Best Open Source and Paid PostgreSQL ETL Tools

Are you here to look for PostgreSQL ETL tools? Then you’re in the right place.

Here’s the line-up of the best ETL tools for PostgreSQL:

Open Source ETL Tools

• Apache Airflow
• Apache Kafka
• Apache Nifi
• HPCC Systems
• Singer ETL
• KETL
• Talend Open Studio

Paid ETL Tools

• Skyvia
• Talend Cloud
• Informatica PowerCenter
• Stitch
• Hevo
• Integrate.io
• Pentaho Data Integration (Kettle)

Find out which is the right one for you in the following sections.

Open Source ETL Tools

Let’s start our list with free ETL tools for PostgreSQL. Likely, one of the reasons you chose PostgreSQL as your database is because it’s free and open-source. And you may want to start your journey to pick ETL tools from this list.

Here they are.

Apache Airflow

Apache Airflow is a platform for developing, scheduling, and monitoring batch workflows. It uses a modular architecture to easily scale the platform to large workflows. And it uses a message queue for batching jobs.

But what is a message queue? And how does it relate to ETL?

A message queue provides asynchronous communication and coordination between distributed apps. This queue stores messages like requests, replies, errors, or plain information. And these messages stay there until they are processed and deleted by something called a consumer.

With Apache Airflow, you can use Python programming to define your workflows. Your workflow will define data extraction, transformation, and loading. And here’s where ETL will come into play.

Pros

• A very extensible, plug-and-play platform.
• It can process thousands of concurrent workflows, according to Adobe.
• It can also be used for reverse ETL and other data-processing tasks.
• 75+ provider packages to integrate with third-party providers.
• Uses a web user interface to monitor workflows.

Cons

• Requires Python coding skills to create pipelines.
• There’s a learning curve if you are transitioning from a GUI tool to this setup.
• The community is still small but growing.
• Uses a command-line interface to install this product.

Apache Kafka

Apache Kafka is a distributed, event streaming platform. Event streaming is capturing data in real time from event sources like databases, sensors, mobile devices, and apps. And then route it to different destination technologies.

It works by having producers publish or write events to Kafka. And having consumers read and process these events. It also includes an API that can be used by different programming languages. It can use any data source and destination supported by a programming language like Python or Go. Or, it can use a database library like ODBC or JDBC. So, you can use Apache Kafka for PostgreSQL sources and destinations.

GUI tools exist, as stated here and here.

So, if you are into coding and scripting, this is one of the perfect choices for PostgreSQL ETL tools.

Here’s a sample console script for writing events:

$ bin/kafka-console-producer.sh --topic quickstart-events --bootstrap-server localhost:9092
This is my first event
This is my second event

And here’s a sample script for reading events:

$ bin/kafka-console-consumer.sh --topic quickstart-events --from-beginning --bootstrap-server localhost:9092
This is my first event
This is my second event

Pros

• 80% of all Fortune 100 companies trust and use Kafka.
• Handle millions of messages per second.
• Very fast and highly scalable with a latency of up to 2ms.
• High availability and fault-tolerant.
• Large community for support.

Cons

• Requires technical skills to create producers and consumers.
• Like Apache Airflow, there’s a learning curve if you will transition from a GUI ETL tool to this tool.

Apache Nifi

If you want a free, open-source ETL with a GUI tool, Apache Nifi is your best bet. It also boasts a no-code data routing, transformation, and system mediation logic.

So, if you hate coding and scripting, this is for you.

Pros

• Supports a wide variety of sources and targets, including PostgreSQL.
• No coding of complex transformations.
• Uses a drag-and-drop designer for your pipelines.
• It also has templates for the most used data flow.
• It can execute large jobs with multithreading.
• You can also data splitting to reduce processing time.
• Supports data masking of sensitive data.
• Supports encrypted communication.
• You can use Nifi chat, Slack, and IRC for support.

Cons

• The user community is small but growing.

HPCC Systems

HPCC Systems uses a lightweight core architecture for high-speed data engineering. You can mix ultra-performance with coding less and a secure platform.

Pros

• Secure but near real-time data engineering.
• Uses the Enterprise Control Language (ECL) designed for huge data projects.
• Provides a wide range of machine learning algorithms accessible through ECL.
• Provides documentation and training to develop pipelines.

Cons

• Must learn a new language (ECL) to design pipelines.

Singer ETL

Singer ETL is a simple, composable open-source ETL. And if your source and destination are not on the list, you can make it by coding in Python.

It’s very powerful. And in fact, one of the paid tools you will see below is powered by Singer ETL. To get started with this tool, visit their site here.

Here’s a sample Singer ETL script:

› pip install target-csv tap-exchangeratesapi
› tap-exchangeratesapi | target-csv
INFO Replicating the latest exchange rate data from exchangeratesapi.io
INFO Tap exiting normally
› cat exchange_rate.csv
AUD,BGN,BRL,CAD,CHF,CNY,CZK,DKK,GBP,HKD,HRK,HUF,IDR,ILS,INR,JPY,KRW,MXN,MYR,NOK,NZD,PHP,PLN,RON,RUB,SEK,SGD,THB,TRY,ZAR,EUR,USD,date
1.3023,1.8435,3.0889,1.3109,1.0038,6.869,25.47,7.0076,0.79652,7.7614,7.0011,290.88,13317.0,3.6988,66.608,112.21,1129.4,19.694,4.4405,8.3292,1.3867,50.198,4.0632,4.2577,58.105,8.9724,1.4037,34.882,3.581,12.915,0.9426,1.0,2017-02-24T00:00:00Z

Pros

• 100+ sources and targets, including PostgreSQL.
• JSON-based for language-neutral app communication.
• Develop your own source and your own targets using Python.
• Uses scripts to process data.

Cons

• Requires technical skills to develop pipelines.

KETL

KETL is a production-ready ETL platform that is built on open, multi-threaded, XML-based architecture. You can do ETL and scheduling of jobs using KETL. Here’s a sample KETL command to show XML definition of MyJob:

Pros

• Extract and load data that supports JDBC. This includes flat files and relational databases like PostgreSQL.
• Manage the most-complex data in minimal time.
• Integrates with security tools to keep your data safe.

Cons

• Hard to find ETL samples and documentation you can study.
• You may get confused with documentation from similar ETL tools named KETL (like Kogenta ETL (KETL) and konfigurable ETL (kETL)).

Talend Open Studio

This tool allows you to build basic data pipelines locally in an open-source environment you can control. Get acquainted with Talend Open Studio from their official site.

Pros

• 900+ data integration components. Includes connectors, data transformation, and many more.
• Graphical development of pipelines.
• Extend features with Java programming language.
• Great for small to large datasets.

Cons

• No scheduler for ETL pipelines.
• The app is CPU and memory-intensive based on some user reviews.

Paid PostgreSQL ETL Tools

The following are paid PostgreSQL ETL tools that provide a lot of value like ease-of-use, great support, and more.

Skyvia

A cloud platform that consists of several integrated products to solve different kinds of data-related tasks.

If you are looking for a no-nonsense graphical designer for your ETL pipelines, this is it.

Pros

• 180+ connectors and growing. Includes PostgreSQL on-premises and in the cloud.
• With free plans and trials.
• Simple, drag-and-drop designer.
• Simple and complex data transformations.
• With a pipeline scheduler.
• Detailed logs and failure alerts that you can easily comprehend.
• Almost zero code querying of data sources.
• 100% cloud. No need to install it.

Cons

• Limits on free usage.

Pricing

• Flexible freemium model.
• Free plan for 10k records/month.
• Starts at $15/month for 100k records.

Talend Cloud

Features you love in Talend Open Studio but for the cloud. It uses a unified approach to data integration, data quality, and data sharing. Integrate on-premise and in-the-cloud data including PostgreSQL. Visit their site to know more about their collection of products.

Pros

• 900+ data integration components.
• Easy and fast browser-based, graphical pipeline designer.
• Extend or Customize your pipeline using Python.
• Talend Trust Score checks data reliability at a glance, over time, or at any point in time.

Cons

• Pricey, according to Gartner reviews.

Pricing

Contact Talend Sales for pricing.

Informatica PowerCenter

Informatica PowerCenter is one of Informatica’s product lines to quickly build intelligent ETL for the enterprise.

Pros

• A vast array of connectors to major databases, including PostgreSQL.
• Build formulas for data transformation instead of coding.
• Drag-and-drop designer and configuration with keyboard shortcuts.
• Uses parallel data processing to handle huge amounts of data.
• Granular access privileges and flexible permission management for security.
• 24/7 support is available.

Cons

• Runtime logs are a bit challenging to read.
• Transitioning ETL experts need to familiarize the product’s terminologies.
• Some user reviews in G2 report the unresponsiveness of this app.

Pricing

• Prepaid subscription based on Informatica Processing Unit (IPU).
• Contact sales for more details about IPUs.

Stitch

A Talend product with a simple self-service interface for rapidly moving data into data warehouses for analysis.

Pros

• 100+ connectors.
• Simple interface to quickly create pipelines.
• Enterprise-grade security and data compliance.
• Extensible platform with Singer open-source framework.

Cons

• No free version.

Pricing

• Standard pricing starts at $100/month with 1 destination and 10 sources.
• See more of the pricing plan here.

Hevo

Hevo is an end-to-end data pipeline platform that enables you to easily pull data from all your sources to the warehouse and deliver operational intelligence to business tools.

Pros

• 150+ connectors, where 50 are free.
• Flexible transformation using Python.
• Single-row testing before deployment.
• Easy-to-use forms with schema mapper and keyboard shortcuts.
• Process huge amounts of data with horizontal scaling.
• 24/7 Support.
• Provides resource guides and video tutorials.

Cons

• PostgreSQL is not included in the free connectors.
• Not allowed registration: Personal email addresses (Outlook, Gmail) and .edu addresses.
• Requires knowing Python to do transformations.
• No drag-and-drop designer for pipelines.

Pricing

• 1 million events or less are free using free connectors. Events can be new or changed records.
• The Starter plan starts at $239/month for 5 million events.

Integrate.io

Integrate.io is a low-code data warehouse integration platform.

Pros

• Powerful, code-free data transformation.
• Connects to major databases including PostgreSQL, and other sources.
• ETL, reverse ETL, ELT, CDC, and Rest API.
• UI is easy and applicable for beginners and experts alike.

Cons

• No on-premise solution.
• No real-time data synchronization capabilities.
• Does not support pure data replication use cases.
• Business emails only to get started.
• Limited connectors.

Pricing

• No pricing page but there’s a 14-day trial.
• Pricing is based on the number of connectors.

Pentaho Data Integration (Kettle)

Pentaho Data Integration (PDI) is another ETL tool you can use for PostgreSQL. It simplifies the process of capturing, cleansing, and storing data consistently. And it is also a powerful but easy tool to design pipelines using drag and drop.

Pros

• Codeless pipeline development.
• Supports streaming data.
• Wide range of connectors.
• Enterprise-scale load balancing & scheduling.
• Use R, Python, Scala, and Weka for machine learning models.
• Uses Pentaho security or advanced security providers.
• 24/7 support.

Cons

• Technical documentation needs improvement.
• Pricey according to some reviews in Gartner Peer Insights.
• No built-in data masking for sensitive data. But a scripting transformation is possible.

Pricing

• Try for free the Pentaho Community Edition.
• 30-day free trial of Pentaho Enterprise Edition.
• $100/user/month to process 5 million rows. You can also adjust your plan as you grow.

Conclusion

You must balance usability, performance, security, and price in choosing from this list of PostgreSQL ETL tools. Whether you’re new to data integration or an established ETL expert on another product, this list will help you choose what’s good for your use case. If you want a free tool to try with a really good, easy-to-use interface, try out Skyvia. And integrate your on-premise or cloud PostgreSQL database easily with other online services.