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Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics vs Zapier comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.9
Pentaho offers cost-effective integration, reducing ETL time, lowering expenses, and enhancing competitiveness with open-source flexibility and efficiency.
Sentiment score
6.5
Users experience benefits from Zapier's automation and cost savings, though calculating specific ROI can be challenging.
In a scenario where employing three resources for three months might cost approximately $18,000 to $20,000, Zapier provides substantial cost savings.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.2
Users rely on community support over customer service due to mixed experiences, despite responsive technical support and Hitachi's involvement.
Sentiment score
7.2
Mixed experiences with Zapier support: praised for responsiveness and knowledge, yet some note delays and lack of chat.
Communication with the vendor is challenging
Their technical support is good; they respond promptly and are very helpful.
This can help if you need assistance, as you can communicate with the community and support system, and most issues are already resolved by AI.
Sometimes, in my early days, when I was stuck with something, they helped me solve these issues, and even helped me solve some of my automations.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Pentaho excels in scalability and efficient data handling but faces challenges with exceptionally large data and complex growth scenarios.
Sentiment score
7.6
Zapier is ideal for small businesses prioritizing simple tasks, though costs and stability may concern larger organizations.
Pentaho Data Integration handles larger datasets better.
Zapier is suitable for small or simpler automation but not for complex ones.
Scaling it gets quite expensive, and while I cannot evaluate it purely from a technology perspective, compared to Workato, I would give Zapier a seven for scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Pentaho Data Integration offers reliability for small to midsize operations but may lag and freeze with complex uses.
Sentiment score
6.9
Users find Zapier reliable, with minor issues often linked to third-party tools, and rate stability highly for varied needs.
It's pretty stable, however, it struggles when dealing with smaller amounts of data.
In my current company, we had significant challenges with Zapier regarding maintenance, as Zaps were often broken, not necessarily due to Zapier, but due to changes in the input variables.
 

Room For Improvement

Pentaho needs improvements in big data performance, error handling, UI, scheduling, backward compatibility, cloud integration, and Python support.
Zapier users face issues with Google Sheets, insufficient integrations, complex workflows, high costs, and limited customization and support.
Pentaho Data Integration is very friendly, it is not very useful when there isn't a lot of data to handle.
The error message options in the dashboard should be improved. It should be user-friendly so that beginners or non-technical users can figure out the problems and solutions on their own.
You can build similar or dependent automations in one Zap, which helps with understanding the process without switching between different records.
I would appreciate if there would be a feature where we can use actions right after loops. Currently, you cannot use any other action after the loop. Everything needs to be within the loop.
 

Setup Cost

Pentaho offers a cost-effective solution with its free Community Edition and affordable subscription-based Enterprise Edition for varying needs.
Enterprise buyers find Zapier cost-effective for its integrations, despite some viewing it as pricier than alternatives.
The pricing is in accordance with market standards and even lower in some cases.
The pricing of Zapier is slightly higher compared to other market automation tools such as Pabbly, Make.com, and N8N, which have good features but are priced lower than Zapier.
 

Valuable Features

Pentaho provides an intuitive, open-source platform for efficient ETL development and data integration with minimal coding and broad compatibility.
Zapier offers over 20,000 integrations, automating workflows without coding, enhancing productivity with user-friendly, drag-and-drop functionality.
I find the drag and drop feature in Pentaho Data Integration very useful for integration.
They have approximately 7,000 connections.
Even a person with no technical knowledge can use Zapier to create automations.
The automation capabilities are impressive.
 

Categories and Ranking

Pentaho Data Integration an...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (19th)
Zapier
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Integration (10th)
 

Featured Reviews

Aqeel UR Rehman - PeerSpot reviewer
Transform data efficiently with rich features but there's challenges with large datasets
Currently, I am using Pentaho Data Integration for transforming data and then loading it into different platforms. Sometimes, I use it in conjunction with AWS, particularly S3 and Redshift, to execute the copy command for data processing Pentaho Data Integration is easy to use, especially when…
Sachin Shrtivastava - PeerSpot reviewer
Automation of simple tasks improves with user-friendly interface but needs enhancement in handling complex scenarios
In my opinion, what could be improved in Zapier is its UI, which operates as a one-line system. Compared to Make.com and other tools that have a drag-and-drop system, this is lacking. If the scenario or automation is complex, it becomes difficult to create and deploy because of various routes. For example, with 20 routes, it becomes really difficult to create them due to certain limits, and the UI is not conducive for viewing all the routes.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Data Integration solutions are best for your needs.
861,803 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
University
8%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which ETL tool would you recommend to populate data from OLTP to OLAP?
Hi Rajneesh, yes here is the feature comparison between the community and enterprise edition : https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/pdf/brochure/leverage-open-source-benefits-with-assurance-of-hita...
What do you think can be improved with Hitachi Lumada Data Integrations?
In my opinion, the reporting side of this tool needs serious improvements. In my previous company, we worked with Hitachi Lumada Data Integration and while it does a good job for what it’s worth, ...
What do you use Hitachi Lumada Data Integrations for most frequently?
My company has used this product to transform data from databases, CSV files, and flat files. It really does a good job. We were most satisfied with the results in terms of how many people could us...
What do you like most about Zapier?
The product's most valuable feature is automation.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zapier?
The pricing is in accordance with market standards and even lower in some cases. The license setup cost is reasonable.
What needs improvement with Zapier?
In my opinion, what could be improved in Zapier is its UI, which operates as a one-line system. Compared to Make.com and other tools that have a drag-and-drop system, this is lacking. If the scenar...
 

Also Known As

Hitachi Lumada Data Integration, Kettle, Pentaho Data Integration
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

66Controls, Providential Revenue Agency of Ro Negro, NOAA Information Systems, Swiss Real Estate Institute
BuzzFeed, Groupon, Spotify, Columbia University, FOX
Find out what your peers are saying about Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics vs. Zapier and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
861,803 professionals have used our research since 2012.