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Organizations of all sizes and industries now have access to ever-increasing amounts of data, far too vast for any human to comprehend. All this information is practically useless without a way to efficiently process and analyze it, revealing the valuable data-driven insights hidden within the noise.

The ETL (extract, transform, load) process is the most popular method of collecting data from multiple sources and loading it into a centralized data warehouse. During the ETL process, information is first extracted from a source such as a database, file, or spreadsheet, then transformed to comply with the data warehouse’s standards, and finally loaded into the data warehouse.

Best 10 ETL Tools in 2022

ETL is an essential component of data warehousing and analytics, but not all ETL software tools are created equal. The best ETL tool may vary depending on your situation and use cases. Here are 7 of the best ETL software tools for 2022 and beyond:

Hevo
Xplenty
AWS Glue
Alooma
Talend
Stitch
Informatica PowerCenter
~~Oracle Data Integrator~~

Top 8 ETL Tools Comparison

1. Hevo

Hevo is a Fully Automated, No-code Data Pipeline Platform that helps organizations leverage data effortlessly. Hevo’s End-to-End Data Pipeline platform enables you to easily pull data from all your sources to the warehouse, and run transformations for analytics to generate real-time data-driven business insights.

The platform supports 150+ ready-to-use integrations across Databases, SaaS Applications, Cloud Storage, SDKs, and Streaming Services. Over 1000+ data-driven companies spread across 40+ countries trust Hevo for their data integration needs. Try Hevo today and get your fully managed data pipelines up and running in just a few minutes.

Hevo has received generally positive reviews from users with 4.5 out of 5 stars on G2. One reviewer compliments that “Hevo is out of the box, game changer with amazing support”.

2. Integrate.io Platform ex. Xplenty

Integrate.io Platform (ex. Xplenty) is a cloud-based ETL and ELT (extract, load, transform) data integration platform that easily unites multiple data sources. The Xplenty platform offers a simple, intuitive visual interface for building data pipelines between a large number of sources and destinations.

More than 100 popular data stores and SaaS applications are packaged with Xplenty. The list includes MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Amazon Redshift, Google Cloud Platform, Facebook, Salesforce, Jira, Slack, QuickBooks, and dozens more.

Scalability, security, and excellent customer support are a few more advantages of Xplenty. For example, Xplenty has a new feature called Field Level Encryption, which allows users to encrypt and decrypt data fields using their own encryption key. Xplenty also makes sure to maintain regulatory compliance to laws like HIPPA, GDPR, and CCPA.

Thanks to these advantages, Integrate has received an average of 4.4 out of 5 stars from 83 reviewers on the G2 website. Like AWS Glue, Xplenty has been named one of G2’s “Leaders” for 2019-2020. Xplenty reviewer Kerry D. writes: “I have not found anything I could not accomplish with this tool. Support and development have been very responsive and effective.”

3. AWS Glue

AWS Glue is a fully managed ETL service from Amazon Web Services that is intended for big data and analytic workloads. As a fully managed, end-to-end ETL offering, AWS Glue is intended to take the pain out of ETL workloads and integrates well with the rest of the AWS ecosystem.

Notably, AWS Glue is serverless, which means that Amazon automatically provisions a server for users and shuts it down when the workload is complete. AWS Glue also includes features such as job scheduling and “developer endpoints” for testing AWS Glue scripts, improving the tool’s ease of use.

AWS Glue users have given the service generally high marks. It currently holds 4.1 out of 5 stars on the business software review platform G2, based on 36 reviews. Thanks to this warm reception, G2 has named AWS Glue a “Leader” for 2019-2021.

4. Alooma

Alooma is an ETL data migration tool for data warehouses in the cloud. The major selling point of Alooma is its automation of much of the data pipeline, letting you focus less on the technical details and more on the results.

Public cloud data warehouses such as Amazon Redshift, Microsoft Azure, and Google BigQuery were all compatible with Alooma in the past. However, in February of 2019 Google acquired Alooma and restricted future signups only to Google Cloud Platform users. Given this development, Alooma customers who use non-Google data warehouses will likely switch to an ETL solution that more closely aligns with their tech stack.

Nevertheless, Alooma has received generally positive reviews from users, with 4.0 out of 5 stars on G2. One user writes: “I love the flexibility that Alooma provides through its code engine feature… [However,] some of the inputs that are key to our internal tool stack are not very mature.”

5. Talend

Talend Data Integration is an open-source ETL data integration solution. The Talend platform is compatible with data sources both on-premises and in the cloud, and includes hundreds of pre-built integrations.

While some users will find the open-source version of Talend sufficient, larger enterprises will likely prefer Talend’s paid Data Management Platform. The paid version of Talend includes additional tools and features for design, productivity, management, monitoring, and data governance.

Talend has received an average rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars on G2, based on 47 reviews. In addition, Talend has been named a “Leader” in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Integration Tools report. Reviewer Jan L. says that Talend is a “great all-purpose tool for data integration” with “a clear and easy-to-understand interface.”

6. Stitch

Stitch is an open-source ELT data integration platform. Like Talend, Stitch also offers paid service tiers for more advanced use cases and larger numbers of data sources. The comparison is apt in more ways than one: Stitch was acquired by Talend in November 2018.

The Stitch platform sets itself apart by offering self-service ELT and automated data pipelines, making the process simpler. However, would-be users should note that Stitch’s ELT tool does not perform arbitrary transformations. Rather, the Stitch team suggests that transformations should be added on top of raw data in layers once inside the data warehouse.

G2 users have given Stitch generally positive reviews, not to mention the title of “High Performer” for 2019-2021. One reviewer compliments Stitch’s “simplicity of pricing, the open-source nature of its inner workings, and ease of onboarding.” However, some Stitch reviews cite minor technical issues and a lack of support for less popular data sources.

7. Informatica PowerCenter

Informatica PowerCenter is a mature, feature-rich enterprise data integration platform for ETL workloads. PowerCenter is just one tool in the Informatica suite of cloud data management tools.

As an enterprise-class, database-neutral solution, PowerCenter has a reputation for high performance and compatibility with many different data sources, including both SQL and non-SQL databases. The negatives of Informatica PowerCenter include the tool’s high prices and a challenging learning curve that can deter smaller organizations with less technical chops.

Despite these drawbacks, Informatica PowerCenter has earned a loyal following, with 44 reviews and an average of 4.3 out of 5 stars on G2—enough to be named a G2 “Leader” for 2019-2021. Reviewer Victor C. calls PowerCenter “probably the most powerful ETL tool I have ever used”; however, he also complains that PowerCenter can be slow and does not integrate well with visualization tools such as Tableau and QlikView.

8. Oracle Data Integrator – part of Oracle Cloud

Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) is a comprehensive data integration solution that is part of Oracle’s data management ecosystem. This makes the platform a smart choice for current users of other Oracle applications, such as Hyperion Financial Management and Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS). ODI comes in both on-premises and cloud versions (the latter offering is referred to as Oracle Data Integration Platform Cloud).

Unlike most other software tools on this list, Oracle Data Integrator supports ELT workloads (and not ETL), which may be a selling point or a dealbreaker for certain users. ODI is also more bare-bones than most of these other tools, since certain peripheral features are included in other Oracle software instead.

Oracle Data Integrator has an average rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars on G2, based on 17 reviews. According to G2 reviewer Christopher T., ODI is “a very powerful tool with tons of options,” but also “too hard to learn…training is definitely needed.”

Use Cases

No two ETL software tools are the same, and each one has its benefits and drawbacks. Finding the best ETL tool for you will require an honest assessment of your business requirements, goals, and priorities.

Given the comparisons above, the list below offers a few suggested groups of users that might be interested in each ETL tool:

Hevo: Companies who are looking for a fully automated data pipeline platform; Companies who prefer to use a Drag-drop interface; Recommended ETL tool.
AWS Glue: Existing AWS customers; companies who need a fully managed ETL solution.
Xplenty: Companies who use ETL and/or ELT workloads; companies who prefer an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that non-technical employees can use; companies who need many pre-built integrations; companies who value data security.
Alooma: Existing Google Cloud Platform customers.
Talend: Companies who prefer an open-source solution; companies who need many pre-built integrations.
Stitch: Companies who prefer an open-source solution; companies who prefer a simple ELT process. Companies who don’t require complex transformations.
Informatica PowerCenter: Large enterprises with large budgets and demanding performance needs.
Oracle Data Integrator: Existing Oracle customers; companies who use ELT workloads.

Who is ETL Developer?

An ETL developer is a type of software engineer that manages the Extract, Transform, and Load processes, implementing technical solutions to do so.

ETL developer is a software engineer that covers the Extract, Transform, and Load stage of data processing by developing/managing the corresponding infrastructure.

The five critical differences of ETL vs ELT:

ETL is Extract, Transform and Load while ELT is Extract, Load, and Transform of data.
In ETL data moves from the data source, to staging, into the data warehouse.
ELT leverages the data warehouse to do basic transformations. No data staging is needed.
ETL can help with data privacy and compliance, cleansing sensitive & secure data even before loading into the data warehouse.
ETL can perform sophisticated data transformations and can be more cost effective than ELT.

ETL and ELT is easy to explain, but understanding the big picture—i.e., the potential advantages of ETL vs. ELT—requires a deeper knowledge of how ETL works with data warehouses, and how ELT works with data lakes.

Enterprise Cases

How HotelTonight Streamlined their ETL Process Using IronWorker. For a detailed discussion of Harlow’s ETL process at work, check out Harlow’s blog at: http://engineering.hoteltonight.com/ruby-etl-with-ironworker-and-redshift

ETL Role: Data Warehouse or Data Lake?

There are essentially two paths to strategic data storage. The path you choose before you bring in the data will determine what’s possible in your future. Although your company’s objectives and resources will normally suggest the most reasonable path, it’s important to establish a good working knowledge of both paths now, especially as new technologies and capabilities gain wider acceptance.

We’ll name these paths for their destinations: The Warehouse or the Lake. As you stand here is the fork in the data road considering which way to go, we’ve assembled a key to what these paths represent and a map to what could be waiting at the end of each road.

The Data Warehouse

This well-worn path leads to a massive database ready for analysis. It’s characterized by the Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) data process. This is the preferred option for rapid access to and analysis of data, but it is also the only option for highly regulated industries where certain types of private customer data must be masked or tightly controlled.

Data transformation prior to loading is the key here. In the past, the transformation piece or even the entire ETL process would have to be hand-coded by developers, but it’s more common now for businesses to deploy pre-built server-based solutions or cloud-based platforms with graphical interfaces that provide more control for process managers. Transformation improves the quality and reliability of the information through data cleansing or scrubbing, removing duplicates, record fragments, and syntax errors.

The Data Lake

This new path how only recently begun to open up for wider use thanks to the massive storage and processing power of cloud providers. Raw, unstructured, incompatible data streams of all types can pool together for maximum flexibility in handling that data at a later point. It is characterized by the Extract-Load-Transform (ELT) data process.

The delay in transformation can afford your team a much wider scope of possibilities in terms of data mining. Data mining introduces many of the tools at the edge of artificial intelligence, such as unsupervised learning algorithms, neural networks, and natural language processing (NLP), to serendipitously discover new insights hidden in unstructured data. At the same time, securing the talent and the software you need to refine raw data into information using the ELT process can still be a challenge. That is beginning to change as ELT becomes better understood and cloud providers make the process more affordable.

Choosing the Right Path

To go deeper into all of these terms and strategies, consult our friends about: ETL vs ELT. You’ll find a nuts and bolts discussion and supporting illustrations that compare the two approaches in categories such as “Costs”, “Availability of tools and experts” and “Hardware requirements.” The most important takeaway is that the way we handle data is evolving along with the velocity and volume of what is available.

Making the best call early on will have significant repercussions across both your market strategy and financial performance in the end.

PDF is a format that is extensively used in legal, academic, real estate, medical, and other industries. Small business uses PDF for storing, and sarong business-critical information as these files are highly secure for saving sensitive data.

Apart from the businesses, these files are widely utilized by students at various levels. Whether the academic departments want to share the assignments with students or academic transcripts, PDF is the best format as it is possible to add different content types such as text, images, or even QR codes.

Why PDFs for Data Storage & Transfer?

PDFs Are Portable

PDF stands for Portable Document Format; so, as the name suggests, these files are highly portable. It means that you can move these files, and they will appear the same on all the digital devices without any dependencies.

Once these files are created and stored as PDF, they remain the same, no matter how you use them. No compromise will be made to the integrity of the integrated contents even if you move them across operating systems.

PDFs Are Compatible

One of the best things about these documents is that they are compatible with running over all the operating systems. So, whether you are using macOS, Windows, Linux, or any other operating system, you can create, download, edit, share, or even merge pdfs into one for extensive usage.

If we talk about mobile devices, PDFs keep all the data intact, no matter if you are viewing them on Android, iOS, Windows, or other operating systems. The files adapt themselves to the screen size to ensure that all the information is displayed correctly on the small screen.

PDFs Are Reliable

Reliability in PDF is the mixture of both portability and compatibility. So, reliability here refers to the fact that when you open a PDF on a computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone, you will not see any change in the paragraph, vector graphics, images, tables, graphs, or other content.

Not even a minor change is made to any of the data types when you export the document to another computer or other continent. One of the reasons for the immense popularity of PDFs is that they help convey information in the original format. Organizing work or exchanging information is easy thanks to PDFs.

Let’s now discuss some facts related to PDFs in the upcoming section.

Facts About PDFs You Must Know

Most Popular File Format

If you have ever used PDF, you must be aware of the fact that it is the most widely used file format on the internet, and the credit goes to the reliability and security parameters. These documents meet high standards of portability and compatibility aspects, which add to their popularity.

Encapsulate Robust Security

You can encrypt the document with a password to ensure that only authorized users can view it. One protected document can only be accessed by entering the right password key. This way, it controls unauthorized access. That’s why the banks are using PDF files to share account statements and other confidential details with users over email.

Integrate Extensive Features

Those who have been using PDF for a couple of years now must know that the earlier versions used to be bulky, storage-consuming, and lacked support for hyperlinks. Today’s PDFs are packed with powerful features that make them lighter, allow for faster downloads, are more versatile, and support hyperlinks.

Accessible to Persons with Disabilities

The PDF/UA (Universal Access) version makes these documents more accessible to persons with disabilities with the use of assistive technology. Accessible PDFs make use of software such as screen magnifiers, alternative-input devices, text-to-speech software, speech-recognition software, screen readers, and similar technologies.

Supports Interactive 3D Models

With the release of PDF 1.6 back in the year 2004, users were given the flexibility to embed 3D models and the Product Representation Compact (PRC). It is possible to zoom and rotate the 3D models integrated into PDF. For the uninitiated, the PRC is a file format that supports an equivalent display of geometrical or physical structure for 3D graphics.

Incorporates Multiple Layers

PDF files have different layers that users can easily view and edit as per business or personal preferences. Users can change the properties of each individual layer, merge them, rearrange them, or lock them on their computers. To view the layered PDF feature, you must use PDF 1.5 or higher version.

Convert Images to PDF

If you have created a digital print and want to share it with someone over email or chat, you can convert the image to PDF. Similarly, you can also convert a Word file PowerPoint presentation, JPEG file, Excel document, or even a Paint file to a PDF without compromising the quality of content or changing its actual structure.

The Conclusion

PDFs come with numerous advantages, and there are some facts related to them that most users are not aware of. The more you use PDFs, the more you become used to them. Not only are they good for sharing data over email, but they are ideal for saving data on a computer, external storage, or on the Cloud.

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