Fivetran and dbt Merge: What It Means for Data Teams

The recent announcement of the merger between dbt and Fivetran has been one of the hottest topics in the data community. Both Joe and Alex from the Business Thinking podcast recently discussed what this could mean for companies using these tools, and the implications for the wider data ecosystem.

Two Big Players, One Company

Fivetran and dbt are two major players in data engineering. While they are not renaming or fully combining into a single product, they will now operate as one company.

Think of it like Meta owning WhatsApp—they remain independent but share a parent company.

The merger was initially a rumour, but dbt CEO Tristan Handy confirmed it recently. While reactions are mixed, there’s excitement and some concern, especially around the open-source side of dbt.

Potential Benefits

For companies already using both tools, the merger could simplify workflows.

Integration between ingestion (Fivetran) and transformation (dbt) could become smoother, reducing friction and making the end-to-end data process easier.

Pricing is one unknown. There’s potential for combined pricing, which could benefit customers, though nothing has been announced yet. Tighter integration could also include new features like “first-class integrations” or buttons in dbt cloud to interact with Fivetran more seamlessly.

From a technical perspective, questions remain about orchestration. Will users configure data ingestion from dbt cloud or from Fivetran? If merged too tightly, a single app could become unwieldy. Alternatively, keeping tools separate under a unified orchestration interface could streamline the user experience.

Market Alternatives

There are alternatives to both tools. On the Fivetran side, open-source tools like Airbyte exist, while Airflow offers orchestration. However, no existing tool combines the depth of both Fivetran and dbt. Other solutions like DataOps or Y42 provide integrations, but none match the potential integration between the two companies.

Risks and Community Concerns

One worry is monopoly and less choice. Big mergers can reduce competition, but users can still use Fivetran or dbt independently. dbt’s open-source commitment is particularly important to the community. As Alex noted, if open-source support were compromised, “the community will be upset” because dbt has always been community-driven.

Another challenge is avoiding a monolithic tool. Both Joe and Alex emphasized that combining too many features could result in a complex interface with “300 dropdowns and buttons” that are confusing and inconsistently designed.

What Should dbt Focus On?

The consensus is that dbt should continue to focus on transformation. Its strengths include reusable, reproducible, and testable SQL code, as well as metadata capabilities that can integrate with other tools. Adding Fivetran features into dbt cloud should not compromise its core functionality.

Meanwhile, Fivetran can continue to handle ingestion, loading, and landing of data, keeping the two tools complementary rather than overlapping too much.

Looking Ahead

For companies new to the data journey, the merger could make adoption easier. For existing users, the focus will be on how the integration is implemented and how pricing evolves. Both speakers agree that as long as dbt and Fivetran don’t alienate their current user base, the merger has the potential to be beneficial.

In the end, regardless of opinions on the merger, it’s clear that combining these tools makes business sense. The two tools complement each other perfectly, and the integration could provide a smoother workflow for data teams everywhere.