What is Fivetran?

Quick Answer: Fivetran is a fully managed ELT (extract, load, transform) data pipeline platform founded in 2012 by George Fraser and Taylor Brown. It provides over 300 pre-built connectors that replicate data from sources into data warehouses with minimal configuration.

What Is Fivetran?

Fivetran is an automated data integration platform that specializes in ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) pipelines. Founded in 2012 by George Fraser and Taylor Brown, the company is headquartered in Oakland, California. Fivetran has raised over $730 million in funding, including a $565 million Series D in 2021 at a $5.6 billion valuation. As of April 2026, it supports over 300 pre-built connectors.

How Fivetran Works

Fivetran follows the ELT approach:

  1. Extract: Connectors pull data from source systems (databases, SaaS apps, APIs, files)
  2. Load: Data is loaded into the destination warehouse or lake (Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Redshift)
  3. Transform: Transformations run inside the warehouse using dbt or Fivetran Transformations

Connectors are fully managed: Fivetran handles schema changes, API versioning, rate limiting, and incremental syncing automatically.

Key Features

  • 300+ connectors: Databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB), SaaS (Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe, Shopify), files (S3, SFTP), and event streams
  • Automated schema migration: Detects and applies source schema changes automatically
  • Incremental updates: Only syncs changed data after the initial load
  • dbt integration: Native support for dbt Core and dbt Cloud transformations
  • Data reliability: Automated data validation and alerting for sync issues

Pricing (April 2026)

Fivetran uses usage-based pricing measured in Monthly Active Rows (MAR):

  • Free: 500,000 MAR per month
  • Starter: Starting at approximately $1/credit
  • Standard: Volume discounts for larger deployments
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing with dedicated support and SLAs

Pricing varies significantly by connector type and data volume.

Competitive Position

Fivetran competes with Airbyte (open-source ELT), Stitch Data (acquired by Talend/Qlik), Matillion, and Informatica Cloud. Its differentiator is the depth of connector maintenance: Fivetran manages connector updates, API changes, and schema migrations on behalf of users.

Related Questions

Written & reviewed by Rafal Fila · Last updated:

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