Great Expectations (GX Core) vs Datagaps ETL Validator
Verdict: Great Expectations (GX Core) scores 8.8/10 against 8.6/10 for Datagaps ETL Validator on our data score for file testing tools.
Great Expectations (GX Core) has a free plan; Datagaps ETL Validator does not.
Great Expectations (GX Core) leads on 2 checks and Datagaps ETL Validator on 1; 4 are even, out of 7 checks (yes/no, price and seats) where we have data for both.
Choose Great Expectations (GX Core) for python data engineers who want code-defined data tests in pipelines at no license cost. Choose Datagaps ETL Validator for teams validating data warehouse loads and large data migrations.
Scoreboard: 7 checks
| Check | Great Expectations (GX Core) | Datagaps ETL Validator |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Leads | |
| Free trial | Leads | |
| Smaller seat minimum | Leads | |
| CSV, JSON and XML files | Even | Even |
| Excel files | Even | Even |
| Parquet or Avro files | Even | Even |
| Schema / format validation | Even | Even |
| Total | 2 | 1 |
At a glance
| Great Expectations (GX Core) | Datagaps ETL Validator | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 8.8/10 (#2) | 8.6/10 (#4) |
| Best for | Python data engineers who want code-defined data tests in pipelines at no license cost | Teams validating data warehouse loads and large data migrations |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Paid from (annual) | See vendor | See vendor |
| Paid from (monthly) | — | — |
| Free trial | — | 14-day free trial, extendable by 14 days on request; no credit card required |
| Minimum seats | 1 | 4 |
| Platforms | Self-hosted (Python library), Python library (self-hosted), Cloud (SaaS) |
Features
| Tool | Score | CSV, JSON and XML files | Excel files | Parquet or Avro files | File-to-database comparison | Schema / format validation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Expectations (GX Core) | 8.8/10 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Datagaps ETL Validator | 8.6/10 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Only Datagaps ETL Validator confirms: File-to-database comparison.
Pros and cons
Great Expectations (GX Core)
Pros- Free and open source (Apache-2.0), about 11.9k GitHub stars
- Large library of built-in Expectations, extensible with custom ones
- Checkpoint actions can notify Slack, Microsoft Teams, email, PagerDuty, Opsgenie or an API endpoint
- Actively released: version 1.25.0 published on PyPI on 2026-11-12
- GX Cloud (the hosted UI) is no longer publicly available, so there is no vendor-hosted option
- Code-first; requires Python skills to set up and maintain
- No built-in ML anomaly detection or data cleansing stated
- Long-term roadmap under Fivetran stewardship not yet detailed
Datagaps ETL Validator
Pros- Validates 100% of rows rather than samples, with row-level detail on mismatches
- Drag-and-drop visual test builder and AI test generation from source-to-target mapping documents
- Flat file testing with a file watcher that triggers tests when new files arrive
- 14-day free trial, extendable by another 14 days on request; SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified
- No public prices; annual subscription with a minimum of 4 users
- Minimum contract term is one year
- BigQuery is not named on the product page (Snowflake and Databricks are)
Frequently asked questions
How do Great Expectations (GX Core) and Datagaps ETL Validator compare on features and price?
Great Expectations (GX Core) leads on 2 checks and Datagaps ETL Validator on 1; 4 are even, out of 7 checks (yes/no, price and seats) where we have data for both.
Is Great Expectations (GX Core) better than Datagaps ETL Validator?
Great Expectations (GX Core) scores 8.8/10 against 8.6/10 for Datagaps ETL Validator on our data score for file testing tools. Great Expectations (GX Core) is best for python data engineers who want code-defined data tests in pipelines at no license cost; Datagaps ETL Validator is best for teams validating data warehouse loads and large data migrations.
Which is cheaper, Great Expectations (GX Core) or Datagaps ETL Validator?
Check each vendor's pricing page; one of them does not publish an entry price.
Do Great Expectations (GX Core) and Datagaps ETL Validator have free plans?
Great Expectations (GX Core): yes. Datagaps ETL Validator: no.
See the full File Testing Tools ranking for other options.
Sources
- Great Expectations (GX Core): official pricing page · GX Core GitHub repository (fivetran/great_expectations) · Great Expectations blog: An update from Great Expectations · Fivetran press release on GX Core stewardship · GX Core checkpoint actions source · PyPI great-expectations · GX Cloud pricing page · GX docs: Connect to filesystem data · GX API reference: PandasFilesystemDatasource · GX docs: Schema data quality use case · great_expectations GitHub repository
- Datagaps ETL Validator: official pricing page · Datagaps ETL Validator page · Datagaps pricing page · Datagaps data reconciliation page · Datagaps about us · Datagaps contact page