Fivetran has 2 pieces: data movement and integration/access (via linking to APIs, etc.) Sure, there's Airbyte and others, but no one has as complete a catalog of integration plugs as Fivetran.

Yes, OpenFlow may be able to replace the data movement part (though prefect, airflow, yadda yadda all tried to be the one ring), but it's a pretty small bunch who support all connections.

It's not the only part of the business, but it's an important one. Just like Plaid's approach became the standard to code against in accessing financial services, Fivetran has become the default in getting data out of tools you already pay for directly into a controlled space.

If they don't muck that up, they've got an embed in every large integration. No one is looking to OpenFlow for that.

Still won't become Snowflake or Databricks (and it's silly to try, imho), but they do have a good moat for a small castle.

OpenFlow feels like an attempt at keeping customers within Snowflake boundaries, and while it might work for some, I see no way Snowflake being able to keep up with the data integration needs unless they allow another way of extending their capabilities other than pre-built integrations.

On the other hand, I do agree with you that it is quite a big challenge for Fivetran to try and become Snowflake.