Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Apache Flink VS Fivetran

Compare Apache Flink VS Fivetran and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Apache Flink logo Apache Flink

Flink is a streaming dataflow engine that provides data distribution, communication, and fault tolerance for distributed computations.

Fivetran logo Fivetran

Fivetran offers companies a data connector for extracting data from many different cloud and database sources.
  • Apache Flink Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-03
  • Fivetran Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-19

Fivetran

$ Details
-
Release Date
2012 January
Startup details
Country
United States
State
California
City
Oakland
Founder(s)
George Fraser
Employees
250 - 499

Apache Flink features and specs

  • Real-time Stream Processing
    Apache Flink is designed for real-time data streaming, offering low-latency processing capabilities that are essential for applications requiring immediate data insights.
  • Event Time Processing
    Flink supports event time processing, which allows it to handle out-of-order events effectively and provide accurate results based on the time events actually occurred rather than when they were processed.
  • State Management
    Flink provides robust state management features, making it easier to maintain and query state across distributed nodes, which is crucial for managing long-running applications.
  • Fault Tolerance
    The framework includes built-in mechanisms for fault tolerance, such as consistent checkpoints and savepoints, ensuring high reliability and data consistency even in the case of failures.
  • Scalability
    Apache Flink is highly scalable, capable of handling both batch and stream processing workloads across a distributed cluster, making it suitable for large-scale data processing tasks.
  • Rich Ecosystem
    Flink has a rich set of APIs and integrations with other big data tools, such as Apache Kafka, Apache Hadoop, and Apache Cassandra, enhancing its versatility and ease of integration into existing data pipelines.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Flink

  • Complexity
    Flink’s advanced features and capabilities come with a steep learning curve, making it more challenging to set up and use compared to simpler stream processing frameworks.
  • Resource Intensive
    The framework can be resource-intensive, requiring substantial memory and CPU resources for optimal performance, which might be a concern for smaller setups or cost-sensitive environments.
  • Community Support
    While growing, the community around Apache Flink is not as large or mature as some other big data frameworks like Apache Spark, potentially limiting the availability of community-contributed resources and support.
  • Ecosystem Maturity
    Despite its integrations, the Flink ecosystem is still maturing, and certain tools and plugins may not be as developed or stable as those available for more established frameworks.
  • Operational Overhead
    Running and maintaining a Flink cluster can involve significant operational overhead, including monitoring, scaling, and troubleshooting, which might require a dedicated team or additional expertise.

Fivetran features and specs

  • Automation
    Fivetran automates data integration, eliminating the need for manual coding and reducing maintenance overhead.
  • Scalability
    Fivetran can easily scale its services to handle growing data loads, making it suitable for businesses of various sizes.
  • Wide Range of Connectors
    It supports a broad array of data sources and destinations, allowing for diverse data pipelines.
  • Data Transformation
    Fivetran provides built-in data transformation capabilities, ensuring that data is in the correct format when it reaches the destination.
  • Real-Time Data Syncing
    Fivetran allows for near real-time data syncing, which is crucial for businesses that rely on up-to-date data for decision-making.
  • Reliability
    The service ensures data integrity and reliability, minimizing data loss during transfers.

Possible disadvantages of Fivetran

  • Cost
    Fivetran can be expensive, especially for small businesses or startups with limited budgets.
  • Limited Customization
    The platform offers limited options for customization, which might be a drawback for businesses with unique data integration needs.
  • Complex Setup for Non-Technical Users
    Despite its automation features, the initial setup can be complex for users without technical expertise.
  • Dependency on Third-Party Services
    Reliance on Fivetran means depending on a third party for crucial data integration tasks, which could be risky if the service faces downtime.
  • Data Latency for Some Sources
    While Fivetran supports near real-time syncing for many sources, some data sources might experience latency, affecting the freshness of the data.

Analysis of Apache Flink

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Apache Flink is considered a good distributed stream processing framework.

Why this product is good

  • Rich api
    Flink offers a rich set of APIs for various levels of abstraction, catering to different needs of developers.
  • Scalability
    Flink provides excellent horizontal scalability, making it suitable for handling large data streams and high-throughput applications.
  • Fault tolerance
    Flink's checkpointing mechanism ensures fault-tolerance, maintaining data state consistency even after failures.
  • Ease of integration
    Flink integrates well with other big data tools and ecosystems, facilitating broader data architecture designs.
  • Real-time processing
    It excels at processing data in real-time, allowing for immediate insights and action on streaming data.
  • Community and support
    Being a part of the Apache Software Foundation, Flink benefits from a large community and comprehensive documentation.
  • Complex event processing
    It supports complex event processing, which is essential for many real-time applications.

Recommended for

  • real-time analytics
  • stream data processing
  • complex event processing
  • machine learning in streaming applications
  • applications requiring high-throughput and low-latency processing
  • companies looking for robust fault-tolerance in distributed systems

Analysis of Fivetran

Overall verdict

  • Fivetran is generally regarded as a good solution for businesses looking for an automated, reliable, and easy-to-use data integration tool. It is particularly beneficial for companies that wish to reduce time and effort spent on managing data pipelines and ensuring accurate data transfer.

Why this product is good

  • Fivetran is considered good due to its ability to automate data integration processes, providing a seamless and efficient way to connect various data sources to your data warehouse. It offers pre-built connectors, automated schema management, and reliable data syncing, which reduces the need for manual coding and maintenance. Its robust security measures and scalability also contribute to its positive reputation.

Recommended for

    Fivetran is recommended for small to large businesses that require efficient data integration from multiple sources into their data warehouse. It is ideal for organizations looking for a fully managed service to simplify their ETL/ELT processes, especially those using cloud-based data warehousing solutions such as Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift.

Apache Flink videos

GOTO 2019 • Introduction to Stateful Stream Processing with Apache Flink • Robert Metzger

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Apache Flink Tutorial | Flink vs Spark | Real Time Analytics Using Flink | Apache Flink Training
  • Tutorial - How to build a modern stream processor: The science behind Apache Flink - Stefan Richter

Fivetran videos

Cloud Data Warehouse Benchmark Redshift vs Snowflake vs BigQuery | Fivetran

More videos:

  • Review - Looker + Fivetran: Data Source to Dashboard in an Afternoon
  • Review - The Modern Data Stack: Fivetran + Looker + Snowflake

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Apache Flink and Fivetran)
Big Data
100 100%
0% 0
Data Integration
0 0%
100% 100
Stream Processing
100 100%
0% 0
ETL
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Apache Flink and Fivetran. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Apache Flink and Fivetran

Apache Flink Reviews

We have no reviews of Apache Flink yet.
Be the first one to post

Fivetran Reviews

Best ETL Tools: A Curated List
High costs: Fivetran’s pricing model, based on Monthly Active Rows (MAR), is one of the most expensive modern ELT vendors, often 5-10x the alternatives. Fivetran measures MARs based on its internal representation of data. Costs are especially high with connectors that need to download all source data each time or that have nonrelational data because Fivetran converts it into...
Source: estuary.dev
Top 11 Fivetran Alternatives for 2024
Fivetran's pricing is determined by monthly active rows (MAR), which can be unpredictable because of the way Fivetran internally represents data and manages non-relational sources. Additionally, reducing latency significantly increases costs. While a small deployment (2M MARs/month) can cost $700-$2667, 10M MARs/month get you into $10K a month. It is not unheard of for...
Source: estuary.dev
10 Best ETL Tools (October 2023)
It is a cloud-based ETL solution that supports data integration with data warehouses like Redshift, BigQuery, Azure, and Snowflake. One of the top selling points of Fivetran is its array of data sources, with nearly 90 possible SaaS sources and the ability to add custom integrations.
Source: www.unite.ai
15+ Best Cloud ETL Tools
Fivetran is a cloud-based automated ETL tool that simplifies the process of transporting data from various sources to a database or data warehouse. It offers an array of more than 200 connectors to help you to collect data seamlessly from multiple sources at the same time.
Source: estuary.dev
Top 14 ETL Tools for 2023
Overall, Fivetran is a great ETL solution for businesses looking to streamline their data integration process. The platform makes it easy for organizations of any size to move and transform data from multiple sources into an analytics-ready form quickly and cost-effectively. While there have been some issues reported with Fivetran’s customer service and pricing model, the...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Apache Flink should be more popular than Fivetran. It has been mentiond 41 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Apache Flink mentions (41)

  • What is Apache Flink? Exploring Its Open Source Business Model, Funding, and Community
    Continuous Learning: Leverage online tutorials from the official Flink website and attend webinars for deeper insights. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Is RisingWave the Next Apache Flink?
    Apache Flink, known initially as Stratosphere, is a distributed stream processing engine initiated by a group of researchers at TU Berlin. Since its initial release in May 2011, Flink has gained immense popularity in both academia and industry. And it is currently the most well-known streaming system globally (challenge me if you think I got it wrong!). - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Every Database Will Support Iceberg — Here's Why
    Apache Iceberg defines a table format that separates how data is stored from how data is queried. Any engine that implements the Iceberg integration — Spark, Flink, Trino, DuckDB, Snowflake, RisingWave — can read and/or write Iceberg data directly. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • RisingWave Turns Four: Our Journey Beyond Democratizing Stream Processing
    The last decade saw the rise of open-source frameworks like Apache Flink, Spark Streaming, and Apache Samza. These offered more flexibility but still demanded significant engineering muscle to run effectively at scale. Companies using them often needed specialized stream processing engineers just to manage internal state, tune performance, and handle the day-to-day operational challenges. The barrier to entry... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Twitter's 600-Tweet Daily Limit Crisis: Soaring GCP Costs and the Open Source Fix Elon Musk Ignored
    Apache Flink: Flink is a unified streaming and batching platform developed under the Apache Foundation. It provides support for Java API and a SQL interface. Flink boasts a large ecosystem and can seamlessly integrate with various services, including Kafka, Pulsar, HDFS, Iceberg, Hudi, and other systems. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
View more

Fivetran mentions (12)

  • Sync Snowflake and Google Sheets
    Even looking past these limitations, internal scripts invariably require development and maintenance time, and as any developer knows, can break at the worst of times :) Method #2: Use Zapier? (https://zapier.com) Want to use Zapier to do this? You can’t. Not only because it doesn’t track deletes, updates to existing records, and only does one way syncs. But because Snowflake isn’t supported. Method #3:... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Big problem with companies now is they hire data scientist for task that don't require data science practices.
    Disclaimer: I work for Fivetran, a data integration company. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • I love data science but hate data engineering
    Disclaimer: I'm a product evangelist for a data integration company called Fivetran, so I'm shamelessly shilling here. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Which webflow theme is this?
    I really like the theme they’re using on https://fivetran.com. Source: about 3 years ago
  • A modern data stack for startups
    From experience then, believe me when I say you don't want to build these. Thankfully, ETL products like Fivetran and Stitch run and maintain these extraction processes for you. - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Apache Flink and Fivetran, you can also consider the following products

Apache Spark - Apache Spark is an engine for big data processing, with built-in modules for streaming, SQL, machine learning and graph processing.

Stitch - Consolidate your customer and product data in minutes

Spring Framework - The Spring Framework provides a comprehensive programming and configuration model for modern Java-based enterprise applications - on any kind of deployment platform.

Talend Data Integration - Talend offers open source middleware solutions that address big data integration, data management and application integration needs for businesses of all sizes.

Amazon Kinesis - Amazon Kinesis services make it easy to work with real-time streaming data in the AWS cloud.

Hevo Data - Hevo Data is a no-code, bi-directional data pipeline platform specially built for modern ETL, ELT, and Reverse ETL Needs. Get near real-time data pipelines for reporting and analytics up and running in just a few minutes. Try Hevo for Free today!