# Fivetran vs Portable

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/fivetran-vs-portable/

Every value below is read from Fivetran's and Portable's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Fivetran | Portable |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Kind of free offer | Free tier | Free trial |
| When the free offer ends | Each new connection carries its own 14-day free trial, which runs alongside the standing free plan rather than replacing it. | A 14-day trial on both paid plans. It is the only free access — the plan table has no $0 row. |
| Entry paid plan | $5 base charge per standard connection using between 1 and 1 million MAR in a month, charged on top of per-MAR usage. There is no plan fee to clear first, so a single light connection is the floor. | $1,800 a month for Standard, which enables 6 data flows and includes unlimited data volume. |
| Pricing model | Consumption on monthly active rows. Inserts and updates count, deletes included; rows that come back unchanged on a scheduled re-sync do not, and neither does the initial bulk load when a connector is set up. Metered per million MAR. | A fixed monthly fee set by the number of enabled data flows, with unlimited data volume on every plan. Each unique source-destination pair counts as one flow. |
| Connectors published | 700+ fully managed connectors, plus 200+ fully managed activation destinations for the reverse direction. | 1,500+ no-code ETL connectors, the largest published catalogue of the four. |
| Sync frequency | 15-minute syncs on Standard. One-minute syncs arrive on Enterprise, two plans up. | Every 1 hour on Standard. Every 15 minutes, or at a chosen time by cron, from Pro. |
| Role-based access control | Role-based access control is included on Standard. Custom roles are an Enterprise feature. | Role-based access control and multi-factor authentication are described as platform-wide practice, with no plan gating stated. |

## Where they differ

### Free tier

- Fivetran: Yes ([source](https://www.fivetran.com/pricing))
- Portable: No ([source](https://portable.io/pricing))

### Kind of free offer

- Fivetran: Free tier ([source](https://www.fivetran.com/pricing))
- Portable: Free trial ([source](https://portable.io/pricing))

### When the free offer ends

- Fivetran: Each new connection carries its own 14-day free trial, which runs alongside the standing free plan rather than replacing it. ([source](https://www.fivetran.com/pricing))
- Portable: A 14-day trial on both paid plans. It is the only free access — the plan table has no $0 row. ([source](https://portable.io/pricing))

### Entry paid plan

- Fivetran: $5 base charge per standard connection using between 1 and 1 million MAR in a month, charged on top of per-MAR usage. There is no plan fee to clear first, so a single light connection is the floor. ([source](https://www.fivetran.com/pricing))
- Portable: $1,800 a month for Standard, which enables 6 data flows and includes unlimited data volume. ([source](https://portable.io/pricing))

### Pricing model

- Fivetran: Consumption on monthly active rows. Inserts and updates count, deletes included; rows that come back unchanged on a scheduled re-sync do not, and neither does the initial bulk load when a connector is set up. Metered per million MAR. ([source](https://www.fivetran.com/pricing))
- Portable: A fixed monthly fee set by the number of enabled data flows, with unlimited data volume on every plan. Each unique source-destination pair counts as one flow. ([source](https://portable.io/pricing))

### Connectors published

- Fivetran: 700+ fully managed connectors, plus 200+ fully managed activation destinations for the reverse direction. ([source](https://www.fivetran.com/pricing))
- Portable: 1,500+ no-code ETL connectors, the largest published catalogue of the four. ([source](https://portable.io/connectors))

### Sync frequency

- Fivetran: 15-minute syncs on Standard. One-minute syncs arrive on Enterprise, two plans up. ([source](https://www.fivetran.com/pricing))
- Portable: Every 1 hour on Standard. Every 15 minutes, or at a chosen time by cron, from Pro. ([source](https://portable.io/pricing))

### Role-based access control

- Fivetran: Role-based access control is included on Standard. Custom roles are an Enterprise feature. ([source](https://www.fivetran.com/pricing))
- Portable: Role-based access control and multi-factor authentication are described as platform-wide practice, with no plan gating stated. ([source](https://portable.io/security))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Fivetran if Sources whose rows keep changing. A monthly active row is counted once however many times it changed that month, unchanged rows on a re-sync cost nothing, and the initial bulk load is excluded entirely — so a churny table is billed on how many rows moved, not how often. 500,000 MAR free, standing.

Pick Portable if A bill that does not move and a long tail of obscure sources. 1,500+ connectors is the largest catalogue here, data volume is unlimited on every plan, and the only thing that changes the price is enabling another flow — so a nightly full reload of a huge table costs exactly what a small one does.

Consider something else: Fivetran — Many DISTINCT rows change each month. A growing fact table bills every new row, and the meter that forgives churn does not forgive breadth. Freshness is also gated: 15-minute syncs are the Standard ceiling and 1-minute syncs are two plans up on Enterprise.

Consider something else: Portable — You have a handful of pipelines, or want to start without committing. $1,800 a month for six flows is the floor and there is no free tier, only a 14-day trial — one pipeline here costs what a light Fivetran connection costs 360 times over. Standard also syncs hourly; 15 minutes means Pro at $2,800.

## Documented by only one

- What the free plan includes: Fivetran: 500,000 monthly active rows for connections, 3,500 MAR for activations and 5,000 model runs for transformations, on Standard plan features. The allowance renews monthly rather than expiring.
- When you exceed a cap: Portable: There is no volume overage. Data volume is unlimited on both plans, so the bill moves only when another flow is enabled.
- Startup credit program: Fivetran: $50,000 of free Fivetran for Y Combinator companies joining the startup program.
- Regions: Fivetran: Seven processing locations: United States, Canada, European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, India and Singapore. The location is chosen per destination, and every connection in that destination runs there.
- Retention window: Portable: Data is held only as long as the sync needs it. Once it has been loaded to the warehouse it is removed from Portable's system.
- Multi-factor authentication: Portable: Supported
- Support on entry paid plan: Portable: 9-5 priority support on Standard. 24x7 premium support and a joint Slack channel arrive on Pro.
- SOC 2: Fivetran: SOC 1 and SOC 2 auditing procedures cover the security and management of data.
- ISO 27001: Fivetran: ISO 27001. Fivetran states it meets the requirements of the standard.
- HIPAA: Fivetran: HIPAA requirements are met under a business associate agreement signed by Fivetran.
- PCI DSS: Fivetran: PCI DSS Level 1, assessed annually by qualified security assessors against the current requirements.
- Customer-managed keys: Fivetran: Customer-managed keys for encryption arrive on Business Critical, above Enterprise.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Fivetran or Portable?**

Fivetran: $5 base charge per standard connection using between 1 and 1 million MAR in a month, charged on top of per-MAR usage. There is no plan fee to clear first, so a single light connection is the floor.
Portable: $1,800 a month for Standard, which enables 6 data flows and includes unlimited data volume.

**Free tier: Fivetran or Portable?**

Fivetran: Yes
Portable: No

**Should I choose Fivetran or Portable?**

Pick Fivetran if Sources whose rows keep changing. A monthly active row is counted once however many times it changed that month, unchanged rows on a re-sync cost nothing, and the initial bulk load is excluded entirely — so a churny table is billed on how many rows moved, not how often. 500,000 MAR free, standing.
Pick Portable if A bill that does not move and a long tail of obscure sources. 1,500+ connectors is the largest catalogue here, data volume is unlimited on every plan, and the only thing that changes the price is enabling another flow — so a nightly full reload of a huge table costs exactly what a small one does.