Census vs Hightouch For ETL/ELT in 2025

Reverse ETL platforms like Census and Hightouch are crucial for syncing data from data warehouses to various SaaS applications, enhancing the utility of ETL/ELT solutions. In this article, we'll compare Census and Hightouch to determine which one is the best data integration solution.

What are Census and Hightouch?

Census

Census is a Reverse ETL platform designed to transfer data from your data warehouse to various SaaS applications, including Salesforce, Hubspot, and advertising platforms.

It ensures that your data is seamlessly integrated across different tools, enhancing the efficiency of your business operations.

Hightouch

Hightouch is a reverse ETL and AI platform tailored for marketing and personalization, allowing businesses to uncover insights, execute campaigns, and develop AI agents using their data.

It features an AI Decisioning Platform for lifecycle marketing and a Composable Customer Data Platform (CDP) that is adaptable, secure, and swiftly deployable, built on top of a data warehouse.

Feature-by-Feature Breakdown: Alternatives & Competitors

Features
Sync to Warehouse (ETL/ELT)
Sync from warehouse (Reverse ETL)
Sync directly between SaaS Applications
Self-Hosted Option
High-Scale Database CDC
2-way, Read +Write Environment as Terraform
Real-time SOQL Transformations on Salesforce
Workspaces
Entity-level RBAC Permissions
Built for Enterprise Use Cases
Support Chat Reply in Minutes from Actual US-based Engineers
First-class API with Native Clients
White-label API with Auth-handling
Robust Connectors, None in Beta Version
Fast Turnaround Time on New Connectors
Straightforward Pricing (Easy to Understand)
Polytomic
Census
Hightouch

Compare Census and Hightouch

Census

Hightouch

Key Features

  • Sync data from your warehouse to various tools (Reverse ETL)
  • Utilize workspaces for better organization
  • Access a white-label API for seamless integration

Key Features

  • Sync your data using Reverse ETL
  • Focus on AI capabilities and personalized marketing
  • Start with a free tier

Limitations

  • There is a cap on the number of synced fields for the Professional plan.
  • Pricing is not designed to scale, as it is based on a per-field pricing model.
  • Syncs more frequent than every 15 minutes require an Enterprise plan.
  • Syncing to data warehouses is not supported.

Limitations

  • Does not support syncing to data warehouses (No ETL)
  • Excess features and pricing for just Reverse ETL
  • Lack of unlimited workspaces

Pricing

Census provides three primary pricing options: a limited free plan, a Professional plan beginning at $350 per month, and customizable Enterprise plans. For real-time sync capabilities and access to their "Audience Hub" features, the Enterprise plan is necessary.

The Professional plan offers a starting point for businesses looking to scale, while the Enterprise plan caters to those needing advanced functionalities. The free plan is available with limited features for those just getting started.

Pricing

Hightouch's Starter Plan includes a free tier at $0 and a paid tier at $350 per month, billed annually with a 20% discount.

For larger teams, the Business Plan offers custom pricing tailored to specific needs, featuring unlimited user seats and advanced personalization features.

Reviews

Census has an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. Some users find it expensive, particularly for scaling companies, and have noted feature limitations and missing features.

Additionally, functionalities like on-the-fly transformations are lacking in certain pricing tiers, and the tool is still young with limited connections to SaaS tools. Check out more of their reviews here.

Reviews

Hightouch has an overall rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars, but some users have noted that it can be expensive, particularly for startups or when the paid solution is used extensively. Additionally, there are comments about the learning curve, the need for better error handling and debugging processes, and the UI being sometimes confusing and not very intuitive.

Error reporting, especially for large batches, needs improvement according to user feedback. Check out more of their reviews here.

WHICH ONE SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?

Why customers are switching to Polytomic

Polytomic is a data integration platform that automatically syncs data from various sources into your data warehouse for easy analysis.

  • Minimal API usage: Whether you’re syncing to or from Salesforce, HubSpot, or other systems, you will never have to worry about API limits again. Our sync engine automatically syncs incrementally and uses the right bulk APIs, rate limits, and throttling using its smart job queue.
  • No coding required: Sync, ETL, Reverse ETL, ELT, CDC stream between databases, data warehouses, spreadsheets, and applications like Salesforce, Zendesk, and others, all without involving engineers. Point, click, and go!
  • Custom SQL? No problem: If you need the full power of SQL, we’ve got you covered. You can define the data model of your choice using native SQL against your databases.
  • Realtime & scheduled syncs: Automatically move data from databases and spreadsheets to your CRM as soon as it changes at the source, or set up a custom sync schedule of your choice. You’re in control.

What is Polytomic?

Polytomic

Polytomic combines ETL and Reverse ETL in a single platform so you can move data to and from your data warehouse without managing brittle pipelines across multiple tools.

Business operations teams can set up powerful syncs without writing code, and data engineers get full SQL support, CDC streaming, Terraform compatibility, and an API. Built for enterprise scale, Polytomic handles billions of rows, complex models, and fine-grained access controls with reliability and speed.
Trusted by Data and ops teams
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All the features you need, on the platform that does it all

Replace multiple vendors

Reduce costs and simplify workflows

One platform for all syncs

ETL, Reverse ETL, CDC, iPaaS, APIs, and spreadsheets

Sync only what’s changed

Save on API limits and compute costs

Point and click

Select and filter your data without writing code

SQL query support

Powerful transformations when you need them

Pull from any API

No more glue code for custom integrations

Self-hosting available

Turnkey deployment to your private cloud

Enterprise-ready

SOC 2, GDPR, permissions, and audit logs

Move data between all of your favorite tools

Sync any of your proprietary data to and from your databases, data warehouses, spreadsheets, and business systems.
See all integrations
"Polytomic’s customer support has been unbelievably great. The level of consistent, immediate responsiveness has been a huge benefit to us. It’s clear that Polytomic invests in the success of our business in a way that most companies talk about but don’t actually do. More than just support, we feel we have a thought partner."
Jonathan Krangel
Director of Revenue Operations
@Retool

Pricing begins at $500/month

Standard

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Book call

Everything in Basic, plus:

  • Sync to and from databases, warehouses, spreadsheets, apps, and APIs
  • Multiple sync destinations
  • Live chat support

Enterprise

Let’s chat
Book call

Everything in Standard, plus:

  • On-prem deployment
  • Single sign-on (SSO)
  • Dedicated engineer
  • Phone support
Get hands-on with Polytomic
See how easy it is to sync data to the tools your team actually uses—no code, no waiting.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How can Polytomic do both ETL and Reverse ETL when other tools can't?
Polytomic was designed from the start to do both ETL and Reverse ETL. While they are both "moving data", they require different technical architectures. WIth Polytomic, you can replace a multi-vendor stack with a single contract.
How frequent should my data syncs be?
Higher cadence means more API calls, warehouse credits, and compute, so start with the slowest interval that meets your SLA and tighten only where ROI is clear. Polytomic’s continuous mode runs as fast as every 5 minutes; for most revenue-ops or analytics cases, 15-min, 30-min, hourly, or daily schedules are cheaper and plenty fresh. We can help you determine what's best for your needs.
What is the difference between ETL and Reverse ETL?
ETL / ELT move data into a warehouse (ETL transforms first, ELT transforms after load). Reverse ETL sends modeled warehouse data back out to SaaS apps like Salesforce so teams can act on it. Think “data warehouse as a destination” vs. “data warehouse as a source.”
Why does quality of customer support matter?
When every pipeline fuels dashboards, campaigns, and revenue ops, downtime or mis-configured syncs have a direct cost. Polytomic’s proactive, engineer-led support responds in minutes to your message, not hours or days. We cut spend through proactive tuning of sync cadence and warehouse usage. We ship new connectors and features on request, quickly and reliably.
What is Fivetran?
Fivetran is a data integration platform that automatically syncs data from various sources into your data warehouse for easy analysis.