Is Fivetran's New Pricing Model Too High? A Deep Dive

Fivetran, a well-known data integration company, recently announced a price hike across its various tiers: Starter, Standard, Enterprise, and Business Critical. The new pricing model, set to take effect on March 1, has sparked significant backlash among users and industry experts. Many customers are now questioning whether Fivetran's services still justify the cost or if it's time to explore alternatives.

This article takes a deep dive into Fivetran’s revised pricing structure, examines why users believe it's overpriced, and explores its pros and cons.  If you're new to all this and haven't checked out their 2025 pricing announcement, please check out this link before reading this blog further.

Understanding Fivetran’s New Pricing Model

Fivetran has always marketed itself as a premium ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) solution, emphasizing ease of use, automation, and reliability. However, the new pricing structure makes users reconsider its cost-effectiveness.

The latest pricing changes impact all four tiers:

• Starter: The entry-level plan, previously seen as a budget-friendly option, has now become significantly more expensive.
• Standard: This plan, which targets mid-sized businesses, has also seen a notable price increase.
• Enterprise: Large-scale organizations that require enterprise-level features are seeing a drastic surge in costs.
• Business Critical: The highest-tier plan, designed for compliance-heavy industries, is now even more expensive.

While Fivetran has justified the price increase by citing better infrastructure, enhanced features, and improved support, many users argue that the value proposition no longer aligns with the steep pricing.

Fivetran Data Transformation Pricing

Fivetran introduced new pricing for its data transformation functionality, specifically for our Fivetran-hosted dbt Core transformations and Quickstart Data Models. Fivetran is offering up to 5,000 model runs for free per month to help customers manage costs.

Why Users Believe Fivetran’s Pricing is Too High

1. Cost Increases Without Significant Feature Upgrades

One of the biggest complaints from users is that despite the steep price increase, Fivetran hasn’t introduced substantial new features to justify it. Users are essentially paying more for the same service, which feels like an unnecessary burden rather than a value addition.

2. MAR-Based Pricing Has Led to Higher Costs, Not Lower

Fivetran’s pricing is based on Monthly Active Rows (MAR), which means users are charged based on the number of unique rows that are processed within a month. While MAR pricing was initially positioned as a cost-efficient model, in reality, it has led to unpredictably high costs for many businesses.

Why MAR Pricing is Costlier Than Expected

• Inefficient Row Counting: Every update to a row, even if it’s minor, counts as a new MAR, significantly increasing costs for businesses dealing with high-frequency updates.
• Lack of Control Over Data Volume: Many businesses cannot predict or limit how many rows will be updated each month, leading to unexpected cost spikes.
• Forced Optimization Challenges: Companies must now spend additional engineering effort to optimize data syncs, reducing the very automation Fivetran was meant to simplify.
• Data Source unpredictability: Ad platforms constantly update performance metrics, meaning old records are regularly replaced with new ones. This leads to a surreptitious increase in active MARs.
• Price Scaling Issues: Instead of offering cost savings as businesses grow, MAR pricing punishes companies that scale, making it difficult to manage expenses as data volumes increase.

In effect, Fivetran’s MAR-based pricing doesn’t necessarily align with business value, making it more expensive for companies that process large datasets, especially those with frequent updates.

3. Small and Mid-Sized Businesses are Being Priced Out

Previously, smaller companies could afford Fivetran’s Starter and Standard plans. However, with the increased pricing, many small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) find it difficult to justify the cost. As a result, SMBs are now actively seeking alternatives that offer similar capabilities at a lower cost.

4. Lack of Transparent Pricing

Another major frustration among users is the lack of transparent pricing. Fivetran does not publicly display clear-cut costs on their website, forcing potential customers to engage with sales representatives to get a quote. This lack of clarity makes it difficult for businesses to compare costs upfront.

5. Limited Customization and Flexibility

While Fivetran offers automated data pipeline management, it lacks flexibility in customization. Businesses that require more control over transformations and data flows may find Fivetran’s rigid structure restrictive.

Pros and Cons of Fivetran’s Pricing Model

Pros

• Automated Data Pipelines: Reduces manual effort in setting up and managing ETL processes.
• Reliability: Fivetran has a strong reputation for uptime and seamless data replication.
• Comprehensive Integrations: Supports a vast array of data sources and destinations.
• Ease of Use: Designed for businesses that prioritize automation over customization.

Cons

• High Costs: The price increase makes it unaffordable for many businesses.
• Unpredictable Pricing: MAR-based pricing leads to fluctuating costs, making budgeting difficult.
• Inefficient Row Counting: Even minor updates count towards MAR, drastically increasing costs.
• Lack of Transparency: Pricing details are not openly available, requiring direct engagement with sales.
• Limited Flexibility: Users have less control over data transformations and pipeline configurations.
• Better Value Alternatives Available: Competitors offer similar services at lower costs.
• Small Businesses Priced Out: Fivetran is becoming increasingly inaccessible for smaller companies.

User Reactions: What Are Customers Saying?

Since the announcement of the new pricing model, many users have voiced their concerns across forums like Reddit, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Here are some of the most common sentiments:

• “Fivetran was already expensive, and now it’s just ridiculous.”
• “Time to look for alternatives—this price increase is unjustifiable.”
• “For the same price, we could get two other ETL tools.”
• “We’ve already started transitioning away from Fivetran because of cost.”

These reactions highlight a growing frustration with Fivetran’s pricing strategy, which is now seen as unsustainable for many businesses.

Conclusion

When choosing a data integration platform, it's essential to align pricing with your business needs. Fivetran follows a volume-based approach where costs are mainly determined by data consumption.

Fivetran’s MAR model is strategically designed. Onboarding is free, and many businesses can benefit from discounts. The approach aligns with cloud hyperscalers like AWS, GCP, and Azure, making it familiar to the market. However, the significant drawback is that as your data volume grows, costs can become unpredictable and steep.

Fivetran states:

“The change is calibrated so that the impact for the typical user is neutral. Users with many equal-sized connections will see increased prices, while users with one dominant connection will see decreased prices.”

But the simplest and most accurate answer to “Is Fivetran’s ETL pricing too high?” is ‘yes.’

Alternatives: DataChannel

After reading our entire piece on Fivetran increasing its prices a little too much if you’re looking for a more suitable alternative for your data needs. You can try DataChannel, it is much more affordable, don’t just take our word for it, check out our pricing. 

For a reasonable cost, we provide features that go beyond what Fivetran offers, including data transformation Fivetran also recently revised its pricing. So, what are you waiting for, start working on the data you need today😉