dbt vs Datafold
Verdict: dbt scores 8.9/10 against 8.3/10 for Datafold on our data score for ETL testing tools.
dbt has a free plan; Datafold does not.
dbt leads on 2 checks and Datafold on 0; 4 are even, out of 6 checks (yes/no, price and seats) where we have data for both.
Choose dbt for analytics engineers testing transformations inside the warehouse. Choose Datafold for analytics engineering teams using dbt and teams validating warehouse migrations.
Scoreboard: 6 checks
| Check | dbt | Datafold |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Leads | |
| Free trial | Leads | |
| Smaller seat minimum | Even | Even |
| CI/CD integration | Even | Even |
| Scheduled test runs | Even | Even |
| Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery support | Even | Even |
| Total | 2 | 0 |
At a glance
| dbt | Datafold | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 8.9/10 (#2) | 8.3/10 (#4) |
| Best for | Analytics engineers testing transformations inside the warehouse | Analytics engineering teams using dbt and teams validating warehouse migrations |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Paid from (annual) | See vendor | See vendor |
| Paid from (monthly) | $100/user/mo | — |
| Free trial | Starter plan free trial (length not stated) | — |
| Minimum seats | 1 | 1 |
| Platforms | Cloud (SaaS), Self-hosted (open-source runtime) | Cloud (SaaS, multi-tenant), Dedicated single-tenant cloud, Customer-hosted in AWS, GCP or Azure (operated by Datafold) |
Features
| Tool | Score | No-code test creation | Source-to-target comparison | CI/CD integration | Scheduled test runs | Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dbt | 8.9/10 | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Datafold | 8.3/10 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Only Datafold confirms: No-code test creation, Source-to-target comparison.
Pros and cons
dbt
Pros- Free Developer plan (1 seat) and an Apache 2.0 open-source runtime
- Four generic data tests built in; any SQL query that returns failing rows can become a test
- Job scheduling and CI checks on GitHub and GitLab included from the free plan
- Adapters for Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery among others
- Tests run inside one warehouse; comparing a separate source system with a target is not built in
- Tests are written in SQL and YAML rather than built in a no-code interface
- Starter costs $100 per user per month and is limited to 1 project; SSO needs Enterprise
Datafold
Pros- Value-level, row-and-column diffs across databases, including Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, Redshift, Oracle, SQL Server and Teradata
- File diffing for CSV/TSV, Excel and Parquet files in S3, ADLS or GCS, including file-to-table comparisons
- CI integration runs diffs on each pull request with dbt, Airflow or any git repository
- SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR compliance; SSO via SAML, Okta and Google
- No public pricing; the pricing URL redirects to a contact form and multi-tenant sign-up is by invitation
- In the current version, data diff monitors do not send notifications yet (Slack, Teams and PagerDuty alerts are documented for Datafold Classic)
- File diffing does not list JSON or XML files
Frequently asked questions
How do dbt and Datafold compare on features and price?
dbt leads on 2 checks and Datafold on 0; 4 are even, out of 6 checks (yes/no, price and seats) where we have data for both.
Is dbt better than Datafold?
dbt scores 8.9/10 against 8.3/10 for Datafold on our data score for ETL testing tools. dbt is best for analytics engineers testing transformations inside the warehouse; Datafold is best for analytics engineering teams using dbt and teams validating warehouse migrations.
Which is cheaper, dbt or Datafold?
Check each vendor's pricing page; one of them does not publish an entry price.
Do dbt and Datafold have free plans?
dbt: yes. Datafold: no.
See the full ETL Testing Tools ranking for other options.
Sources
- dbt: official pricing page · dbt pricing page · dbt docs: data tests · dbt docs: unit tests · dbt docs: trusted adapters · dbt docs: installation overview
- Datafold: official pricing page · Datafold Data Diff page · Datafold CI/CD testing page · Datafold docs: data connections · Datafold docs: file diffing · Datafold docs: data diff monitors · Datafold docs: deployment options