor.ai today at no cost with a 30-day free trial.
- > 70 data sources to 14 data destinations
- ETL (Extract – Transform – Load) functionality for all data destinations (incl. databases) available on all plans
- All connectors available on all plans: No premium connectors
- Extensive library of marketing dashboard templates
- Database destination pricing independent of row count
- SOC 2 Type 2 certified, supports single sign on and multi factor authentication
- Forever Free Plan
- Pricing for all plans (including database streaming and API) starts at $19/month.
Try Windsor.ai today
Access all your data from your favorite sources in one place.
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