Business intelligence (BI) platforms analyze and present all your data in a visually friendly way on reports, graphs, charts, and dashboards, making it easier to view insights about your operations. But how do you get data into these platforms in the first place? The easiest way is by using BI ETL tools that extract data from its source, transform that data into the correct format, and load it into a central repository like a data warehouse — a process known as Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL). From here, you can push data into the BI tools of your choice, whether that's Looker, Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, Dundas, Qlik Sense, or something else.
Three key takeaways about BI ETL tools are:
- BI ETL tools extract, transform, and load data into a secondary location, allowing you to view that data in BI platforms.
- ETL typically involves building complex data pipelines that move data between locations. However, BI ETL tools reduce or eliminate code, making it simple to load data into a warehouse and then push it into BI platforms.
- There are various BI ETL tools on the market, including the ones listed below. This guide outlines the best tools out there based on features, capabilities, and user reviews.
What’s the Difference Between ETL Tools and BI Tools?
ETL tools extract, transform, and load data to a central repository so business intelligence tools can ingest that data. BI tools analyze and present data on dashboards, reports, and other interactive visualizations, making it easier to generate real-time insights about your organization and make business decisions from the latest data models.
What Are the Benefits of Using BI ETL Tools?
BI ETL tools automate many tasks associated with the ETL process, such as creating big data pipelines and writing complicated code. Many tools pull data from popular data sources via pre-built connectors, eliminating the need to write any code at all.
What Are the Best BI ETL Tools for Business Intelligence?
Having the right BI ETL tools in place can make the process of extracting, transforming, and loading data to a central repository much simpler and more efficient. By utilizing the latest technologies, businesses can quickly access large datasets and generate insights that are up-to-date and actionable. With a wealth of options available on the market today, finding the best BI ETL tools for your organization’s needs can be daunting. Here, we will explore 4 popular BI ETL Tools for your business intelligence efforts.
Complete with customer ratings, pricing, and key features, the best BI ETL tools for business intelligence include:
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1. Integrate.io
Price: From $15,000/year. Integrate.io offers a 14-day free trial so you can try the platform out for yourself. You can also schedule an ETL trial set-up meeting and an Integrate.io specialist will walk you through getting the most from your trial.
Tool type: Cloud-based
Customer rating: 4.3/5 (G2)
Key features:
- More than 200+ pre-built data connectors for systems and applications
- Field-level encryption security
- World-class customer support
- Easy to scale
- Drag-and-drop interface
- REST API code automation
- Capable of ETL and reverse ETL, ELT, data observability, and change data capture/data replication
Integrate.io is an end-to-end, user-friendly, no-code data pipeline platform that simplifies BI ETL. With more than 200 pre-built connectors, you can move business data from multiple sources to a central destination and then onto a business intelligence platform for analytical processing. These data sources include relational databases, SQL databases, non-SQL databases, customer relationship management (CRM) systems like Salesforce, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, apps, and SaaS tools.
One of the biggest advantages of Integrate.io is its ease of use for business users. Its drag-and-drop interface makes moving raw data to a data warehouse or lake less of a chore, proving this platform is a good choice for non-technical users. You also don’t have to worry about data governance when moving data between locations as Integrate.io complies with GDPR, CCPA, and other data privacy and data security frameworks.
When it comes to security, Integrate.io’s field-level encryption protects your data during the BI ETL process, providing peace of mind. You can encrypt and decrypt data fields with your own encryption key. Plus, you can scale your data integration workflows by adding new sources and destinations as required, helping you get more value from analytics tools.
Other features include excellent customer support and several ways to customize the platform, including rich expression language, X-console, and webhooks. Integrate.io also provides advanced monitoring, allowing you to troubleshoot issues when integrating data to a central repository and then business intelligence software for data-driven visual analytics. You’ll receive custom alerts when a problem occurs and can check monitoring logs to further explore these bottlenecks.
To recap, Integrate.io is the No.1 BI ETL tool for business intelligence because of its ease of use, incredible range of connectors, advanced security, scalability, and excellent customer reviews. The platform currently has an average user score of 4.3/5 on G2 and was named one of the Top 50 IT Infrastructure Products at G2’s Best Software Awards in 2023.
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2. Stitch Data
Price: From $100/month, but for access to BI ETL tools, you'll need to purchase a more expensive plan, which starts at $1,250/month
Tool type: Open-source, cloud-based
Customer rating: 4.5/5
Features:
- Real-time alerts
- Advanced monitoring
- Troubleshooting guides
If you're looking for an open-source BI ETL tool, Stitch, now part of Talend, can help you move data from sources to a data warehouse for analytics in a business intelligence platform. However, you'll need to upgrade to one of Stitch's paid plans to automate more complicated data pipelines and load large amounts of data into a warehouse.
It's worth noting, though, that even the paid-for plans don't carry out data transformations in the same way as Integrate.io. Instead, the platform reverses the 'transform' and 'load' stages of ETL, meaning transformations take place inside a warehouse. This can pose problems when adhering to data governance frameworks as you'll be moving sensitive customer data to an external location without ensuring it's compliant.
Stitch also has far fewer data connectors than Integrate.io, which might limit how you move data to a warehouse for analytics, especially if you lack data engineering skills. Without support for many popular apps and systems, you'll need to code data pipelines yourself or find another platform that offers the connections you require.
That said, Stitch provides some nifty features, including alerts that notify you about problems with your data integration projects. You can also troubleshoot any issues with helpful guides and community resources. Stitch reviews are also positive, particularly for its open-source version, with the platform boasting an average user review score of 4.5/5 on G2.
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3. Informatica Power Center
Price: From $2,000/month
Tool type: Cloud-based
Customer rating: 4.4/5
Features:
- Automated alerts
- Numerous data connectors
- Easy-to-use interface
- Data governance adherence
Informatica Power Center is an ETL tool that lets you move data from various locations to a data warehouse for BI reporting. Once you’ve loaded data into a supported warehouse, you can push it through BI solutions and start analyzing data and forecasting business outcomes with the latest reporting tools. The first thing end users might notice about this platform is its simple user interface. It’s easy to create automated pipelines between data locations with Informatica’s numerous connectors.
With an average customer rating of 4.4/5 on G2, users enjoy many of Informatica Power Center’s features. These include automated data validation testing, advanced data transformation (via ETL), and the ability to scale the platform depending on business requirements. Informatica Power Center also adheres to data governance frameworks and provides automated alerts when data integration projects experience difficulties.
Despite its many benefits, Informatica Power Center is one of the costliest BI ETL tools on the market, with prices starting from $2,000 per month — that’s considerably more expensive than Integrate.io, which offers all the same features. Also, some users on G2 complain about the platform performing slow integrations.
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4. Oracle Data Integrator
Price: Oracle Data Integrator has a complicated pricing structure based on the number of users and features required. You can get a quote for Oracle pricing on the company’s website.
Tool type: Cloud-based and on-premises
Customer rating: 4/5
Features:
- Ability to schedule data integrations
- SQL Developer feature for debugging and writing SQL queries
- Available for both cloud and on-premises
Oracle Data Integrator allows you to perform data integrations via the cloud or on-premises, making it different from other BI ETL tools on this list. Whichever method you choose, you can move data from disparate sources to a data warehouse and then onto a BI platform with metrics, KPIs, data analytics, business analytics, and interactive dashboards for improved decision-making.
Other features include the opportunity to schedule data integrations and write and debug SQL queries with the platform’s SQL Developer tool. Like Integrate.io, the platform is capable of performing ETL and CDC workloads, but it doesn’t support Reverse ETL.
Despite these advantages, Oracle Data Integrator has the lowest user score of any platform on this list, with reviewers pointing out the tool’s steep learning curve and difficult setup process.
Best BI ETL Tools: How Integrate.io Can Help
Integrate.io is your top choice for extracting, transforming, and loading data sets into a central repository and then pushing that data to BI software for data analysis. Its drag-and-drop functionality, advanced security, scalability, and vast number of data connectors make it a good choice for users of any skill level. Your business will also benefit from data governance compliance, world-class customer service, and the ability to create and automate secure REST APIs and further improve data management.
Ready to start your data journey? Try Integrate.io yourself when you sign up for our 14-day free trial. Get help with setup and learn how to make the most of your trial by signing up for an ETL trial set-up meeting.