Compare
Fivetran vs Airbyte
The comparison changed shape in 2026. Airbyte retired the $/GB meter and now prices in credits, and on Airbyte's own published conversion (40 credits to 6,640,000 API rows) it undercuts Fivetran's MAR rate at every workload size below. Self-hosted Airbyte beats both above 200M rows once a 0.5 FTE is loaded. Fivetran retains the connector-breadth advantage and the freshest SaaS-source library.
Pick Fivetran when
- › The source list is dominated by mainstream SaaS (Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe, NetSuite).
- › Connector freshness and reliability matter more than $/M rate.
- › Premium tier log-based CDC for major databases is in scope.
- › The team prefers vendor support to platform engineering.
Pick Airbyte when
- › Price sensitivity is high at any volume above a proof-of-concept.
- › Team has Kubernetes operations capacity for self-hosting.
- › Custom connectors or OSS-pedigree matters to the architecture group.
- › In-boundary or hybrid deployment is on the roadmap (Enterprise Flex).
Price comparison across workload sizes
| Workload | Fivetran | Airbyte |
|---|---|---|
| 10M rows, daily, 5 connectors | $680/mo | $295/mo (Standard, ~60 credits) | $200 + FTE (Core) |
| 50M rows, hourly, 10 connectors | $2,400/mo | $1,500/mo (Standard, ~301 credits) | $400 + FTE (Core) |
| 200M rows, 15-min, 20 connectors | $9,600/mo | $4,999/mo (Plus 2,000-credit pack) | $1,200 + FTE (Core) |
Estimates from each vendor's published pricing page. Tune to your shape with the /tco-calculator.
Decision aid
- Mid-market default: Fivetran for breadth, Airbyte Cloud for cost
- Cost-sensitive at scale: Self-hosted Airbyte Core (load the 0.5 FTE honestly)
- Premium CDC: Fivetran Premium tier
- Long-tail SaaS gap: Add Portable alongside either (from $1,800/mo for 6 flows)
Related
Written by Oliver Wakefield-Smith, Founder of Digital Signet. Independent reference, no vendor sponsorship.
Sources logged at /sources. Pricing-change history at /changelog. Last reviewed 2026-06-21.