Comparison
Stitch is a lightweight Singer-based extractor that Qlik now maintains alongside Talend and Qlik Data Integration, with little sign of new investment. Etlworks delivers full ETL plus CDC, APIs, and EDI in one platform.
The verdict
Feature breakdown
| Capability | Etlworks | Stitch |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & commercial | ||
| Starting price (monthly) | $300 | $100 (Standard) |
| Pricing model | Fixed per tier | Row-volume tiers |
| Ownership | Independent, founder-run | Qlik, via the Talend acquisition |
| Integration scope | ||
| Sources | 260+ | 140+ taps |
| ETL capabilities | ETL, ELT, Reverse ETL, wildcard processing | EL only (Singer taps) |
| API management | Full | |
| On-prem deployment | ||
| Transformations | ||
| Visual mapping | drag-and-drop designer with live preview | column selection and renaming only |
| Scripting languages | SQL, JavaScript, Python, XSLT, shell | |
| Nested and hierarchical data | JSON, XML, Avro, Parquet — read, write, normalize, flatten by dragging | Partial — passes JSON through, unpacking happens downstream |
| Warehouse pushdown (ELT) | transform before load or in the warehouse, same engine | Partial — load raw, transform with another tool |
| Reusable logic | macros, templates, and 3,900+ prebuilt flow templates | |
| Lookups and enrichment | Lookup Builder for cross-source lookups | |
| Data validation | validation rules with per-step error handling | |
| Orchestration & workflow | ||
| Scheduling | Cron expressions and fixed intervals, with per-schedule parameters | Sync frequency per connector |
| Event-driven triggers | HTTP listeners and webhooks, message queues, file and email events | |
| Continuous execution | looping schedules for CDC and queue consumers | Partial — continuous sync on higher tiers |
| Visual workflow builder | Composer canvas, 200+ flow types | |
| Nested workflows | nested flows with conditional and looped steps | |
| Run external tools | shell and SSH scripts, CLI, JavaScript, Python, SQL, HTTP calls | |
| Parallel execution | overlapping schedules run as independent, separately cancellable instances | Partial — connectors sync independently |
| Retries and error handling | per-step exception handling with notifications | automatic retry on sync failure |
| Run monitoring | per-schedule status, run history, automatic Flow Findings reports | sync logs and alerts |
| CDC & Streaming | ||
| CDC engine | Debezium-compatible, built-in (no Kafka required) | Partial — primarily extraction via Singer taps |
| Database CDC sources | MySQL, Postgres, SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB, DB2, others | Postgres, MySQL (basic) |
| Streaming queues | Kafka, EventHubs, Kinesis, SQS, PubSub, ActiveMQ, RabbitMQ | |
| IoT brokers | MQTT brokers | |
| Real-time replication | Log-based CDC, full, incremental | Polling-based, not log-based |
| Change tracking modes | Log-based, trigger-based, timestamp/high-watermark | Incremental keys |
| Developer experience | ||
| REST API | full API for flows, connections, schedules, and runs | |
| CLI | full CLI with built-in SQL | Partial — limited or community CLI |
| MCP server | built-in — connect Cursor, Claude, or ChatGPT to your instance | |
| Client libraries | Python, Bash, and PowerShell clients | Partial — community SDKs |
| Version control | built-in — automatic history, diff, and revert on every artifact | Partial — change history, no diff or revert |
| Embeddable / white-label | ||
| Compliance & security | ||
| SOC 2 Type 2 | audited; report under NDA, SOC 3 public | |
| HIPAA | supported with a BAA | Partial — higher tiers only |
| GDPR / DPA | compliant, DPA available | |
| SSO and MFA | SAML SSO, optional 2FA, JWT stateless auth | Partial — enterprise tier |
| Role and artifact-level access | six roles plus tag-based scoping of flows, connections, and schedules | Partial — role-based, no artifact-level scoping |
| 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 | Partial — enterprise tier |
| Security testing | monthly vulnerability and penetration scans, static analysis blocking every build, periodic third-party audits | vendor-managed, details on request |
| 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 | |
| Trains on customer data | Never | Not by default |