Actian vs. Stitch
ETL software comparison
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Most businesses have data stored in a variety of locations, from in-house databases to SaaS platforms. To get a full picture of their finances and operations, they pull data from all those sources into a data warehouse or data lake and run analytics against it. But they don't want to build and maintain their own data pipelines.
Fortunately, it’s not necessary to code everything in-house. Here's an comparison of two such tools, head to head.
About Actian
Actian (formerly Ingres Corp.) offers products in three areas:
- Data analytics
- Avalanche, a cloud data warehouse
- Vector, a columnar analytics database
- DataFlow (formerly Pervasive DataRush), a plugin to the open source KNIME platform for writing dataflows
- Data management — database and application development tool
- Data integration
- DataConnect (formerly Pervasive Data Integrator) for creating data integrations
- DataCloud, the cloud deployment for DataConnect
- Business Xchange for B2B integration
- PointConnect, for application integration
Most run on a local Windows or Linux client.
About Stitch
Stitch Data Loader is a cloud-based platform for ETL — extract, transform, and load. More than 3,000 companies use Stitch to move billions of records every day from SaaS applications and databases into data warehouses and data lakes, where it can be analyzed with BI tools. Stitch is a Talend company and is part of the Talend Data Fabric.
 |  | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | Databases and data integration | Data ingestion, ELT | ||||||||
| Database replication | Unknown | Full table; incremental via change data capture or SELECT/replication keys | ||||||||
| SaaS sources | Several | More than 100 | ||||||||
| Ability for customers to add new data sources | Yes | Yes | ||||||||
| Connects to data warehouses? Data lakes? | Yes / No | Yes / Yes | ||||||||
| Transparent pricing | No | Yes | ||||||||
G2 customer satisfaction | 4.1/5 | 4.8/5 (+15%) | ||||||||
| Support SLAs | Yes | Available | ||||||||
| Purchase process | Requires a conversation with sales | Options for self-service or talking with sales. Also available from the AWS store. | ||||||||
| Compliance, governance, and security certifications | SOC 2 Type 2, PCI | HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2 | ||||||||
| Data sharing | Yes | Yes, through Talend Data Fabric | ||||||||
| Vendor lock-in | Annual contracts. DataFlow is based on the open source KNIME data mining platform | Month to month or annual contracts. Open source integrations | ||||||||
| Developer tools | Studio SDK for creating custom connectors, Runtime Client SDK for embedding integrations, Integration Manager API for managing integrations | Import API, Stitch Connect API for integrating Stitch with other platforms, Singer open source project | ||||||||
Let's dive into some of the details of each platform.
Transformations
Actian
Actian DataFlow can run about 30 bundled preload transformations, including ones that perform operations like aggregating and filtering data, and ones that let users write custom code in JavaScript, R, and JVM-supported scripting languages. Users apply transformations (and specify inputs and outputs) by dragging icons onto a graphical workspace.
Stitch
Stitch is an ELT product. Within the pipeline, Stitch does only transformations that are required for compatibility with the destination, such as translating data types or denesting data when relevant. Stitch is part of Talend, which also provides tools for transforming data either within the data warehouse or via external processing engines such as Spark and MapReduce. Transformations can be defined in SQL, Python, Java, or via graphical user interface.
Try Stitch for free for 14 days
- Unlimited data volume during trial
- Set up in minutes
Connectors: Data sources and destinations
Each of these tools supports a variety of data sources and destinations.
Actian
DataConnect supports more than 150 source and target connectors. It has connectors for file types such as ASCII, Binary, and Unicode; databases such as PostgreSQL, ODBC, and Sybase; and application files such as Excel, DataEase, and GoldMine. None are cloud data warehouses or data lakes, but some on-premises data warehouses are supported.
Stitch
Stitch supports more than 100 database and SaaS integrationsas data sources, and eight data warehouse and data lake destinations. Customers can contract with Stitch to build new sources, and anyone can add a new source to Stitch by developing it according to the standards laid out in Singer, an open source toolkit for writing scripts that move data. Singer integrations can be run independently, regardless of whether the user is a Stitch customer. Running Singer integrations on Stitch’s platform allows users to take advantage of Stitch's monitoring, scheduling, credential management, and autoscaling features.
Support, documentation, and training
Data integration tools can be complex, so vendors offer several ways to help their customers. Online documentation is the first resource users often turn to, and support teams can answer questions that aren't covered in the docs. Vendors of the more complicated tools may also offer training services.
Actian
Actian provides online, email, and telephone support. Documentation is bundled with each downloaded application and available online. Digital training materials are available.
Stitch
Stitch provides in-app chat support to all customers, and phone support is available for Enterprise customers. Support SLAs are available. Documentation is comprehensive and is open source — anyone can contribute additions and improvements or repurpose the content. Stitch does not provide training services.
Pricing
Actian
Actian provides evaluation licenses. Pricing isn't disclosed.
Stitch
Stitch has pricing that scales to fit a wide range of budgets and company sizes. All new users get an unlimited 14-day trial. Standard plans range from $100 to $1,250 per month depending on scale, with discounts for paying annually. Enterprise plans for larger organizations and mission-critical use cases can include custom features, data volumes, and service levels, and are priced individually.
Get started now
Which tool is better overall? That's something every organization has to decide based on its unique requirements, but we can help you get started. Sign up now for a free trial of Stitch.
Give Stitch a try, on us
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