Fivetran Transformations and Fivetran Activations extend the data movement platform beyond loading data into a destination. Transformations run SQL models inside the customer’s warehouse, and Activations send warehouse data to business applications. Both are metered separately from connection MAR, but they draw on the same Contracted Spend or monthly invoice.[2]
Transformations
What counts
Transformations usage is measured in monthly model runs, the number of models successfully executed in a month. The Service Consumption Table defines a Model as “a SQL statement that produces a materialized table or data view” and says each upstream model that an output model relies on counts as a model run.[2] Fivetran charges for Quickstart data models and for Fivetran-hosted Transformations for dbt.[1]
Counting rules from the documentation are:
- A successful job counts all its models; a partially completed job counts its successful models; a failed job whose models all fail counts nothing.
- A job that runs several times in a month counts each successful run again, and restarting a partially completed job counts every successful model again.
- Intermediate models behind Quickstart outputs count, so the billed total can exceed the number of output models a customer sees.[1]
Free usage and tiers
Each month the first 5,000 successful model runs are free on every plan.[3] Above that the list rate falls with volume:
| Monthly model runs | List rate per run |
|---|---|
| 0 to 5,000 | Free |
| 5,001 to 30,000 | $0.01 |
| 30,001 to 100,000 | $0.007 |
| More than 100,000 | $0.002 |
The tiers are marginal. Fivetran’s worked example for 120,000 runs is 25,000 times $0.01, plus 70,000 times $0.007, plus 20,000 times $0.002, or $780.[2] Runs are totalled across the whole Account, not per transformation.[2]
Other free usage covers each new Quickstart transformation’s 14-day trial, any usage related to the Fivetran Platform Quickstart data model, and third-party orchestrations such as dbt Cloud Integration and Coalesce, which are free on all plans.[1] Fivetran also notes that its data models are open source and can be run outside Fivetran without model-run charges.[1]
Free plan behaviour
The Free plan allows up to 5,000 monthly model runs. The first time a customer exceeds that, transformations keep working through the next billing cycle. The second time, Fivetran freezes connections, transformation jobs and the account until the customer upgrades to a paid plan.[1] The Free Plan Requirements add that exceeding any one limit is an Overage Month, with new connections or activations blocked after the first and eligibility lost after a second within twelve months.[8]
Controlling model runs
Fivetran suggests lowering run frequency with custom scheduling (a frequency from one minute to 24 hours and selected weekdays), adjusting connection sync frequency when integrated scheduling triggers runs after syncs, using cron jobs, switching off Quickstart output models that are not needed and removing unneeded transformations.[1] Usage appears in the dashboard under Billing and Usage, and the Fivetran Platform connector exposes a TRANSFORMATION_RUNS table.[1]
Relationship to dbt
The pricing page notes that “dbt Core” is a trademark of dbt Labs and that Fivetran Transformations is not a product of dbt Labs.[5] The two companies completed a merger on 1 June 2026; see dbt Labs licensing for dbt platform plans and the dbt engines’ licences.
Activations
Product and scope
Fivetran Activations is a reverse ETL product formerly known as Census. It entered Fivetran’s pricing model on 1 February 2026 so that customers can manage ELT and reverse ETL under one provider, contract and invoice.[4] The Service Consumption Table defines an Activation as one or more Activation Syncs from a single data source to a single destination, and an Activation Sync as a single configured data pipeline from a source dataset to an object in a destination.[2] The pricing page gives examples: all syncs from Snowflake to one Salesforce account are one Activation, and syncs from Snowflake to HubSpot are another.[5]
Metering
Activations use the MAR model. Fivetran charges for inserted and updated data, including deletes, tracking activated rows by the sync key or matching key in each sync, per Activation, with a 14-day free trial for each new Activation.[3] Each Activation follows its own consumption curve, and curves cannot be combined across Activations or Accounts.[2]
On the Free plan the limit is 3,500 Activation MAR per month, applied account-wide.[3]
List price curve
Per Activation, in USD (incremental price per million MAR above the threshold; base spend per month):
| Threshold (millions of MAR) | Standard | Enterprise | Business Critical |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.000001 | $19,426.76; base $5.00 | $45,915.74; base $5.00 | $73,765.21; base $5.00 |
| 0.01 | $1,497.16; base $199.25 | $2,979.41; base $464.11 | $4,767.05; base $742.58 |
| 0.1 | $563.90; base $333.99 | $1,450.34; base $732.26 | $2,320.54; base $1,171.61 |
| 1 | $352.31; base $841.50 | $415.50; base $2,037.56 | $664.79; base $3,260.10 |
| 16 | $70.46; base $6,126.21 | $83.10; base $8,269.99 | $132.96; base $13,231.98 |
| 64 | $7.05; base $9,508.42 | $8.31; base $12,258.74 | $13.30; base $19,613.98 |
Fivetran’s examples are 1.5 million Activation MAR on Standard at $841.50 plus 0.5 times $352.31, or $1,017.655, and 15,000 MAR on Enterprise at $464.11 plus 5,000/1,000,000 of $2,979.41, or $479.007.[2] The pricing page shows median examples of 12,007 MAR for Snowflake to Salesforce at $202.25 a month.[5]
Plan features
The Standard plan lists more than 200 managed activation destinations, and Audience Hub, a self-service way to build and test audience segments on warehouse data, is listed from Enterprise. The Free plan includes activation usage up to its limit.[5]
Fivetran AI features
AI-powered features are governed by the Requirements for Fivetran AI (version 3, effective 3 August 2026), which supplement the Master Subscription Agreement. The customer owns the AI Content it submits and receives, to the extent permitted by law; Fivetran owns the AI Features and anonymised aggregated data derived from use. Fivetran will not use AI Content to train, fine-tune or retrain the pre-trained models behind the features, though input may be shared with listed third-party providers, and the customer indemnifies Fivetran against third-party claims arising from AI Content.[6]
Experimental or beta AI Features are additionally subject to the trial and pre-commercial feature terms, with no warranty, service level or support obligation.[6] The Acceptable Use Policy bars using AI Features or AI Content to build or improve competing models, using them for decisions with legal or similarly significant effects without human oversight, and presenting output as approved by Fivetran.[7]
Out of scope
Quickstart data model catalogues, the open-source dbt packages that Fivetran publishes, and the Census migration FAQs are documented by Fivetran and not reproduced here. dbt Labs products are covered on their own page.