Comparison
SAP splits data integration across Datasphere for warehousing and replication and Integration Suite for APIs and B2B, each metered separately and each priced for SAP budgets. Etlworks moves SAP data into your own warehouse, and handles the EDI, at a fixed monthly price.
The verdict
Feature breakdown
| Capability | Etlworks | SAP |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & commercial | ||
| Starting price (monthly) | $300 | Datasphere capacity units; Integration Suite from about $3,000 |
| Pricing model | Fixed per tier | Capacity units, per-GB replication, and per-message credits |
| Cost transparency | High — flat rate | Low — replication, federation, and marketplace are metered separately |
| Vendor lock-in | Monthly or annual, no contract | Annual BTP commitments |
| Ownership | Independent, founder-run | SAP |
| Integration scope | ||
| Sources | 260+ | Deep SAP coverage; non-SAP through separate connectors |
| Destinations | Warehouses, databases, SaaS, NoSQL, files, APIs, queues, IoT, email | Datasphere, HANA Cloud, and partner warehouses |
| ETL capabilities | ETL, ELT, Reverse ETL, wildcard processing | replication flows, transformation flows, and views |
| API management | Full | Integration Suite, licensed separately |
| EDI processing | X12, EDIFACT, HL7, FHIR | Partial — Integration Suite B2B add-on, licensed separately |
| On-prem deployment | BTP cloud; on-prem sources reached through a connector agent | |
| Embeddable | ||
| Transformations | ||
| Visual mapping | drag-and-drop designer with live preview | visual mapper |
| Scripting languages | SQL, JavaScript, Python, XSLT, shell | SQL and SAP expression languages |
| Nested and hierarchical data | JSON, XML, Avro, Parquet — read, write, normalize, flatten by dragging | JSON and XML, varying depth |
| Warehouse pushdown (ELT) | transform before load or in the warehouse, same engine | in Datasphere and HANA |
| Reusable logic | macros, templates, and 3,900+ prebuilt flow templates | reusable components and templates |
| Lookups and enrichment | Lookup Builder for cross-source lookups | lookup components |
| Data validation | validation rules with per-step error handling | validation and cleansing components |
| Orchestration & workflow | ||
| Scheduling | Cron expressions and fixed intervals, with per-schedule parameters | Task chains in Datasphere, scheduling in Integration Suite |
| Event-driven triggers | HTTP listeners and webhooks, message queues, file and email events | API and message-based triggers |
| Continuous execution | looping schedules for CDC and queue consumers | long-running listeners and services |
| Visual workflow builder | Composer canvas, 200+ flow types | task chains and integration flows |
| Nested workflows | nested flows with conditional and looped steps | nested task chains |
| Run external tools | shell and SSH scripts, CLI, JavaScript, Python, SQL, HTTP calls | SAP-managed execution |
| Parallel execution | overlapping schedules run as independent, separately cancellable instances | parallel branches |
| Retries and error handling | per-step exception handling with notifications | retry, error handlers, dead letter |
| Run monitoring | per-schedule status, run history, automatic Flow Findings reports | process dashboards and alerts |
| CDC & Streaming | ||
| CDC engine | Debezium-compatible, built-in (no Kafka required) | Partial — replication flows with delta capture from SAP sources |
| Database CDC sources | MySQL, Postgres, SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB, DB2, others | SAP HANA and SAP applications via SLT; limited non-SAP |
| Streaming queues | Kafka, EventHubs, Kinesis, SQS, PubSub, ActiveMQ, RabbitMQ | Advanced Event Mesh, Kafka via Integration Suite |
| IoT brokers | MQTT brokers | Partial — through Advanced Event Mesh |
| Real-time replication | Log-based CDC, full, incremental | Partial — near-real-time flows, metered above batch |
| Change tracking modes | Log-based, trigger-based, timestamp/high-watermark | Delta capture, SLT-based, scheduled |
| Developer experience | ||
| REST API | full API for flows, connections, schedules, and runs | |
| CLI | full CLI with built-in SQL | |
| MCP server | built-in — connect Cursor, Claude, or ChatGPT to your instance | |
| Client libraries | Python, Bash, and PowerShell clients | Partial — vendor SDKs |
| Version control | built-in — automatic history, diff, and revert on every artifact | project versioning and promotion |
| Embeddable / white-label | Partial — OEM agreements | |
| Compliance & security | ||
| SOC 2 Type 2 | audited; report under NDA, SOC 3 public | |
| HIPAA | supported with a BAA | enterprise agreements |
| GDPR / DPA | compliant, DPA available | |
| SSO and MFA | SAML SSO, optional 2FA, JWT stateless auth | SAML and directory integration |
| Role and artifact-level access | six roles plus tag-based scoping of flows, connections, and schedules | role and project-level access |
| Encryption and data handling | TLS in transit, encrypted at rest, customer-managed PGP, SSH tunnels, IP allowlisting; rows are not persisted by default | encrypted in transit and at rest |
| Audit logging | admin actions logged, access logs monitored | |
| Security testing | monthly vulnerability and penetration scans, static analysis blocking every build, periodic third-party audits | vendor-managed |
| Gen AI | ||
| AI agent | Built-in agent (Simba) — builds and edits flows from chat | Partial — Joule across SAP applications, not a pipeline builder |
| Agent capabilities | Reads metadata, reads/samples data, writes JS & SQL, schedules, deploys, monitors | Assists inside SAP applications |
| Natural-language flow building | ‘Vibe-build’ — create flows by describing what you want | |
| AI-driven mapping | Auto-suggests source-to-destination mappings | Partial — mapping suggestions in Integration Suite |
| Built-in analytics | Agent runs analysis on flow data and pipeline behavior | SAP Analytics Cloud |
| Chat across product | Same agent context on every screen | Partial — Joule |
| CLI for agent | Full CLI access for run/deploy/monitor/manage | Partial — CLI and APIs, not agent-driven |
| Trains on customer data | Never | Per SAP terms |