Hevo vs Census For ETL/ELT in 2025
Hevo is a no-code ETL tool allowing users to ingest, transform, and load data from over 150 sources, and Census is a Reverse ETL platform that syncs data from your data warehouse to SaaS apps like Salesforce, Hubspot, and ad platforms. In this article, we'll compare Hevo and Census to see which one is the best ETL solution.
What are Hevo and Census?
Hevo
Hevo is a no-code ETL tool that allows users to ingest, transform, and load data from over 150 sources.
It simplifies the process of managing data workflows without the need for coding expertise.
Census
Census is a Reverse ETL platform that syncs data from your data warehouse to SaaS apps like Salesforce, Hubspot, and ad platforms.
It enables seamless data flow, ensuring your business tools are always up-to-date with the latest information from your data warehouse.
Feature-by-Feature Breakdown: Alternatives & Competitors
Compare Hevo and Census
Hevo
Census
Key Features
- ETL data integration for syncing to data warehouses
- Optimized for under 5 million rows per month
- Supports over 150 data sources
- Free tier available for small-scale usage
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
Limitations
- Scalability issues, even with 5 million rows per month.
- Support is slow, with the Enterprise plan offering only a 1-hour support SLA.
- Unreliable for critical infrastructure needs.
- Lacks Reverse ETL capabilities.
Limitations
- Limit on the number of synced fields for the Professional plan
- Pricing structure not based on scale (per field pricing)
- Enterprise plan needed for syncs more frequent than every 15 minutes
- Unable to sync to data warehouses
Pricing
Hevo Data’s pricing is ideal for companies with smaller data needs, offering a generous free tier that allows up to 1 million events to be synced per month. Their starter plan ranges from $299 to $949 per month, accommodating between 5 to 50 million monthly synced events, with Professional and Business Critical plans available for more advanced features.
Pricing
Census offers three main pricing plans: a limited free plan, a Professional plan starting at $350 per month, and custom Enterprise plans. The Enterprise plan is necessary for accessing real-time sync capabilities and the “Audience Hub” features.
With Census, users can choose from a free plan, a Professional plan beginning at $350 monthly, or tailored Enterprise plans. To utilize real-time sync and “Audience Hub” functionalities, the Enterprise plan is required.
Reviews
Hevo Data has a rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars. Users have enjoyed the low cost, especially for smaller companies. They often mention issues with data inaccuracy, unreliability at scale, and limitations in advanced transformations. Check out more of their reviews here.
Customers who switch from Hevo Data to Polytomic often do so from frustration with sync failures and missing records in the Hevo platform as they scale the amount of data synced.
Reviews
Census has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. Some users find Census to be expensive, especially for scaling companies.
There are mentions of feature limitations and missing features. A few users noted that some functionalities, like on-the-fly transformations, are lacking in certain pricing tiers. One review mentioned that the tool is still young and has limited connections to SaaS tools. Check out more of their reviews here.
Why customers are switching to Polytomic
Polytomic unifies ETL/ELT, Reverse ETL, and database CDC into a single platform—so your data moves in and out of the data warehouse without relying on multiple vendors.
- Built for Data Teams: Consolidate your ETL and Reverse ETL needs with one solution. Polytomic handles high-throughput CDC streaming, full SQL transformations, and support for infrastructure-as-code.
- RevOps and Marketing-Friendly: Launch data pipelines to your CRM and ad platforms in minutes with an intuitive UI, plus advanced tools like live SOQL transformations on Salesforce data.
- API for AI & Product Teams: Deliver embedded customer integrations via our white-labeled native API. Polytomic supports seamless syncing into customer CRMs and data warehouses with built-in auth and integrations with the whole GTM stack.
- Enterprise-Grade: Deploy on-prem or in the cloud, manage complex orgs with multi-tenant workspaces and fine-grained RBAC permissions, and cut costs by 30–50% through platform consolidation. Backed by fast, responsive support from real data engineers.
What is Polytomic?
Polytomic
Data teams appreciate our single ETL platform with unified monitoring to centralize all data movement. We have full SQL support and first-class support for infrastructure-as-code.
RevOps and marketing teams use our no-code UI to quickly and independently set up syncs for product data to their CRM and ad platforms.
Built for enterprise scale, Polytomic can be self-hosted, handles billions of rows reliably, and has multi-tenant workspaces with fine-grained access controls.
All the features you need, on the platform that does it all
Replace multiple vendors
One platform for all syncs
Sync only what’s changed
Point and click
SQL query support
Pull from any API
Self-hosting available
Enterprise-ready
Move data between all of your favorite tools
Pricing begins at $500/month
