Comparing the list of top ETL Automation Software to provide your enterprise with accurate verification and data transformation acceleration:
ETL, which stands for Extract, Transform and Load, is an integral data warehousing process that allows businesses to aggregate data from multiple sources to be stored in a central repository. The job of an ETL automation tool is to make this job more streamlined and time-efficient than it would’ve normally been.
Such software ensures that they gather only data with high quality and accuracy during the process. It achieves that by validating the source and destination of data being generated. Businesses today rely heavily on ETL automation software to improve data quality while simultaneously reducing their operational and execution costs.
That being said, the market is over-saturated with software that promises the world when it comes to ETL automation. Naturally, this makes the job of finding the right software for your business more difficult than it has any right to be. Fortunately, you have our expertise to rely on.
What You Will Learn:
ETL Automation Software – Review
With the help of this article, we will share with you a list of ETL automation tools that are guaranteed to provide your enterprise with accurate verification and acceleration of data transformation at all key stages of a multi-level integration process.
Market Trends: According to Verified Market Research, the data quality software market that stood at $932.8 million in 2020 is expected to reach a whopping $3673.2 million by 2028 at a CAGR of 18.2%.
Expert Advice:
- As ETL automation requires multiple steps of execution, it is important for ETL software to have a user-friendly interface.
- The user experience should facilitate hassle-free navigation for smooth testing functionality.
- It should integrate seamlessly with other relevant tools.
- It should offer features that justify its price.
- We suggest you compare two to three tools against each other and assess them based on their price, functionality, usability, and features.
- The tool should facilitate effective data validation while complying with business rules.
FAQs About ETL Data Warehouse Tools
Q #1) What is ETL Automation?
Answer: ETL Automation refers to the process of automating, monitoring, and managing critical data processes via an application that specializes in performing this function.
This software can handle data of any complexity, thanks to its transformation and data integration capabilities. It is estimated that such tools can automate at least 80% of the data warehouse’s lifecycle.
Q #2) What is ETL Test Automation?
Answer: ETL Testing is a type of software testing process that aims to verify whether the data that has been moved from source to destination is accurate. The process also involves testing the data at various stages in the middle, as it is loaded from source to destination. This is necessary for businesses to improve their data quality while reducing costs.
Q #3) Which Automation Tool is best for ETL?
Answer: While there are a plethora of automation tools out there that can handle ETL, only a few get the job done in an effective and efficient manner. Based on experience, we can safely claim that the below-listed tools are some of the best ETL automation software you can get your hands on today:
- Redwood RunMyJobs
- Qlik
- Datagaps ETL Validator
- Hevo
- Icedq
Also Read =>> Data Warehouse ETL Automation software list
Q #4) Is ETL Testing Manual or Automated?
Answer: ETL testing is a complex task. It requires a lot of planning and the tester needs to possess intimate knowledge about a particular pipeline like how it was designed and one can write complex test cases on its behalf.
As such, we usually do manually most ETL testing tasks. This has changed in recent years with the introduction of several automation tools that aim to make the testing job easy, cost-effective and quick.
Q #5) What are the five stages of ETL Testing?
Answer: Following are the five stages typically involved in an ETL Testing procedure.
- Identifying the source of data
- Data acquisition
- Implementing business logic
- Populate data
- Create reports.
List of Top ETL Automation Tools
Some remarkable ETL Data Warehouse tools list:
- Redwood RunMyJobs (Our Recommendation)
- ActiveBatch (Our Recommendation)
- Qlik
- Datagaps ETL Validator
- Hevo
- iCEDQ
- QualiDi
Comparing Some of the Best Software for ETL Automation
Name | Best for | Platfroms | Free Trial | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|
Redwood RunMyJob | Quick and Accurate Data Automation | Windows, Web-Based | Free demo Available | Quote based |
ActiveBatch | Real-Time Data Warehousing | Windows, Web-Based, Mac, iOS, Android | Free Demo Available | Quote-Based |
Qlik | Big Data Management and Data Integration | Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, Android, iOS | 30 days | Quote based |
Datagaps ETL Validator | ETL and Data Testing | Windows, Web-Based | 14 days | Quote based |
Hevo | Integration with 150+ connectors | Web-based | 14 days | Free plan available, Starter plan starts at $249/month. A custom business plan is also available. |
iCEDQ | Data Testing and Automation | Windows, Linux, Web. | Free demo available | Quote based |
Detailed review:
#1) Redwood RunMyJobs (Our Recommendation)
Best for quick and accurate data automation.
Redwood offers easy-to-use ETL automation software that works very well across your entire environment. It can easily integrate with ERP, CRM, and other financial tools. This also includes Big Data platforms and databases in order to identify and gather quality data.
Redwood allows you to efficiently build business processes directly into your existing BI, OLAP, and ETL tools. Absolutely no manual effort is required with Redwood taking care of ETL automation.
The platform ensures that it feeds analytical and warehouse tools with as many big data sources as you can manage to acquire accurate data in a timely fashion to drive your business growth.
Features:
- Superior Data Automation.
- Get full visibility into the data pipeline process from a single point.
- Automatic delivery process documentation.
- Define criteria to run the process flow.
- Monitor progress in real-time.
- Automated Exception Management.
Pros:
- Ensures superior data security and availability of data when needed.
- Eliminate failures by leveraging its automated exception management capabilities.
- Balance loads intelligently and dynamically.
- Pull data from any application or database.
Cons:
- Be technically sound to operate this platform.
Verdict: The ability to automate ETL processes through Redwood allows you to pull data quickly and securely from across the entire enterprise. It doesn’t matter what technology platform you’re using. With Redwood RunMyJobs by your side, you can rest assured of rapidly feeding your data warehouse.
Price: Contact for a quote.
Further Reading =>> Redwood RunMyJobs alternatives with comparison
#2) ActiveBatch (Our Recommendation)
Best for real-time Data Warehousing.
ActiveBatch comes pre-integrated with a job library that consists of over a hundred connectors that can help IT teams streamline ETL and data warehousing processes. It comes with a fantastic drag-and-drop workflow designer, which does the job of building end-to-end workflows. These workflows can manage data across a variety of disparate systems.
ActiveBatch’s Service Library also benefits from full API accessibility, thus granting users the ability to load and execute RESTful services, WSDLs, SOAP web services, etc. With this API, ActiveBatch can integrate with and extend the benefits of multiple applications such as Hadoop, Informatica, and other kinds of ETL tools.
Features:
- Drag-and-drop workflow designer
- Advanced ETL Scheduling.
- Standardize Compliance Policies.
- Automate Big Data and Hadoop.
Pros:
- Supports various ETL, BI, and Data Warehouse tool integrations.
- Reduces time spend on data migration and testing.
- Expedite the process of ETL workloads.
- Streamline business rules across the entire organization.
Cons:
- Can be rather complex, so we wouldn’t recommend it to novice users.
Verdict: ActiveBatch is a highly reliable workload automation software offered by Redwood that can streamline the ETL process to benefit IT teams. It is a bit complex to use, but advanced IT professionals can put the tool to good use, i.e. simplifying data warehouses by effectively consolidating multiple data management tools.
Price: Contact for a quote.
#3) Qlik
Best for Big Data Management and Data Integration.
Qlik offers robust ETL automation software via a remarkable data warehouse automation tool. Thanks to its GUI-driven design and ability to quickly create data warehouses, Qlik emerges as one of the most impressive data replication and integration platforms encountered.
The platform supports real-time ETL to feed the cleanest data possible to your data warehouse.
Qlik can pull data from a wide range of platforms, which include major databases, business applications, and mainframes. The platform can help you accelerate ETL offloading to Hadoop environments.
Features:
- In-Memory Stream Processing.
- Real-time data warehousing.
- Accelerated ETL Offloading to Hadoop environment.
- GUI Driven Design.
Pros:
- Pulls data from a broad range of databases, mainframes, and applications.
- Data Warehouse Automation.
- Enable continuous loading of data in real-time.
- Integrate seamlessly with several third-party apps.
Cons:
- The set commands are not simpler.
Verdict: Businesses seeking an ETL automation platform that grants you to pull data from a broad range of sources, including major databases and business applications, will find plenty to admire about Qlik. The platform facilitates the continuous loading of data to your data warehouses and big data platforms.
Price: Contact for a quote.
Website: Qlik
#4) Datagaps ETL Validator
Best for ETL and Data Testing.
As the name suggests, this is quite an impressive ETL validator/testing tool developed by the ever-reliable Datagaps. The software allows you to validate the ETL process while data is being migrated. The software comes in-built with an ETL engine that can extract data from millions of data sources and compare them while simultaneously running test cases.
Perhaps the best part about this tool is the visual test case builder. This unique drag-and-drop builder allows you to quickly build queries that can define tests without manually typing in queries. Aside from this, the software is jam-packed with features that push the limits of what an ETL automation tool can accomplish.
Features:
- ETL Testing Automation
- Visual Test Care Builder
- Data Quality Testing
- Baselining capabilities
- Flat File testing
Pros:
- Allows testing of incremental ETL.
- Helps perform audit changes to metadata.
- Define data rules using a data model-driven interface.
- Compare data across multiple different platforms.
Cons:
- The user interface is quite basic.
Verdict: Despite a basic-looking UI, Datagaps ETL Validators is still one of the best ETL tools you can use to extract data from multiple sources into your data warehouse. It comes packed with features, which also include a unique visual drag-and-drop builder to build queries.
Price: Contact for quote.
Website: Datagaps ETL Validator
#5) Hevo
Best for integration with 150+ Connectors.
Hevo makes it to the list because of its ability to extract data from over 150 data sources. It does so in real-time via a no-code UI. There is absolutely no virtual maintenance required when using this software, thanks to its impressive reliability and automation.
You can load data into your warehouse using this software in real-time. You have full control over the data that lands in the data warehouse with preload transformations. The software also provides you with data for analytics as it arrives at the warehouse via powerful data models and workflows.
Features:
- Connect with over 15O integrations.
- Automated Schema Mapping.
- Preload Transformations.
- Prepare analytics-ready data.
Pros:
- No-code UI, so it’s very easy to operate.
- Pull data in real-time from 150 sources.
- Data-driven action
- Keep data updated with CDC.
Cons:
- Needs more data recovery destinations.
Verdict: With Hevo, you are getting more than just a typical ETL automation software. You have an end-to-end pipeline management system that can easily extract data from more than 150 sources to warehouses, perform transformations on them for analytics, and arm business tools with operational intelligence.
Price: Free plan available. The Starter Plan starts at $249/month. A Custom Business Plan is also available.
Website: Hevo
#6) iCEDQ
Best for Data Testing and Automation.
We recommend iCEDQ because of its approach to quality assurance, data testing, and monitoring. With a powerful in-built in-memory rules execution engine that is highly scalable, you get to validate large datasets to conveniently meet complex and demanding SLAs.
Thanks to its superior automation capabilities, the software is easy to deploy and effective in lowering costs.
Features:
- Data Migration Testing
- Data Warehouse Testing
- BI Report Testing
- ETL Testing
- Production Data Monitoring
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Batch execution is impressive.
- Very simple to toggle between data connections.
- Allows you to ignore rule failures under certain circumstances.
Cons:
- Users have reported getting errors due to sorting orders.
Verdict: iCEDQ does a good job of simplifying your ETL and data warehousing testing landscape. It lays heavy emphasis on automating the entire ETL process from end to end so issues can be analyzed and fixed without any hassle.
Price: Contact for a quote
Website: iCEDQ
#7) QualiDi
Best for centralizing tests of Multiple ETL tools.
With QualiDi, businesses get an end-to-end ETL testing and automation tool that can centralize testing for one or more ETL platforms. The software can automate ETL testing from any operating system to any data warehouse. QualiDi facilitates comparison between manual data sampling and transformed data.
Features:
- Centralized Repository
- Optimized Data Handling.
- Empowering the CI/CD Pipeline.
- Early defect detection.
- Shift left testing.
Pros:
- The software makes it easier to accommodate requests for changes and enhancements.
- Can execute automation tests on heterogeneous data sources.
- It can produce compliant, production-like test data.
- Can generate complex transformations very quickly.
Cons:
- Support leaves a lot to be desired.
Verdict: QualiDi is an ETL automation tool that businesses can use to cut their expenses and boost ROI. The tool can automate every single element of the test cycle, which makes it incredibly effective and efficient.
Price: Contact for a quote.
Website: QualiDi
Conclusion
As mentioned before, ETL is one of the most critical aspects of data warehousing. However, it also tends to be the most time-consuming. Fortunately, many companies today have managed to save money and time by investing in automation tools that streamline this fundamental process. That is precisely what the software recommended above does.
They can help developers, IT teams, and data analysts execute ETL processes in a relatively quick and efficient fashion. These real-time data warehousing solutions expand on the benefits of ETL automation and effectively accelerate high-volume data extraction.
As for our recommendations for hassle-free, feature-rich ETL automation, we would suggest you give Redwood RunMyJobs, ActiveBatch, or Qlik a try.
Research Process:
- We spent 15 hours researching and writing this article so you can have summarized and insightful information on which ETL automation software will best suit you.
- Total ETL Automation Tools Researched: 15
- Total ETL Automation Tools Shortlisted: 7