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Great Expectations (GX Core) vs QuerySurge

Checked Nov 15, 2026How we score

Verdict: Great Expectations (GX Core) scores 8.8/10 against 8.8/10 for QuerySurge on our data score for file testing tools.

Great Expectations (GX Core) has a free plan; QuerySurge does not.

Great Expectations (GX Core) leads on 2 checks and QuerySurge on 1; 3 are even, out of 6 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 QuerySurge for enterprise QA and data teams testing data warehouses, migrations and BI reports.

Scoreboard: 6 checks

CheckGreat Expectations (GX Core)QuerySurge
Free planLeads
Free trialLeads
Smaller seat minimumLeads
CSV, JSON and XML filesEvenEven
Excel filesEvenEven
Parquet or Avro filesEvenEven
Total21

At a glance

Great Expectations (GX Core)QuerySurge
Score8.8/10 (#2)8.8/10 (#3)
Best forPython data engineers who want code-defined data tests in pipelines at no license costEnterprise QA and data teams testing data warehouses, migrations and BI reports
Free planYesNo
Paid from (annual)See vendor$500.50/user/mo
Paid from (monthly)——
Free trial—1-day hosted cloud trial (1 user), 15-day download trial (2 users), 45-day proof of concept
Minimum seats12
PlatformsSelf-hosted (Python library), Python library (self-hosted), Cloud (SaaS)On-premises, Private cloud (Azure, AWS, GCP and others), Azure and AWS marketplace (pay-as-you-go), Private cloud, Azure (pay-as-you-go), AWS (pay-as-you-go), Public cloud, AWS and Azure pay-as-you-go

Features

ToolScoreCSV, JSON and XML filesExcel filesParquet or Avro filesFile-to-database comparisonSchema / format validation
Great Expectations (GX Core)8.8/10YesYesYesNot confirmedYes
QuerySurge8.8/10YesYesYesYesNot confirmed

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
Cons
  • 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
Great Expectations (GX Core) pricing →

QuerySurge

Pros
  • List prices are published on the vendor's site, including per-user and 5/10/25-user package prices
  • Connects to 200+ data stores, including Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, Excel, Parquet, JSON and XML files
  • BI Tester validates Power BI, Tableau, IBM Cognos, Strategy, Oracle BI and SAP BusinessObjects reports against source data
  • Several trial options: 1-day hosted cloud trial, 15-day download trial and 45-day proof of concept
Cons
  • Subscription per-user pricing starts at $6,006 per full user per year with a 2-user minimum
  • BI Tester, Full API and Query Import/Export are paid add-ons on the smaller packages
  • Customer-installed software (on-premises, private cloud, or pay-as-you-go Azure/AWS marketplace image) rather than a vendor-run SaaS
QuerySurge pricing →

Frequently asked questions

How do Great Expectations (GX Core) and QuerySurge compare on features and price?

Great Expectations (GX Core) leads on 2 checks and QuerySurge on 1; 3 are even, out of 6 checks (yes/no, price and seats) where we have data for both.

Is Great Expectations (GX Core) better than QuerySurge?

Great Expectations (GX Core) scores 8.8/10 against 8.8/10 for QuerySurge 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; QuerySurge is best for enterprise QA and data teams testing data warehouses, migrations and BI reports.

Which is cheaper, Great Expectations (GX Core) or QuerySurge?

Check each vendor's pricing page; one of them does not publish an entry price.

Do Great Expectations (GX Core) and QuerySurge have free plans?

Great Expectations (GX Core): yes. QuerySurge: no.

See the full File Testing Tools ranking for other options.

Sources