Architecture-review workbook

Pick a data pipeline tool without the vendor calculator dance.

A data pipeline tool moves rows from a source system into a warehouse, lakehouse, or back into a SaaS destination. The category splits into ELT, orchestration, streaming, change-data-capture, and reverse-ETL. Managed ELT vendors meter different things: Fivetran monthly active rows, Airbyte credits (6 per million API rows, $5 each on Standard), Stitch row brackets ($500 a month for 50M rows) and Estuary data volume ($0.50 per GB). Self-hosted options trade the subscription for your own engineering time.Stitch pricing - pulled 2026-11-07

Published meters, by vendor

rate cards read 7 Nov 2026

YOUR DATA

Fivetran: MAR; no per-row rate published

YOUR WAREHOUSE

YOUR DATA

Airbyte Cloud: $5/credit; 6 credits per 1M API rows

YOUR WAREHOUSE

YOUR DATA

Stitch: $500/mo for 50M rows

YOUR WAREHOUSE

YOUR DATA

Estuary: $0.50/GB + $100/instance

YOUR WAREHOUSE

YOUR DATA

Hevo: Starter from $299/mo

YOUR WAREHOUSE

YOUR DATA

Portable: $1,800/mo for 6 data flows

YOUR WAREHOUSE

Each vendor meters something different, so these are not one comparable unit. Each caret links the rate card it was read from.

5-question category router

ELT, orchestration, streaming, CDC, reverse-ETL - pick the wrong category and the finalist list is wrong. The router asks five questions and returns a category plus two or three named finalists.

Open the router →

TCO calculator

Prices Airbyte Cloud, Stitch, Estuary and Portable from their published rate cards, plus a self-host line from your own numbers. Each row shows its arithmetic. Export as a Markdown table.

Rows replicated per month50M

Data volume per month250 GB

Sources8

Destinations1

Most of the volume comes from

Self-host line: your own numbers

Infrastructure, $ / monthEngineer time, FTE shareLoaded cost of one FTE, $ / month

Stack	Plan	Monthly
StitchlowestSmallest Standard bracket covering 50M rows, billed monthly. Standard allows 10 Standard sources and 1 destination. rate card	Standard, 50M rows	$500
Estuary250 GB x $0.50 + 9 connector instances (sources + destinations) at $100 for the first six, $50 after. rate card	Cloud	$875
Airbyte Cloud50M API rows x 6 credits per million = 300 credits. $20 base includes 5; 295 extra credits at $5. rate card	Standard	$1,495
Portable8 data flows (source-destination pairs); Pro includes 15. Volume is not metered. US customers only. rate card	Pro	$2,800
Self-hosted (Airbyte Core, Meltano Open)Your inputs: $400 infrastructure + 0.5 FTE x $25,000 loaded cost. The software is free; these numbers are yours, not a vendor's. rate card	Your infrastructure	$12,900
FivetranMeters MAR but publishes median examples and a calculator, not a per-row rate. Price it in Fivetran's own calculator. rate card	Standard / Enterprise / Business Critical	Not published
HevoPublishes a starting price per plan (Starter from $299/month, Professional from $849/month), not a price per event volume. rate card	Starter from $299/mo	Not published
MatillionConsumption credits with no published credit price. rate card	Developer / Teams / Scale	Not published

Copy as Markdown table for an architecture-review deck

| Stack | Plan | Monthly | How it is computed |
| --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| Stitch | Standard, 50M rows | $500 | Smallest Standard bracket covering 50M rows, billed monthly. Standard allows 10 Standard sources and 1 destination. |
| Estuary | Cloud | $875 | 250 GB x $0.50 + 9 connector instances (sources + destinations) at $100 for the first six, $50 after. |
| Airbyte Cloud | Standard | $1,495 | 50M API rows x 6 credits per million = 300 credits. $20 base includes 5; 295 extra credits at $5. |
| Portable | Pro | $2,800 | 8 data flows (source-destination pairs); Pro includes 15. Volume is not metered. US customers only. |
| Self-hosted (Airbyte Core, Meltano Open) | Your infrastructure | $12,900 | Your inputs: $400 infrastructure + 0.5 FTE x $25,000 loaded cost. The software is free; these numbers are yours, not a vendor's. |
| Fivetran | Standard / Enterprise / Business Critical | Not published | Meters MAR but publishes median examples and a calculator, not a per-row rate. Price it in Fivetran's own calculator. |
| Hevo | Starter from $299/mo | Not published | Publishes a starting price per plan (Starter from $299/month, Professional from $849/month), not a price per event volume. |
| Matillion | Developer / Teams / Scale | Not published | Consumption credits with no published credit price. |

Vendor lines use only published list rates, read 7 Nov 2026. Warehouse compute and cloud egress are billed by your warehouse and cloud, not the pipeline vendor, so they are not added here. The self-host line is your own inputs.