Ask a data team how to get ad data into BigQuery, and you'll hear Fivetran. Ask an agency, and you'll hear Supermetrics. Both answers work, but they lead to different setups, different bills and different people owning the pipeline.
This Fivetran vs Supermetrics comparison starts with what each tool is built for. Then it covers the skills each one needs, how the pricing works, marketing connector depth and data transformation, and ends with a pick by team stage.
Fivetran vs Supermetrics: two tools for two different jobs#
Fivetran is an automated data movement platform. It is a general-purpose data integration tool built on ELT: it handles data extraction from 700+ sources, such as databases, SaaS apps like Salesforce and HubSpot, files and event streams, and data ingestion into a data warehouse or data lake. Common destinations are BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, Amazon Redshift and Azure Synapse. Transformation happens after loading, usually with dbt.
Fivetran's job ends once the data is in the warehouse. Reporting happens in BI tools your team connects on top. Fivetran completed its merger with dbt Labs in June 2026, so ingestion and transformation now come from one vendor.
Supermetrics is a marketing intelligence platform. Its data connectors pull marketing data from ad, analytics, social and ecommerce platforms and send it straight to the tools marketers report in: Google Sheets, Excel, Data Studio (formerly Looker Studio), Power BI, and AI tools such as Claude and ChatGPT. Warehouse destinations like BigQuery and Snowflake are part of the Enterprise plan.
The short version: Fivetran builds the data pipeline for a modern data stack, and Supermetrics moves marketing data into a report. That difference drives everything below.
Supermetrics vs Fivetran comparison table#
In any Supermetrics vs Fivetran comparison, keep in mind that the two tools bill on different units, so the entry prices below don't compare one to one.
| Feature | Fivetran | Supermetrics |
|---|---|---|
| Category | General-purpose ELT | Marketing data connector |
| Built for | Data teams with a warehouse | Marketers and agencies |
| Pricing model | Usage-based, by monthly active rows (MAR) | Data sources, accounts per source and destinations |
| Entry price | Free up to 500K MAR, then usage; $5 base charge per standard connection | Starter $44/month, billed yearly |
| Free option | Free plan and 14-day trial | 14-day trial |
| Connectors | 700+ across all business categories | 170+ marketing sources |
| Destinations | Warehouses, data lakes and databases | Sheets, Excel, Data Studio, Power BI, AI tools; warehouses on Enterprise |
| Fastest sync | 15 minutes (Standard), 1 minute (Enterprise) | Up to hourly, depending on plan |
| Transformation | dbt models after loading | Blending in your reporting tool; transformations and Storage on Enterprise |
| Compliance | SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA |
Prices and limits from vendor pricing pages, October 2026.
Who runs it: skills and setup effort#
Fivetran: a job for data engineers
Adding a connector in Fivetran takes a few clicks. The work sits around it. You need a warehouse first, with an account, permissions and a compute budget. The Google Ads connector lands raw tables in your schema, and someone has to model them into report-ready tables with SQL or dbt. Then a BI tool such as Power BI or Tableau reads those tables for data visualization.
That makes Fivetran a tool for data engineers or analytics engineers. Fivetran offers pre-built data models for common sources, which shortens the modeling work but doesn't remove it.
Supermetrics: set up by the marketer
Supermetrics is set up by the marketer who needs the report. You connect your Google Ads or Facebook Ads account, pick metrics, dimensions and a date range, and the query fills a Google Sheet or a Data Studio report. Templates cover common reports. The main skill needed is knowing which metrics you want.
The difference shows up the first time a field changes. With Fivetran, someone edits a dbt model and reruns it. With Supermetrics, you edit the query in the sidebar and refresh.
Monthly active rows vs sources and destinations#
How Fivetran bills
Fivetran uses usage-based pricing. You pay for monthly active rows (MAR): the distinct rows inserted, updated or deleted in each connection during a month. The free plan covers 500,000 MAR. On paid plans, each standard connection with up to 1M MAR carries a $5 base charge. Transformations are billed per dbt model run, with the first 5,000 runs free each month and $0.01 per run after that, falling at higher volumes.
Marketing connectors can push MAR up in ways that are hard to predict. Ad platforms restate conversions for past days, and every updated row counts again. A backfill or a new account adds a spike. Your warehouse compute and BI licenses are billed separately, on top of Fivetran.
How Supermetrics bills
Supermetrics pricing is based on data sources, accounts per source and destinations:
- Starter: $44/month (monthly) or $55/month (annual billing), with 3 data sources, 3 accounts per source, 1 destination and 1 user.
- Growth: $177/month (monthly) or $222/month (annual billing), with 6 data sources, 7 accounts per source, 1 destination and 2 users.
- Enterprise: custom quote, with warehouse destinations, the Data API and data transformations.
Extra sources, accounts and destinations are sold as add-ons. Bills stay flat month to month, but they step up as you add platforms or client accounts. A team reporting on Google Ads, Facebook Ads and GA4 across 5 accounts each already needs Growth, since Starter allows 3 accounts per source.
How deep the marketing connectors go#
Supermetrics focuses on marketing. Its 170+ sources cover the main ad networks (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, TikTok Ads, Microsoft Advertising), Google Analytics 4 and Search Console, social pages, and ecommerce and CRM tools like Shopify, HubSpot and Salesforce. Fields arrive with marketing names and sensible defaults, so a cost-per-lead query works without knowing the platform's API.
Like most ETL tools built for data teams, Fivetran has broader connector coverage but less focus on marketing. Its catalog includes the major ad platforms and Google Analytics 4, next to databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL, ERPs, finance tools and event streams. For databases, it offers log-based change data capture (CDC), which Supermetrics doesn't attempt. Marketing data arrives as raw tables that follow each platform's API schema.
On the Supermetrics vs Fivetran marketing data question alone, Supermetrics is built around ad networks and makes them easier to query. Fivetran wins when marketing is one of many data sources you need to join.
Transformation and data modeling#
Fivetran follows the ELT pattern: load first, transform inside the data warehouse. Its dbt Core integration runs your models after each sync, and its data models for ad platforms combine Google Ads, Facebook Ads and other sources into standard reporting tables. Your team owns the data modeling, the tests and the version history. For data governance, Fivetran adds role-based access, column blocking and hashing for sensitive fields.
Supermetrics handles data transformation closer to the report. On Starter and Growth, you blend sources and build calculated metrics in the destination, such as a Data Studio blend or a Sheet. Supermetrics' own data transformations (custom metrics, currency conversions and data blends) and Supermetrics Storage, a managed copy of your marketing data for history and fast queries, are Enterprise features.
- Sources
- Warehouse
- dbt models
- BI tool
- Sources
- Sheet or Data Studio blend
- Sources
- Transformations + Storage
- Report or warehouse
For weekly channel reports, blending in a Sheet or a Data Studio report is usually enough. For attribution, LTV or joins with product data, you'll want the warehouse and the modeling layer that Fivetran assumes you have.
Supermetrics and Fivetran alternatives#
If neither tool fits, these three sit at different points between a marketing connector and a full ELT pipeline.
Coupler.io
Coupler.io is a reporting automation platform that collects and blends data from 400+ sources, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Salesforce and Stripe. A marketer sets it up the way they would Supermetrics, and the data can land in BigQuery, Snowflake or Amazon Redshift, as with Fivetran, or in Sheets, Power BI and AI tools. Transformations run before loading. Pricing is flat by accounts and destinations: a free plan, then $24, $99 and $199 a month billed yearly. It doesn't offer log-based CDC, so it isn't built for high-volume database replication.
Funnel.io
Funnel.io is a marketing intelligence platform with up to 600+ connectors (117 on Starter). It stores and normalizes marketing data before export to BI tools and data warehouses. Its pricing starts at $300 a month, billed yearly; BigQuery and Redshift exports start on Business at $600, and Snowflake is Enterprise only. It suits teams that want a modeled marketing data hub without building one in dbt.
Airbyte
Airbyte is an open-source data movement platform with 700+ connectors and log-based CDC. Airbyte Core is free to self-host, and Airbyte Cloud starts at $20 a month. It fits engineering teams that want Fivetran-style ELT with more control over cost and hosting.
Other names come up in these comparisons too. Windsor.ai, Adverity and Improvado appear on most Supermetrics alternatives lists, and Hevo Data and Stitch on the Fivetran side.
Fivetran vs Supermetrics: which one you actually need#
In the Fivetran vs Supermetrics decision, the answer depends less on features than on where your team is today:
- A marketer or small team reporting in Sheets or Data Studio: Supermetrics. You can have a working report the same afternoon, and Starter covers a few platforms.
- A growing marketing team or agency with many accounts: still Supermetrics, on Growth or with add-ons. Check how the account-based pricing scales with your client list.
- A team that wants marketing data in BigQuery but has no data engineers: Supermetrics Enterprise, or one of the alternatives above that load warehouses on lower plans.
- A company with a data team and a warehouse: Fivetran. As a data integration platform, it pays off when marketing data has to join product, finance and Salesforce data in one model.
Some companies run both. Fivetran moves databases and CRM data into the warehouse, and Supermetrics keeps the marketing team's own reports running. If you're weighing Fivetran vs Supermetrics for a single use case, the deciding question is simple: does anyone on your team write SQL every week?