Census vs Fivetran For ETL/ELT in 2025
ETL/ELT solutions like Census and Fivetran are crucial for integrating data from various sources into a unified data warehouse. In this article, we'll compare Census and Fivetran to see which one is the best data integration solution.
What are Census and Fivetran?
Census
Census is a Reverse ETL platform that transfers data from your data warehouse to SaaS applications such as Salesforce, Hubspot, and advertising platforms.
It ensures that your business tools are always up-to-date with the latest data from your warehouse.
Fivetran
Fivetran is a widely-used ETL tool that transfers data from SaaS applications, databases, and files into data warehouses such as Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, and Redshift.
It efficiently consolidates data from various sources, ensuring seamless integration into your preferred data warehouse.
Feature-by-Feature Breakdown: Alternatives & Competitors
Compare Census and Fivetran
Census
Fivetran
Key Features
- Sync data from your warehouse to various tools (Reverse ETL)
- Utilize workspaces for better organization
- Leverage a white-label API for seamless integration
Key Features
- Renowned ETL provider
- Extensive array of built-in connectors
- Effortless syncing into data warehouses
- Ideal for smaller businesses due to its simplicity
Limitations
- Limit on the number of synced fields for the Professional plan
- Pricing model not based on scale (per field pricing)
- Enterprise plan needed for syncs more frequent than every 15 minutes
- Inability to sync to data warehouses
Limitations
- Cannot sync data back into SaaS applications (lacks Reverse ETL functionality)
- Prices are frequently increased
- Expensive at medium scale and larger
- Customer support is limited and often unreliable
- Slow to respond to requests for new connectors
Pricing
Census provides three primary pricing options: a limited free plan, a Professional plan beginning at $350 per month, and customizable Enterprise plans. For real-time sync capabilities and access to their “Audience Hub” features, the Enterprise plan is necessary.
The pricing structure of Census includes a free plan with limitations, a Professional plan starting at $350 monthly, and bespoke Enterprise plans. To utilize real-time sync and “Audience Hub” functionalities, the Enterprise plan is essential.
Pricing
Fivetran offers a variety of pricing plans, starting from a Free Plan at $0, a Standard Plan at $500 per million monthly active rows (MAR), an Enterprise Plan at $667 per million MAR, and a Business Critical Plan at $1,067 per million MAR.
As of March 2025, bulk sync discounts are applied on a per connector basis rather than across the entire workspace, leading to increased costs for many users.
Reviews
Census has an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. Some users find Census to be expensive, especially for scaling companies.
There are mentions of feature limitations and missing features. A few users noted that some functionalities, like on-the-fly transformations, are lacking in certain pricing tiers. One review mentioned that the tool is still young and has limited connections to SaaS tools. Check out more of their reviews here.
Reviews
Fivetran has an overall rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars. Users have expressed concerns about the pricing model, limited connectors, and customer support.
Check out more of their reviews here.
Why customers are switching to Polytomic
Polytomic is a data integration platform that automatically syncs data from various sources into your data warehouse for easy analysis.
- Minimal API usage: Whether you’re syncing to or from Salesforce, HubSpot, or other systems, you will never have to worry about API limits again. Our sync engine automatically syncs incrementally and uses the right bulk APIs, rate limits, and throttling using its smart job queue.
- No coding required: Sync, ETL, Reverse ETL, ELT, CDC stream between databases, data warehouses, spreadsheets, and applications like Salesforce, Zendesk, and others, all without involving engineers. Point, click, and go!
- Custom SQL? No problem: If you need the full power of SQL, we’ve got you covered. You can define the data model of your choice using native SQL against your databases.
- Realtime & scheduled syncs: Automatically move data from databases and spreadsheets to your CRM as soon as it changes at the source, or set up a custom sync schedule of your choice. You’re in control.
What is Polytomic?
Polytomic
Business operations teams can set up powerful syncs without writing code, and data engineers get full SQL support, CDC streaming, Terraform compatibility, and an API. Built for enterprise scale, Polytomic handles billions of rows, complex models, and fine-grained access controls with reliability and speed.
All the features you need, on the platform that does it all
Replace multiple vendors
One platform for all syncs
Sync only what’s changed
Point and click
SQL query support
Pull from any API
Self-hosting available
Enterprise-ready
Move data between all of your favorite tools
Pricing begins at $500/month
