dbt vs. IBM DataStage

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
dbt
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
dbt is an SQL development environment, developed by Fishtown Analytics, now known as dbt Labs. The vendor states that with dbt, analysts take ownership of the entire analytics engineering workflow, from writing data transformation code to deployment and documentation. dbt Core is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license, and paid Teams and Enterprise editions are available.
$0
per month per seat
IBM DataStage
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
IBM® DataStage® is a data integration tool that helps users to design, develop and run jobs that move and transform data. At its core, the DataStage tool supports extract, transform and load (ETL) and extract, load and transform (ELT) patterns. A basic version of the software is available for on-premises deployment, and the cloud-based DataStage for IBM Cloud Pak® for Data offers automated integration capabilities in a hybrid or multicloud environment.N/A
Pricing
dbtIBM DataStage
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
dbtIBM DataStage
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Features
dbtIBM DataStage
Data Transformations
Comparison of Data Transformations features of Product A and Product B
dbt
9.7
5 Ratings
15% above category average
IBM DataStage
9.5
9 Ratings
13% above category average
Simple transformations9.55 Ratings9.89 Ratings
Complex transformations9.95 Ratings9.39 Ratings
Data Modeling
Comparison of Data Modeling features of Product A and Product B
dbt
9.0
5 Ratings
10% above category average
IBM DataStage
9.0
9 Ratings
10% above category average
Data model creation9.15 Ratings9.46 Ratings
Metadata management8.65 Ratings8.78 Ratings
Business rules and workflow8.05 Ratings8.18 Ratings
Collaboration9.83 Ratings9.09 Ratings
Testing and debugging9.55 Ratings9.59 Ratings
Data Source Connection
Comparison of Data Source Connection features of Product A and Product B
dbt
-
Ratings
IBM DataStage
9.1
9 Ratings
10% above category average
Connect to traditional data sources00 Ratings9.59 Ratings
Connecto to Big Data and NoSQL00 Ratings8.88 Ratings
Data Governance
Comparison of Data Governance features of Product A and Product B
dbt
-
Ratings
IBM DataStage
8.9
8 Ratings
8% above category average
Integration with data quality tools00 Ratings8.88 Ratings
Integration with MDM tools00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Best Alternatives
dbtIBM DataStage
Small Businesses
Skyvia
Skyvia
Score 9.6 out of 10
Skyvia
Skyvia
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
Score 8.1 out of 10
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
Score 8.1 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
Score 8.1 out of 10
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
Score 8.1 out of 10
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User Ratings
dbtIBM DataStage
Likelihood to Recommend
9.6
(7 ratings)
8.8
(9 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.6
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
dbtIBM DataStage
Likelihood to Recommend
dbt Labs
If you can load your data first into your warehouse, dbt is excellent. It does the T(ransformation) part of ELT brilliantly but does not do the E(xtract) or L(oad) part. If you know SQL or your development team knows SQL, it's a framework and extension around that. So, it's easy to learn and easy to hire people with that technical skill (as opposed to specific Informatica, SnapLogic, etc. experience). dbt uses plain text files and integrates with GitHub. You can easily see the changes made between versions. In GUI-based UIs it was always hard to tell what someone had changed. Each "model" is essentially a "SELECT" statement. You never need to do a "CREATE TABLE" or "CREATE VIEW" - it's all done for you, leaving you to work on the business logic. Instead of saying "FROM specific_db.schema.table" you indicate "FROM ref('my_other_model')". It creates an internal dependency diagram you can view in a DAG. When you deploy, the dependencies work like magic in your various environments. They also have great documentation, an active slack community, training, and support. I like the enhancements they have been making and I believe they are headed in a good direction.
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IBM
Excellent Cloud data mapping tool and easy creating multiple project data analytics in real-time and the report distribution are excellent via this IBM product. Easy tool to provide data visualization and the integration is effective and helpful to migrating huge amounts of data across other platforms and different websites insights gathering.
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Pros
dbt Labs
  • user experience makes it easy to work with SQL and version control
  • customer success team and the dbt (data build tool) community help establish best practices
  • thorough and clear documentation
Read full review
IBM
  • Data movement
  • Seamless integration of scripts and etl jobs
  • Descriptive logging
  • Ability to work with myriad of data assets
  • Direct integration for Governance catalog
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Cons
dbt Labs
  • Slow load times of the dbt cloud environment (they're working on it via a new UI though)
  • More out-of-the-box solutions for managing procedures, functions, etc would be nice to have, but honestly, it's pretty easy to figure out how to adapt dbt macros
Read full review
IBM
  • Connector Stages to Snowflake on the cloud. We had some issues initially but since then had been corrected.
  • Accessing tool from a browser (zero foot-print). Currently we need to either install locally or connect to a server to do ETL work.
  • Diversify ways of authenticating users.
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Usability
dbt Labs
No answers on this topic
IBM
Because it is robust, and it is being continuously improved. DS is one of the most used and recognized tools in the market. Large companies have implemented it in the first instance to develop their DW, but finding the advantages it has, they could use it for other types of projects such as migrations, application feeding, etc.
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Performance
dbt Labs
No answers on this topic
IBM
It could load thousands of records in seconds. But in the Parallel version, you need to understand how to particionate the data. If you use the algorithms erroneously, or the functionalities that it gives for the parsing of data, the performance can fall drastically, even with few records. It is necessary to have people with experience to be able to determine which algorithm to use and understand why.
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Support Rating
dbt Labs
No answers on this topic
IBM
I believe that IBM generally has one of the worst and most complex assistance systems (physical and online) that exists.
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Alternatives Considered
dbt Labs
Most ETL pipeline products have a T layer, but dbt just does it better. The transformation is on steroids compared to the others. Also, just allows much more Adhoc solutions for very specific projects. Those ETL tools are probably better on the T part if you don't need too many transforms - also dbt is pretty much free dependent on how you work it, also extremely scalable.
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IBM
It's obvious since they both are from the same vendors and it makes it easier and can get better rates for licensing. Also, sales rapes are very helpful in case of escalations and critical issues.
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Return on Investment
dbt Labs
  • Simplified our BI layer for faster load times
  • Increased the quality of data reaching our end users
  • Makes complex transformations manageable
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IBM
  • Reduce development time by 65% compared with hand coding.
  • Reduces ETL process maintenance times.
  • Better data governance for technical and non-technical people.
  • Improve time to market for initiatives that require data integration.
Read full review
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