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The data transition to a data warehouse like Snowflake can be referred to as stockpiling thousands of books in a library. By doing so, big data, companies’ most precious asset, will be safety and security. Also, Snowflake can store data for real-time big data analytics to extract fruitful insights and intelligence that helps in the decision-making process and business growth.[lwptoc numeration="none" skipHeadingLevel="h1,h4,h5,h6"]
What is Snowflake?
Snowflake is a renowned and highly scalable cloud data warehouse introduced to sustain your business intelligence (BI) needs. It's available as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for data-driven experts who need a warehouse to make schedule-critical decisions that fuel business growth. Snowflake integrates and centralizes Big data in structured, semi-structured, JSON & XML formats from many data sources so you can analyze it all with transparency and accuracy. Analytics is comparatively easy, but on the other hand, boarding all of your data to Snowflake in the first place can be an overwhelming task.
Why ETL/ELT for Snowflake?
ETL/ELT corrects your data and gives it a much-needed makeover to make it ready for Snowflake and then ready for analytics. But why is ETL/ELT is so important? Most data warehouses and BI utilities can't handle the overwhelming mass of data from various sources. Some platforms have to standardize data formats and join up records which delay the analytical process. When you extract, transform, and load data, none of these problems tend to occur.The ETL/ELT process scrambles heavy amounts of data for Snowflake storage, combining structured and unstructured data from even the most complex and latent data sources making the overall process less time-consuming and hurdle-free.In this blog post, we will discuss 5 top of the line ETL/ELT extensions available in Snowflake. Let’s discuss this in detail.
Top ETL/ELT Tools for Snowflake in 2022
1) Xplenty
Rating:Average user rating: 4.4/5Benefits:
- Integrated Snowflake connector
- No code platform
- Simple drag-and-drop UI
- A variety of 200+ data sources that is more than any other on this list
- Free customer support for all users
- Easy data transformations methodologies
- Charges depend on the connector, not data volume, making this service cheaper.
- Support cloud platforms, databases, systems, apps, and data warehouses, including Amazon Web Services - AWS, Microsoft Azure, Redshift, Talend, Oracle, Microsoft, Tableau, and Salesforce.
Xplenty is an all-rounder ETL tool for Snowflake, providing an easy-to-use native Snowflake connector. Unlike the other tools on this list, Xplenty offers a no-code development environment, making it a perfect choice for teams of all types. There's free customer support for all users, more than 200 data sources, simple data transformations, a drag-and-drop UI, and favorable pricing depending upon the connector rather than a data volume.
2) Apache Airflow
Rating:Average user rating: 4.1/5Benefits:
- Extensive support using Slack
- Flexible pricing
Limitations:
- Data transition from sources via plugins
- Support only Python language
Apache Airflow is an open-source utility that offers ETL modeling for Snowflake. It's one of the most renowned ETL utilities available in the market. Unlike other data platforms in this list, Airflow moves data from sources via plugins with templates based on Python. If you don't know Python programming, it becomes difficult to extract, transform, and load data into Snowflake. On the other hand, it offers extensive support via Slack and a flexible pricing structure. It suits the smaller teams with fewer ETL requirements as they can pay less than larger teams.
3) Matillion
Rating:Average user rating: 4.3/5Benefits:
- Support around 70 data sources
- Annual pricing models are available
Limitations:
- Knowledge of SQL is mandatory
- Weak click-and-point
- No tutorial clips
Matillion is a cloud-based ETL extension for Snowflake that moves data from 70 different data sources to Snowflake. But click-and-point capabilities are very limited compared to low-code counterpart Xplenty. Users can drag components to the visual framework at a certain point in a pipeline, but the complete process requires SQL expertise. Still, Matillion's data sources offer a variety of databases, social networks, CRMs, and ERPS as well as users can develop additional pipelines if necessary. Matillion ETL prices are hourly bases as well as it also offers annual plans.
4) Blendo
Rating:Average user rating: 5/5 Benefits:
- Around 50 data sources to opt from
Limitations:
- It doesn’t provide data transform mode
- Users are unable to build additional data sources
- No prerequisite knowledge is required
Blendo is an ELT (not ETL) platform that enables users to transfer data to Snowflake successfully. However, it allows extracting/loading and doesn't transform data from sources. This is troublesome for organizations to transform data from different sources before loading it to a destination warehouse, especially when compliance with data safety and regulations is the top priority. Users can request Blendo to provide data sources that fulfill their requirements but can't develop sources themselves. Still, it offers around 50 data sources to opt from, including renowned CRM and ERP systems.
5) Stitch
Rating: Average user rating: 4.7/5 Benefits
- 100 different sources as well as SaaS integrations
- Users can feed on different data sources using open-source Singer
Limitations
- Expensive, with standard plans price around $1,200 per month
- Coding skills are required
- No Data transformation
Stitch is a cloud-based ELT (not ETL) solution used by multiple companies. It doesn’t offer ELT like a previous tool, making it troublesome for organizations to prioritize data compliance and regulations. It's a perfect choice for larger teams, providing around 100+ integrations. This renowned platform makes it simple to move new data to the Snowflake database, but you must use Python programming, SQL, or another programming language.
Conclusion
Snowflake’s aforementioned ETL/ELT extensions are the perfect utilities to load your data into the destination warehouse. Still, Xplenty wins this race with its native Snowflake connector and no-code UI drag and drop interface. Xplenty enables organizations without a data engineering team to extract, transform seamlessly, and load data to Snowflake with minimum effort and technical expertise.With many integrations, a user-friendly interface for data transformations, automated workflow creations, a state-of-the-art REST API, free support, and many other incredible features, Xplenty is the perfect choice for your ETL/ELT modeling.