CloverDX vs. dbt

CloverDX designer as a standalone is well suited for fairly straightforward transformations of data. If you want to do large scale data integrations, then their server edition adds an extra level of automation and job control.

Incentivized

The prerequisite is that you have a supported database/data warehouse and have already found a way to ingest your raw data. Then dbt is very well suited to manage your transformation logic if the people using it are familiar with SQL. If you want to benefit from bringing engineering practices to data, dbt is a great fit. It can bring CI/CD practices, version control, automated testing, documentation generation, etc. It is not so well suited if the people managing the transformation logic do not like to code (in SQL) but prefer graphical user interfaces.

Incentivized

• Connects with Salesforce very well
• The graphical view of the transformations allows for easy creations and maintenance
• Support has always been eager to assist with any graph creation difficulties I run into

Incentivized

• dbt supports version control through GIT, this allows teams to collaborate and track the data transformation logic.
• dbt allows us to build data models which helps to break complex transformation logic into simple and smaller logic.
• dbt is completely based on SQL which allows data analyst and data engineers to build the transformation logic.
• dbt can be easily integrated with snowflake.

Incentivized

• The initial learning curve is a little steep. Not very steep or super steep, just a little steep.
• Having enough memory for large multi-step problems can be an issue if the graph isn't designed well.

Incentivized

• Field-level lineage (currently at table level)
• Documentation inheritance - if a field is documented the downstream field of the same name could inherit the doc info
• Adding python model support (in beta now)

Incentivized

dbt is very easy to use. Basically if you can write SQL, you will be able to use dbt to get what you need done. Of course more advanced users with more technical skills can do more things.

Incentivized

While CloverDX has an active forum for users to submit questions and assist with answers, their in house support team is incredibly responsive when I've contacted them for assistance. This seems almost at odds with most other software companies who try to save money on tech support by promoting a forum or knowledge base.

Incentivized

CloverDX was a less expensive alternative to Talend and had a more intuitive interface from what I could see during the evaluation.

Incentivized

I actually don't know what the alternative to dbt is. I'm sure one must exist other than more 'roll your own' options like Apache Airflow, say, bu tin terms of super easy managed/cloud data transforms, dbt really does seem to be THE tool to use. It's $50/month per dev, BUT there's a FREE version for 1 dev seat with no read-only access for anyone else, so you can always start with that and then buy yourself a seat later.

Incentivized

• Work that use to take multiple people 20 to 30 hours a week to complete each has now been fully automated to where only 1 or 2 hours a week for maintenance is required.

Incentivized

• Simplified our BI layer for faster load times
• Increased the quality of data reaching our end users
• Makes complex transformations manageable

Incentivized