Airbyte vs Hevo Data (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Airbyte grades higher than Hevo Data: 2.2 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Airbyte grades higher on value for money and the free plan. Hevo Data grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Airbyte
Data integration with a free self-hosted core and a managed cloud
Hevo Data
Managed data pipelines that load sources into a warehouse
Which one is for you
Pick Airbyte if
- Fits if you can host Core and want no per-row fees
- Works for small teams that start on a $20 cloud plan
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you can't run and maintain a self-hosted install
- Tight if you need syncs faster than hourly on Standard
- Pricey if you want 15-minute syncs or SSO, which need Plus at $189
- Watch out: Core is under the Elastic License 2.0, with community support only
Pick Hevo Data if
- Fits if you want hosted pipelines with no servers of your own
- Makes sense if your event counts are predictable
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you're small, at $265 a month for Starter
- Watch out: every insert, update or delete counts as one event, and overage is charged
- Tight if you need syncs faster than hourly on Starter
- Skip it if you need self-hosting, because it's hosted only
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAAirbyteFair | 2.0GPAHevo DataFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CCore is free but you host it. Cloud Standard is $20 a month with 5 credits included, then Plus is $189. | DStarter is $265 a month on annual billing ($299 monthly) for 5 million events. That's well above the category's dearest tenth start of $165. |
| Free plan and trial | BCore is free to self-host, and the cloud has a 14-day trial with 400 credits and no card. | C14-day trial with no card. No free plan. |
| Features | CConnectors and syncs. Standard is hourly at most; 15-minute syncs and SSO need Plus, and enterprise connectors are an add-on. | CPipelines to warehouses with scheduling limited to hourly on Starter. Streaming pipelines, SSO and RBAC are Enterprise. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. Running Core means installing and maintaining it yourself. | CNo store rating on record. You connect sources and destinations, so accounts to set up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb console with connections to Airflow, Dagster, Prefect and Terraform. No desktop or phone apps. | BWeb only, with Snowflake, Google Cloud and dbt connections. There's no self-hosted edition. |
| Best for | moving data into a warehouse, self-hosted or cloud | hosted data pipelines priced by events |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Airbyte and Hevo Data. How we grade
Price against what you get
Airbyte starts at $20 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Hevo Data starts at $265 a month and scores 2.3.
Hevo Data scores higher, and starts $245 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other automation tools on the chart, 27 score higher than Airbyte for less, and 19 score higher than Hevo Data for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Airbyte is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
At a glance
| Airbyte | Hevo Data | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $20 per month (Standard, 5 credits included) | $265 per month for 5M events, billed annually ($299 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Airbyte Core is free to self-host under the Elastic License 2.0; you run and maintain it yourself. | None |
| Free trial | 14-day Cloud trial with 400 credits, no credit card required | 14-day free trial, no credit card required. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Airbyte | Hevo Data |
| Price read from | airbyte.com | hevodata.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Airbyte
- Standard syncs at most hourly; 15-minute syncs and SSO need Plus at $189 a month or more.
- Enterprise connectors are an add-on on Standard and Plus, and AWS PrivateLink is an add-on on those plans.
- Core is licensed under the Elastic License 2.0 and you maintain it yourself, with community support only.
- Pro and Enterprise Flex prices are not published and need a quote.
Hevo Data
- Billing counts every insert, update or delete in the destination as one event, and events beyond the plan are charged on-demand.
- Starter has no add-ons, and its scheduling is limited to hourly syncs.
- Unlimited data volume, streaming pipelines, SSO and role-based access control need the custom-priced Enterprise plan.
- Hevo is a hosted service only; the pages describe no self-hosted edition.
Key features
Airbyte
- 700+ connectors
- Connectors cover sources and destinations, with CDC, schema propagation and column selection, and a Connector Builder for custom ones.
- Self-hosted or managed
- Airbyte Core runs on your own infrastructure for free; the cloud plans include hosting, upgrades and support.
- Credit-based usage pricing
- Standard and Plus bill by volume: 400 credits in the trial is about 100 GB of syncs, and 5 credits is about 1 GB.
- Capacity pricing
- Pro and Enterprise Flex price on Data Workers, dedicated compute units, so cost stays flat when data volume spikes.
- Orchestrator and developer access
- An Airbyte API, Terraform provider, PyAirbyte and integrations with Airflow, Dagster and Prefect are listed on the plan comparison.
Hevo Data
- Pre-built connectors
- Hevo lists 190+ connectors for databases, SaaS applications and file storage, and offers to build a missing one.
- Database replication with CDC
- Databases can be synced in near real time using change data capture, as the vendor describes it, without querying the production tables.
- Transformations
- dbt, SQL and Hevo Transformer jobs can run alongside the pipelines. dbt integration is part of the Starter plan.
- Alerts and logs
- The platform shows pipeline activity through logs and sends alerts, and it handles schema drift and failed records automatically.
- Pipeline APIs
- Hevo APIs for pipeline automation are included from the Professional plan upward.
Plans
Airbyte
Core$0
Self-hosted edition you run and maintain yourself, under the Elastic License 2.0.
Standard$20
per month, 5 credits included
Managed cloud with syncs as often as hourly; 5 credits is about 1 GB of syncs. Pay for the data you sync.
Plus$189
per month for 40 credits
Adds SSO, 15-minute syncs, a 24-hour support SLA and 2 workspaces; packages run to 2,000 credits at $4,999 a month.
ProCustom
Flat annual capacity pricing on Data Workers, 5-minute syncs, RBAC, premium support and a dedicated Solutions Architect.
Enterprise FlexCustom
Everything in Pro with hybrid deployment in your own VPC, on-prem or multi-region.
Hevo Data
Starter$265
per month for 5M events, billed annually ($299 billed monthly)
Hourly scheduling, up to 10 users, dbt integration. $440 a month at 20M events and $835 at 50M, billed annually.
Professional$750
per month for 20M events, billed annually ($849 billed monthly)
Unlimited users, Hevo APIs, reverse SSH and add-ons. $1,320 a month at 50M events and $1,935 at 100M, billed annually.
EnterpriseCustom
One fixed price for unlimited data volume per pipeline, streaming pipelines, SSO, role-based access control and VPC peering.
Ways to pay less
Airbyte
No public discounts listed.
Hevo Data
- Annual discount
12% off with annual billing
The pricing page shows Starter at $265 a month billed annually against $299 billed monthly, and the page labels annual payment as 12% off.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Airbyte or Hevo Data?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Airbyte is cheaper to start with: $20 a month, against $265 a month for Hevo Data. Airbyte starts at $20 per month (Standard, 5 credits included), and Hevo Data starts at $265 per month for 5M events, billed annually ($299 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Airbyte or Hevo Data?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Airbyte has a free plan. Hevo Data does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.