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Fivetran is Summand’s universal connector. Instead of building native drivers for every database and SaaS API, Summand reads the Parquet output of a Fivetran-managed sync. Available on Enterprise plans.

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When to use Fivetran

Sources Summand doesn't support natively

Databricks, Redshift, BigQuery, Oracle, MongoDB, plus 300+ SaaS sources (Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe, etc).

You want to keep credentials away from Summand

Source credentials only live in Fivetran. Summand sees only the Parquet output.

You already use Fivetran

Reuse your existing Fivetran account and credit pool. No duplicate sync.

Your source is rate-limited

Fivetran handles incremental sync, retries, and rate-limit backoff for you.

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How it works

You: pick a source in Summand           ──┐
Summand: provisions Fivetran group +     │
         destination + connection         │
Fivetran Connect Card popup opens       ──┘
You authenticate with your data source ──┐
                                          │
Fivetran syncs to Summand's S3 bucket    │
as Parquet                               │
                                          │
You click Refresh in Summand             │
Summand reads Parquet → curated Parquet  │
→ Glue catalog → semantic layer          ──┘
You never interact with Fivetran’s UI. Summand provisions the Fivetran account, group, and destination on your behalf — you only authenticate with the source itself, in a popup.

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Setup

1

Pick a source

From Connectors → Add connector → Fivetran, choose your source type (Databricks, Salesforce, etc.).
2

Authenticate in the Fivetran popup

A Fivetran-hosted Connect Card opens in a popup. Authenticate with your source — OAuth, API key, or username/password depending on the source. Credentials go directly to Fivetran; Summand never sees them.
3

Wait for the first sync

Fivetran’s first sync may take from a few minutes to several hours depending on source size and rate limits. You’ll see Pending first sync on the connector card until the first batch lands in S3.
4

Pick tables and configure datasets

Once the first sync completes, Summand discovers the schemas and tables. From there, configuration is identical to a native database connector — pick tables, set targets, click Analyze.

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Refresh

After the initial sync, Refresh in Summand re-reads Fivetran’s most recent Parquet output. It does not trigger a new Fivetran sync — Fivetran syncs run on whatever schedule is configured in your Fivetran account (every 1, 5, 15, 60 minutes etc.). To force a fresh sync from the source, trigger it from your Fivetran dashboard or wait for the next scheduled sync, then click Refresh in Summand.
Webhook-driven auto-refresh — where Summand re-runs analysis as soon as Fivetran finishes a sync — is on the roadmap. Until then, refresh is manual.

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Billing

Fivetran charges based on monthly active rows (MAR) — the count of distinct rows synced per month. Summand’s bill is independent of this; we charge the standard Enterprise rate regardless of how much data Fivetran moves. If you already have a Fivetran account, you can connect Summand to it instead of having Summand provision a new one. Contact sales to set this up.

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Limitations

  • Latency: Refresh shows the most recent Fivetran sync, not real-time data.
  • Storage: Parquet output stays in Summand’s bucket; we manage retention.
  • Schema changes: Handled automatically — adding/removing columns in the source propagates on the next sync, then on the next Summand refresh.
  • Custom transformations: Fivetran’s transformations layer is supported, but Summand reads the post-transformation output. Plan accordingly.