Back to Growth Toolbox
Data Infrastructure

Airbyte

The reference open-source platform for syncing your data between tools. 300+ ready-to-use connectors, self-hostable or in the cloud. Powers your data warehouse without vendor lock-in.

Try the tool
Who's it for?OpsGrowth

Review by a Growth Engineer

My verdict: the open-source alternative to Fivetran that changed the game.

Airbyte has become my default choice for centralizing data in a data warehouse. 300+ connectors, self-hostable, and pricing that won't ruin you when you scale - it's what Fivetran should have been.

I use it to sync CRM data, product metrics, and advertising data to BigQuery. The initial setup requires some technical skill, but once in place, it runs.

What I like less: it's clearly oriented for technical profiles. The UX is improving but remains below modern SaaS standards. And self-hosting requires real maintenance.

My advice: if you're building a data warehouse and have an ops/data profile on the team, go for it. If you're looking for plug-and-play without technical skills, look at Fivetran instead (but prepare your wallet).

Why add it to your stack?

When your growth stack grows, you end up with data scattered everywhere: HubSpot, Salesforce, Google Ads, Stripe, your product... Airbyte centralizes everything in your data warehouse (BigQuery, Snowflake, Postgres) so you can cross-reference data and have a truly unified view.

The advantage vs Fivetran: it's open-source, so no vendor lock-in, and self-hosting is free. For an ops team that wants to control their data stack, it's the obvious choice.

What you can do with it

  • 1Sync your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce) to BigQuery for unified dashboards
  • 2Centralize your Google Ads, Meta Ads and LinkedIn Ads data for cross-channel reporting
  • 3Feed your data warehouse with product events (Segment, Amplitude)
  • 4Create a Stripe to Postgres pipeline to analyze your revenue
  • 5Replicate your production database to a separate analytics environment

What it does

  • 300+ pre-built connectors (CRM, databases, APIs, SaaS)
  • Incremental and full-refresh synchronization
  • Integrated dbt transformation
  • Self-hosting or managed cloud
  • API and Terraform for infra-as-code
  • Native monitoring and alerting

How much?

Starting at Free

Cloud: starting at $0 (400 free credits/month), then $1 for 6.67 credits based on volume. Self-hosted: free (OSS), or Enterprise on quote. Credits are consumed based on the volume of data synchronized.

The detailed verdict

Do I really need this?

For a team building a real data stack, Airbyte quickly becomes indispensable. As soon as you want to cross-reference your CRM data with your product data, or do multi-source reporting, you need an ingestion tool. Airbyte is the open-source standard.

If you stay on low volumes and don't have a data warehouse, Zapier or Make can suffice. But as soon as you scale, Airbyte becomes essential.

Does it play nice with my stack?

This is Airbyte's strength: 300+ connectors cover almost all SaaS tools, databases, and APIs on the market. The most popular connectors (Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Ads, Stripe) are robust and actively maintained.

The REST API and Terraform provider allow automating connection management. For missing connectors, you can create custom connectors with the CDK. The native dbt integration is a real plus for transformation.

Is it easy to pick up?

Airbyte requires a minimum technical background. Cloud installation takes 10 minutes, but pipeline configuration requires understanding concepts (source, destination, schema, sync mode). Documentation is complete but dense.

Self-hosting with Docker Compose works well for dev, but production requires Kubernetes and more ops skills. Expect half a day for a first functional pipeline.

Is the UX any good?

Airbyte's interface has improved a lot, but remains 'technically' oriented. Connector configuration is clear, sync monitoring is readable, and logs are accessible. But we're far from the simplicity of a Zapier.

The monitoring dashboard does the job without frills. Errors are well surfaced with actionable messages. For a technical ops profile, it's sufficient. For a pure marketing profile, it can be intimidating.

Is it worth it?

Airbyte's value for money is excellent. The self-hosted open-source version is free, and the cloud offers 400 free credits per month - enough for small volumes. Compared to Fivetran (which charges by volume and gets expensive quickly), Airbyte is 3-5x cheaper on medium volumes.

The only hidden cost: setup and maintenance time if you self-host. Expect the equivalent of a few hours/month from an ops/data profile. For teams without this resource, the managed cloud remains very competitive.

What I like

  • Building data warehouses and centralizing marketing/sales data
  • Teams with technical skills and self-hosting needs
  • Open-source alternative to Fivetran without vendor lock-in

What I like less

  • Teams without in-house data or technical expertise
  • Need for immediate plug-and-play without configuration
  • Small volumes where Make or Zapier are more than sufficient

Need more details or help building your ideal stack?

Visit official siteGet advice