What is Fivetran?

If you're working in data, chances are you've heard the name Fivetran floating around in meetings, on job boards, or in tech blogs. But what exactly is Fivetran, and why is everyone talking about it?

Whether you're diving into data integration for the first time, considering a career in tech, or simply curious about Fivetran pricing, connectors, or even certification, you’re in the right place.

Let’s break it all down in plain English.

What Is Fivetran?

Imagine if all your scattered data from marketing tools, databases, CRMs, and spreadsheets could magically show up in one place. No messy code. No late-night SQL debugging. Just clean, synced data.

That’s what Fivetran does.

It’s a cloud-based ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) tool that helps businesses automate their data pipelines. It grabs your data from dozens (or hundreds!) of sources and drops it neatly into your data warehouse—like Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift—without you lifting a finger.

What Is the Purpose of Fivetran?

At its core, the purpose of Fivetran is to save you time and headaches.

• No more writing custom scripts to pull data from APIs.
• No more scrambling when someone changes a column name in Salesforce.
• No more pipeline fires at 2 AM.

Fivetran automates the boring (but critical) stuff so your team can actually analyze the data, not just move it around.

What Are Fivetran Connectors?

This is where Fivetran really shines: prebuilt connectors.

Think of them like smart plugs for your data. Fivetran has over 300 connectors that hook into popular tools like:

• Salesforce
• HubSpot
• Facebook Ads
• Stripe
• PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB
• Shopify
• And dozens more

Each connector is fully managed, meaning Fivetran takes care of updates, schema changes, and weird API behavior so you don’t have to.

No more “the API changed and now our pipeline is broken” horror stories.

What About Fivetran Pricing (and Cost)?

Let’s be real—Fivetran isn’t cheap, but you pay for peace of mind.

Instead of charging by data volume, Fivetran uses a Monthly Active Rows (MAR) pricing model. You’re only billed for the rows that change during the month. It’s flexible, especially for startups or growing companies.

So yes, Fivetran cost scales with your data usage—but it might save you even more in developer hours, downtime, and stress.

Can I Get a Fivetran Certification?

You bet! If you’re looking to level up in data engineering or analytics, getting Fivetran certified is a great move.

Their official Fivetran certification programs cover how to set up, manage, and troubleshoot pipelines. It’s an awesome way to stand out in job applications, especially if you're eyeing Fivetran careers or roles that involve modern data stacks.

Fivetran Careers

Yes, Fivetran is hiring—and it’s one of the most exciting places to work in the data world right now.

From engineering and product to sales and support, Fivetran is building tools that thousands of companies rely on daily. If you’re passionate about data automation, big challenges, and fast growth, it’s worth checking out their careers page.

Is Fivetran an ETL Tool?

Kind of, but not exactly.

While traditional ETL tools do Extract → Transform → Load, Fivetran flips the script. It follows the ELT model—Extract → Load → Transform.

That means it pulls the raw data into your warehouse first, and then you (or your analytics tools) transform it later using SQL, dbt, or other methods. It’s faster, more flexible, and fits better with modern cloud platforms.

Fivetran vs Snowflake: What’s the Difference?

Here’s a quick analogy:

• Fivetran is the delivery truck—it moves data from your sources.
• Snowflake is the warehouse—it stores and organizes your data for querying.

You use Fivetran to get your data into Snowflake. Then, Snowflake does the heavy lifting with analytics, dashboards, and reports.

How Do Fivetran and Snowflake Work Together?

They’re best friends. 

Fivetran connects to your source systems and automatically syncs the data into Snowflake, where it’s instantly queryable. You can then transform and model it using SQL, dbt, or even tools like Tableau and Power BI.

It’s a plug-and-play setup that’s popular with startups and enterprise teams alike.

What’s the Difference Between Fivetran and dbt?

Another great question—and one that confuses a lot of people.

• Fivetran: Moves data from sources to your data warehouse.
• dbt (Data Build Tool): Transforms that raw data inside the warehouse using SQL.

Think of Fivetran as the mover, and dbt as the interior designer.

Together, they form the backbone of the modern data stack.

Does Fivetran Use AI?

Fivetran doesn’t use AI in the flashy ChatGPT sense, but it does use automation that feels pretty smart.

For example, it:

• Detects schema changes automatically
• Optimizes sync schedules based on activity
• Keeps pipelines running with minimal manual input

So, while it’s not an “AI tool,” it definitely saves you time like one.

Final Thoughts: Is Fivetran Worth It?

If your team handles data from multiple sources—and you’re tired of duct-taped pipelines Fivetran is absolutely worth checking out.

It’s fast, reliable, and plays well with modern tools like Snowflake, dbt, and Power BI. Plus, with growing demand for Fivetran skills and certifications, it’s a solid career booster too.

Whether you're a data engineer, analyst, or someone just trying to get better answers from your business data—Fivetran could be your new best friend.