About the Services
Mulesoft
MuleSoft's Anypoint Platform is an integration platform that connects data, devices, and applications within cloud and/or on-premises environments. It was founded in 2006 and in 2018 was acquired by Salesforce. The platform offers various services and components, such as Design Center, Exchange, Studio, Connectors, Management Center, and others. Overall, there are hundreds of pre-built connectors and templates used by over 1600 organizations globally.
With the Anypoint Platform, companies can leverage a single integration point across any application. The service offers to create an infrastructure that supports multiple applications and the ability to scale out quickly. Mulesoft offers annual contracts depending on features and volume obtained.
Azure Data Factory
Azure Data Factory (ADF) is a cloud-based data integration tool from Microsoft. It launched in 2015. And now, it’s popular among enterprises and individuals alike.
ADF offers a wide range of data integration scenarios. This includes ETL, ELT, reverse ETL, data ingestion, replication, and more. You can use over 90 built-in connectors. This covers on-premises and cloud-based data. You can use Azure Data Factory to move data from sources such as SQL Server, Oracle, Salesforce, and SAP. And into destinations such as Azure SQL Database, Azure Blob Storage, and Amazon S3.
Microsoft takes customer data privacy and security very seriously. Microsoft designed Azure Data Factory with several security features. This includes Azure Active Directory integration, role-based access control, data encryption, and more. Moreover, the tool complies with security and privacy standards. This includes GDPR, SOC 1/2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA. This means that you can trust Azure Data Factory to handle your data in a secure and compliant manner.
You can also use ADF by importing SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) packages.
Skyvia
Skyvia is a no-code cloud data integration platform which supports a big variety of data integration scenarios including ETL, ELT, Reverse ETL, data migration, one way and bi-directional data sync, workflows automation, etc. It was created by Devart in 2014 to boost data-related performance: cloud data integration, backup and management.
Skyvia offers more than 160 ready-made data connectors for dozens of thousands of free users, including 2000+ paid customers. It's easy to use, offers drag-and-drop interface and suits both IT professionals and business users.
Skyvia has flexible pricing plans for each product, making it applicable for businesses of all sizes, from a small startup to an enterprise company. Also, Skyvia's freemium model allows users to start using it with a completely free plan and then decide if further upgrade is needed.
It is hosted in a Microsoft Azure cloud which provides the best data security and complies with a wide set of security standards including SOC 2, ISO 27001, and many others.
 |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | API Management and Integration platform. | ETL, ELT, Reverse ETL, streaming. | Data ingestion, ELT, ETL, reverse ETL, data sync, workflow automation. |
| Skill level | Complex coding. | Low-code, no-code solutions. Coding in various languages for complex scenarios. | No-code and easy to use wizard. |
| Sources | 250+ | 90+ | 160+ |
| Destinations | Popular services, warehouses and databases. | Supported data sources. | Supported data sources, including databases, data warehouses, cloud apps and flat files. |
| Database replication | Incremental replication that depends upon manually written SELECT statements. | Full and incremental load. | Full table and incremental via change data capture. |
| Ability for customers to add new data sources | Yes, for developers. | Provides SDK for creating custom connectors. | Yes, by request or using REST API connector. |
| G2 customer satisfaction | 4.4 out of 5 564 reviews | 4.6 out of 5 57 reviews | 4.8 out of 5 157 Reviews |
| Peer Insights satisfaction | 4.3 194 Ratings | 4.5 173 Ratings | 4.8 85 Ratings |
| Developer tools | Runtime Manager REST API, CloudHub API. | Azure Portal, CLI, and PowerShell. Azure Functions for transformations. Use external services like HDInsight. Visual Studio. | REST connector for data sources that have REST API. |
| Advanced ETL capabilities | A specific component of Anypoint Platform, DataWeave, provides powerful data integration with an easy to use graphical data mapping interface. | Importing SSIS packages. Calling External processes from the pipeline. Use Hadoop Streaming. | Visual ETL data pipeline designer with data orchestration capabilities |
| Compliance and security certifications | SOC 1, SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR | SOC 1/2/3, ISO 27001 / 27017 / 27018, HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, FedRAMP, Dod SRG, ITAR | HIPAA, GDPR, PCI DSS. ISO 27001 and SOC 2 (by Azure). |
| Purchase process | Requires a conversation with sales. | Self-service through Azure Portal or contacting Microsoft sales. | Self-service or sales. |
| Vendor lock-in | Annual contracts. | Pay-as-you-go or consumption basis. No minimum commitment or contract term. | Monthly or annual contracts. |
| Pricing | Volume-based and feature-based pricing. | Always Free for 5 low frequency jobs. Included in Azure Free Trial with $200 credit for 30 days. | Volume-based and feature-based pricing. Freemium model allows to start with a free plan. |
Connectors
Mulesoft
MuleSoft connects to over 250 data sources and provides various components to work with connectors. MuleSoft Anypoint Connectors (an extension for Mule runtime engine) with its prebuilt connectors allows to connect with endpoints, SaaS applications, databases (ODBC, JDBC protocols).
The Mule SDK for developers (successor to the Anypoint Connector Devkit) allows creating a SOAP or Java SDK-based connectors. In addition, the MuleSoft platform offers developers to create, certify, and place their connectors within its public marketplace.
Azure Data Factory
Azure Data Factory has 90+ built-in connectors for integrating data from various sources. Microsoft regularly adds new connectors and update existing ones. The connectors can integrate databases, cloud platforms, big data, and SaaS applications. Popular connectors include Azure Blob Storage, Amazon S3, and Salesforce.
It also supports generic REST, OData, HTTP, and ODBC connectors. You can create custom connectors using .NET, Java, or Python. ADF provides a software development kit (SDK) for this purpose. And when you’re done with your new connector, you can share and reuse it to others in your organization. Or with other users outside your company.
Skyvia
Skyvia offers more than 160 connectors and the number is rapidly growing. Among these connectors there are CRM, accounting, email marketing, e-commerce, human resources, marketing automation, payment processing, product management, all major databases and DWH, flat files, etc. Customers can also leave request for creating a new data connector and Skyvia will prioritize building it without additional payment.
Transformation
Mulesoft
MuleSoft transforms source data to fit into the destination data schema. The platform offers two ways to handle data transformation and also provides developers with ability to write custom processors using scripting languages like Groovy and JavaScript.
The first option for data transformation is by graphically constructing data mapping. It has its limits but it's also possible to check how the transformation will affect data by applying sample input data. Another way is for users to create the data transformation by writing DataWeave code that is written in a special language created by MuleSoft for accessing and transforming data.
Azure Data Factory
Azure Data Factory provides flexible and powerful options for data transformation. ADF supports various transformations, including filtering, aggregating, joining, sorting, and more.
You can use the graphical user interface to add transformations or code to create advanced data transformations. ADF allows coding in several programming languages, including SQL, .NET, Python, and others.
It also supports external activities for executing your transformations on compute services. This includes HDInsight Hadoop, Spark, Data Lake Analytics, and Machine Learning. This gives you the flexibility to use different approaches in data transformation.
Skyvia
Skyvia is a full-featured ETL service that allows building data integrations with powerful transformations between multiple data sources. It is a no code solution with support for data splitting, complex expressions and formulas, lookups, and many more operations.
Skyvia's Data Flow and Control Flow components can be used for building more advanced ETL data pipelines with support for multiple connectors and additional features like modifying the data, flowing through them, splitting flows of records into multiple outputs, or modifying data flow variables.
Support
Mulesoft
Mulesoft offers online, email, or telephone support for its Enterprise clients. The amount of support hours available for client depends on the pricing plan. Support cases depends on their severity and help is available only in English. The platform provides extensive documentation, trainings and learning paths for different roles as well as certification courses (self-paced and instructor-led).
Azure Data Factory
Azure Data Factory offers several levels of customer support. It includes free and paid options. The free support includes online documentation, community support, and email support.
Paid support options include Standard, Professional Direct, and Premier. Each has various levels of 24/7 support and faster response times. The Standard and Professional Direct support levels also come with an SLA. It guarantees a certain level of uptime and issue resolution time. Customers can reach the support team through various channels. This includes email, phone, and online chat. For premium support, customers can avail of dedicated support teams and other benefits.
Azure SLA guarantees 99.9% uptime for paid Azure services.
Skyvia
Skyvia offers free email, chat (on website or in app), and forum support for all customers. It also provides extensive documentation with lots of tutorials and user guides.
For paid customers there's also a phone support option, and additional support options for Enterprise customers.
Pricing
Mulesoft
MuleSoft offers 30-day free trial. Pricing plans differ depending on the volume, features, and support levels included. Customers can get API Management and API Integration as independent solutions or combine the two to get the full stack. It's also possible to add more APIs and integrations to scale the capacity and functionality as needed.
Azure Data Factory
Azure Data Factory provides a flexible pay-as-you-go pricing model. It charges based on pipeline orchestration, data movement, and data volume. Pricing can vary depending on region and usage patterns.
New customers get $200 free credit for 30 days to use any Azure service, including Data Factory. Pay-as-you-go is your next option once the trial ends or the free credits becomes zero. But ADF is always free for 5 low-frequency activities.
Some services may need resources not covered in Always Free services like storage. So, it’s crucial to check pricing and usage limits.
Skyvia
Skyvia Data Integration is a freemium tool with an option to request a 14-day trial. Paid plans start from $19 per month. Pricing tiers (from Basic to Enterprise) vary by the number of successfully loaded records, frequency of scheduling and the inclusion of the advanced ETL features. There are no purchase commitments and customers are able to upgrade or downgrade at any time depending on their needs. A detailed comparison can be found here.