Airbyte vs. Stitch

About Airbyte

Airbyte is the leading open-source ELT tool, created in July 2020. Airbyte has more than 300 data connectors, and have 40,000 companies using them to sync data, syncing more than 1PB per month. Their ambition is to commoditize data integration by addressing the long tail of connectors through their growing contributor community. Airbyte released a Cloud offer in April 2022 with a new pricing model distinguishing database from APIs and files.

About Stitch

Stitch is a cloud-based platform for ETL — extract, transform, and load. More than 3,000 companies use Stitch to move data records every day from SaaS applications and databases into data warehouses and data lakes, where it can be analyzed with business intelligence tools. Stitch is a Talend company and is part of the Talend Data Fabric.

Feature Comparison: Airbyte vs. Stitch

Key Distinctions Between Airbyte & Stitch

Connectors

Pre-built connectors are the primary way to differentiate ETL / ELT solutions, as they enable data teams to focus only on the insights to build.

• ‍Airbyte
  Within 3 years from inception, Airbyte already offers connectors for more than 300 data sources, and 50 destinations including all major data warehouses, lakes and databases. All Airbyte connectors are open-sourced and can be edited to address any custom needs the customers have. Airbyte users can leverage these connectors through the open-source edition or the Cloud offer. 
  
  Airbyte’s no-code Connector Builder also enables their users to build custom connectors in a standardized way within 10 minutes (instead of 2 days), and the Airbyte team and community can help in their maintenance. 
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  More than 50% of the connectors have been contributed by the growing community. Airbyte will provide a SLA for the certified connectors, but Airbyte’s ambition is also to provide a SLA for other connectors through the community and its participative model on the long tail of connectors, and to reach 1,000+ connectors in the next few years. Airbyte will offer reverse-ETL connectors in 2024!

• Stitch
  Stitch supports more than 100 database and SaaS integrations as data sources, and the major data warehouse and data lake destinations. 
  Customers can contract with Stitch to have them build new sources for them, and anyone can add a new source to Stitch using Singer, their open-source toolkit for writing scripts that move data. 
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  Singer integrations can be run on Stitch to take advantage of their monitoring, scheduling and credential management features. However, most Singer integrations are now deprecating in quality. So you never know the quality of a tap or target until you have actually used it. 

Transformation

• Airbyte
  Airbyte is an ELT tool, and does not transform data prior to loading. Airbyte offers two options to get your data out of the box: a serialized JSON object and the normalized version of the record as tables.
  Airbyte also offers custom transformations via SQL or through deep integration with dbt, allowing their users and customers to trigger their own dbt packages at the destination level right after the EL. 
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• Stitch
  Stitch is also an ELT tool. It only provides the transformations required for compatibility with the destination, such as translating data types or denesting data when relevant. Aside from this, no extra transformation feature is offered. 

Customizability

Every company has custom data architectures and, therefore, unique data integration needs. A lot of tools don’t enable teams to address those, which results in a lot of investment in building and maintaining additional in-house scripts. 

• Airbyte
  Airbyte’s architecture modularity implies that you can leverage any part of Airbyte. For instance, you can use Airflow’s orchestrator to trigger Airbyte’s ELT jobs. 
  You can also edit any pre-built connectors to your own specific needs, or even leverage the Connector Development Kit to build your own custom connectors in a matter of hours (instead of days) and have its maintenance shared with the community and the Airbyte team. Airbyte’s promise is to address all your ELT needs and the long tail of integrations. 
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• Stitch
  Stitch’s customers can leverage Singer to build custom Singer connectors that they can plug on their Stitch account. However, of the approximately 200 Singer connectors Stitch can leverage to adapt to their needs, most are low quality, as only the top connectors are maintained actively by the Singer community.

Support & docs

Data integration tools can be complex, so customers need to have great support channels. This includes online documentation as well as tutorials, email and chat support. More complicated tools may also offer training services.

• Airbyte
  Airbyte provides in-app chat support with an average time to respond of 5 minutes. Their documentation is comprehensive and full of tutorials. It is also open source, so anyone can contribute to it. 
  Airbyte also has a Slack and Discourse community where help is available from the Airbyte team, other users or contributors. Airbyte does not provide any training services. 
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• Stitch
  Stitch provides in-app chat support to all their customers, and phone support is available for Enterprise customers. Their documentation is comprehensive and is open source — anyone can contribute to it. Stitch does not provide training services.

Pricing

• Airbyte
  Airbyte provides a 14-day free trial or $1,000 worth of credits, whichever expires first. Airbyte’s pricing is credit-based, and you consume credits based on volume with a different price for APIs, databases and files, which enables it to adapt well to all use cases, including database replication. Airbyte doesn’t charge for failed syncs or normalization. 
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  Airbyte offers adapted pricing to customers with large volumes. Finally, Airbyte offers a Free Connector program that makes all their alpha and beta connectors free on Airbyte Cloud.
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• Stitch
  Stitch provides a 14-day free trial. It discloses a pricing based on rows synced. Stitch’s volume-based pricing doesn’t adapt well with database replication use cases that involve the replication of millions of rows. Standard plans range from $100 to $1,250 per month depending on scale, with discounts for paying annually.

Benefits of Airbyte

Choosing Airbyte over Stitch provides several compelling reasons:

• Extensive Connector Library: Airbyte boasts a vast library of over 300 connectors, offering unparalleled flexibility in integrating data from various sources, including databases, SaaS applications, and APIs. This extensive connector ecosystem ensures seamless connectivity to diverse data sources for comprehensive analysis and decision-making.
• Open-Source and Cloud Deployment: Airbyte offers both open-source and cloud deployment options, providing users with flexibility based on their specific requirements. The open-source version empowers users with complete customization and control over the data integration process, while the cloud deployment option delivers scalability, reliability, and ease of management.
• ELT Capabilities: Airbyte supports ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) workflows, allowing organizations to load raw data directly into the destination without prior transformation. This approach streamlines the data pipeline, enabling faster and more efficient data processing while retaining the flexibility to perform transformations as needed.
• Community-Driven Development: Airbyte emphasizes community-driven development, with a growing contributor community actively adding new connectors and enhancing existing ones. This collaborative approach ensures continuous improvement and expansion of the platform's capabilities, keeping pace with evolving data integration needs.
• Cost-Effective Solutions: With Airbyte's credit-based pricing model, users can optimize costs based on their specific usage patterns, including different rates for APIs, databases, and files. Additionally, Airbyte offers a 14-day free trial or $1,000 worth of credits, enabling organizations to explore its features and benefits risk-free before committing to a subscription.

Limitations of Stitch:

• Limited Customizability: Stitch may lack the level of customization required for complex data integration scenarios. While it offers pre-built connectors and some degree of flexibility, it may not adequately cater to highly specialized or unique data architecture requirements.
• Quality of Singer Integrations: While Stitch allows users to leverage Singer integrations for custom connectors, the quality of these integrations can vary. Many Singer connectors are not actively maintained, leading to potential issues with reliability and performance.
• Pricing Model: Stitch's volume-based pricing model, which charges based on the number of rows synced, may not be cost-effective for all use cases. This pricing structure can lead to unexpected costs, especially for organizations dealing with large volumes of data or frequent data replication tasks.
• Lack of Advanced Transformation Features: Stitch primarily focuses on data movement (ETL) rather than complex data transformations (ELT). While it provides basic transformation capabilities for compatibility with destination systems, it may not offer advanced transformation features required for sophisticated data processing requirements.
• Dependence on Cloud Infrastructure: Stitch is a cloud-based platform, which means users are reliant on the availability and performance of cloud infrastructure. This dependence can sometimes lead to issues related to network latency, data transfer speeds, and uptime, affecting overall data integration operations.

FAQs

• What sets Airbyte apart from Stitch?
  Airbyte and Stitch are both data integration/ETL solutions, but Airbyte stands out as an open-source alternative offering over 300 data connectors, compared to Stitch's 130. Airbyte also emphasizes commoditizing data integration with its growing contributor community, while Stitch is a cloud-based platform for ETL, part of the Talend Data Fabric.

• What are the key features provided by Airbyte and Stitch?
  Airbyte prioritizes ELT as its primary approach, with reverse-ETL planned for 2024. It supports over 200 sources and is compatible with all major data destinations. Conversely, Stitch specializes in data ingestion and ELT, supporting more than 100 database and SaaS integrations.

• How customizable are the connectors in Airbyte and Stitch?
  Airbyte empowers users to edit pre-built connectors and develop new ones within hours using the Connector Development Kit. In contrast, Stitch offers Stitch Import AI for pushing data to destinations but lacks the same level of connector customization.

• What transformation capabilities do Airbyte and Stitch offer?
  Airbyte serves as an ELT tool, providing two extraction options and enabling custom transformations via SQL or integration with dbt. Meanwhile, Stitch focuses on transformations necessary for destination compatibility but does not extend to additional transformation features.

• How do Airbyte and Stitch cater to unique data integration needs?
  Airbyte offers modularity in its architecture, allowing users to utilize any part of the platform, edit connectors, or swiftly build custom ones. In contrast, Stitch permits customers to create custom connectors using Singer but faces challenges in maintaining connector quality.

• What support and documentation options are available for Airbyte and Stitch users?
  Both Airbyte and Stitch provide comprehensive documentation and in-app chat support. Airbyte boasts a rapid average response time of 5 minutes and maintains an active community on Slack and Discourse. Similarly, Stitch offers phone support for enterprise clients and follows an open-source documentation model.

• How do the pricing models of Airbyte and Stitch differ?
  Airbyte employs credit-based pricing with varying rates for APIs, databases, and files, effectively adapting to diverse use cases, including database replication. It also offers a 14-day free trial or $1,000 worth of credits. Conversely, Stitch utilizes volume-based pricing based on synced rows, with standard plans ranging from $100 to $1,250 per month depending on scale, offering discounts for annual payments.