Comparison
Dagster orchestrates pipelines with a strong asset model, but it does not move data — you still supply every connector. Etlworks includes orchestration alongside 260+ connectors, CDC, and transformations.
The verdict
Feature breakdown
| Capability | Etlworks | Dagster |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & commercial | ||
| Starting price (monthly) | $300 | Free (OSS) / Dagster+ Solo $10 plus $0.040 per credit |
| Pricing model | Fixed per tier | Open source, or base fee plus credits |
| Cost transparency | High — flat rate | Medium — credits billed from zero since May 2026 |
| Vendor lock-in | Monthly or annual, no contract | OSS core; Dagster+ monthly or annual |
| Integration scope | ||
| Sources | 260+ | none built in — you write or import them |
| Destinations | Warehouses, databases, SaaS, NoSQL, files, APIs, queues, IoT, email | Whatever you code |
| ETL capabilities | ETL, ELT, Reverse ETL, wildcard processing | Partial — orchestration, transformation is your code |
| API management | Full | |
| EDI processing | X12, EDIFACT, HL7, FHIR | |
| On-prem deployment | self-host OSS or Dagster+ Hybrid | |
| Embeddable | ||
| Transformations | ||
| Visual mapping | drag-and-drop designer with live preview | transformation is your code |
| Scripting languages | SQL, JavaScript, Python, XSLT, shell | Python, plus whatever you import |
| Nested and hierarchical data | JSON, XML, Avro, Parquet — read, write, normalize, flatten by dragging | if you write it |
| Warehouse pushdown (ELT) | transform before load or in the warehouse, same engine | Partial — if your code does it |
| Reusable logic | macros, templates, and 3,900+ prebuilt flow templates | software-defined assets and ops |
| Lookups and enrichment | Lookup Builder for cross-source lookups | Partial — your code |
| Data validation | validation rules with per-step error handling | Partial — libraries such as Great Expectations |
| Orchestration & workflow | ||
| Scheduling | Cron expressions and fixed intervals, with per-schedule parameters | Cron schedules defined in Python |
| Event-driven triggers | HTTP listeners and webhooks, message queues, file and email events | Partial — sensors polling for conditions |
| Continuous execution | looping schedules for CDC and queue consumers | Partial — tight sensor loops |
| Visual workflow builder | Composer canvas, 200+ flow types | assets are Python; the UI displays them |
| Nested workflows | nested flows with conditional and looped steps | graphs, sub-graphs, asset dependencies |
| Run external tools | shell and SSH scripts, CLI, JavaScript, Python, SQL, HTTP calls | shell, Docker, and Kubernetes via pipes |
| Parallel execution | overlapping schedules run as independent, separately cancellable instances | parallel op and asset execution |
| Retries and error handling | per-step exception handling with notifications | retry policies and failure hooks |
| Run monitoring | per-schedule status, run history, automatic Flow Findings reports | run history and asset lineage |
| CDC & Streaming | ||
| CDC engine | Debezium-compatible, built-in (no Kafka required) | orchestrates a CDC tool, is not one |
| Database CDC sources | MySQL, Postgres, SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB, DB2, others | |
| Streaming queues | Kafka, EventHubs, Kinesis, SQS, PubSub, ActiveMQ, RabbitMQ | Partial — via sensors and your own code |
| IoT brokers | MQTT brokers | |
| Real-time replication | Log-based CDC, full, incremental | scheduled and sensor-triggered runs |
| Change tracking modes | Log-based, trigger-based, timestamp/high-watermark | Partitions and sensors, not change capture |
| Developer experience | ||
| REST API | full API for flows, connections, schedules, and runs | |
| CLI | full CLI with built-in SQL | the primary interface |
| MCP server | built-in — connect Cursor, Claude, or ChatGPT to your instance | |
| Client libraries | Python, Bash, and PowerShell clients | Python-native |
| Version control | built-in — automatic history, diff, and revert on every artifact | git, because pipelines are code |
| Embeddable / white-label | ||
| Compliance & security | ||
| SOC 2 Type 2 | audited; report under NDA, SOC 3 public | your deployment, your audit |
| HIPAA | supported with a BAA | your responsibility |
| GDPR / DPA | compliant, DPA available | no vendor to sign a DPA with |
| SSO and MFA | SAML SSO, optional 2FA, JWT stateless auth | Partial — whatever you configure |
| Role and artifact-level access | six roles plus tag-based scoping of flows, connections, and schedules | Partial — basic RBAC, no artifact scoping |
| Encryption and data handling | TLS in transit, encrypted at rest, customer-managed PGP, SSH tunnels, IP allowlisting; rows are not persisted by default | Partial — whatever you configure |
| Audit logging | admin actions logged, access logs monitored | Partial — application logs only |
| Security testing | monthly vulnerability and penetration scans, static analysis blocking every build, periodic third-party audits | community-reported CVEs |
| Gen AI | ||
| AI agent | Built-in agent (Simba) — builds and edits flows from chat | |
| Agent capabilities | Reads metadata, reads/samples data, writes JS & SQL, schedules, deploys, monitors | |
| Natural-language flow building | ‘Vibe-build’ — create flows by describing what you want | |
| AI-driven mapping | Auto-suggests source-to-destination mappings | |
| Built-in analytics | Agent runs analysis on flow data and pipeline behavior | |
| Chat across product | Same agent context on every screen | |
| CLI for agent | Full CLI access for run/deploy/monitor/manage | dagster CLI, not agent-driven |
| Trains on customer data | Never | N/A |