How to Cut ETL Costs Without Disruption: Proven Strategies from Data Leaders

Published on April 30, 2025

Introduction

Data leaders are under pressure. Costs are rising, delivery expectations are relentless, and finance teams are starting to scrutinise every line item in the cloud bill. Cutting ETL costs might be necessary, but slowing down isn’t an option.

That’s why we hosted a LinkedIn Live on Friday, 25 April 2025, to answer one big question:

How do data teams reduce costs without hurting productivity or switching ETL Tools under pressure?

In this session, three experienced leaders tackled the toughest questions around cost, productivity, vendor lock-in, and the real reasons ETL migration projects fail. This article distils the key takeaways from that conversation so you can:

  • Identify hidden ETL costs that are burning through your budget.
  • Take control of your ETL renewal strategy without panic.
  • Reduce ETL processing costs without disrupting delivery.
  • Make a strategic switch if you truly need to switch ETL Tools.
  • Discover how to cut ETL costs without disruption based on real-world examples.

Let’s break down what we heard.

 

Expert Spotlight

👉 Aaron Phethean – Founder, Matatika
Aaron has built systems used by 1.2 billion people and led the development of tools relied on by over 3,000 companies. Now he’s helping data teams reduce ETL costs and simplify migration with Matatika.

👉 John Grubb – Head of Data & Business Systems, Pantheon.io
With deep FinOps and engineering experience, John shared how he built cost visibility across multi-cloud platforms and why “hidden” spend is often the real killer.

👉 Michael Daly – Senior Director of Engineering, Imperva
Michael leads global infrastructure and automation at Imperva. He brought a no-nonsense view on cost control at scale—and why even the best migrations can drain morale if done wrong.

“Migrations are the hidden killer of momentum. If it’s not broken, think twice before trying to fix it.” — John Grubb.

 

The Challenge Data Teams Face

Data teams aren’t just being asked to deliver faster—they’re being asked to deliver cheaper. However, cost pressure rarely comes with a clear strategy.

One month later, the finance team noticed a 30% increase in spending. The next, the ETL renewal date is looming, and everyone is scrambling. That’s when the panic begins, and rushed decisions, like switching tools with no plan, make things worse.

Add to that the pressure of row-based pricing models, vendor lock-in, and incomplete data migration strategies, and it’s easy to see why teams feel stuck.

“It’s not just the cloud bill that’s the problem—it’s the engineering time waste spent fixing, tweaking, or rewriting the same thing over and over again.” — Michael Daly.

 

Insight #1: Visibility Comes First

Before you can cut costs, you need to understand where they’re coming from. That sounds obvious, but it’s often not happening.

“Everything in the cloud world is engineered for speed, not clarity. Engineers spin things up, costs go up, and no one’s watching.” — John Grubb

The solution? Treat cloud cost, and ETL cost visibility like a first-class product:

  • Merge cloud bills across vendors to compare spending across ETL Tools.
  • Translate costs into your architecture, not just provider billing codes
  • Break it down to unit cost: GB processed, CPU hours used, etc.

Once you’ve done that, you can start linking infrastructure cost to business value and prioritise cuts that don’t hurt delivery.

Teams that follow proven cloud cost optimisation strategies gain better control over spend without burdening engineers.

 

Insight #2: Not All Migrations Are Worth It

Switching ETL platforms is tempting, but without a clear reason and structure, it can backfire.

A smarter solution is to use a compatibility mode that lets old and new systems run in parallel. At Matatika, we’ve taken this further with mirror mode, which allows for:

  • Side-by-side ETL validation using the same inputs and transformation
  • Testing real workloads in real-time
  • Zero disruption, zero double billing.
  • Validation before committing.

Because Mirror Mode mirrors your pipelines 1:1, you avoid rewriting transformations, retraining teams, or introducing risk during delivery.

Michael shared how a two-year ETL migration project nearly derailed his team: “We moved platforms, and it’s still not finished. Now there’s pressure to move again.”

Aaron added: “Most teams wait until the pain is unbearable. But by then, the window to switch calmly has closed.”

If you’re planning a change, you need a clear data migration strategy, not just a gut reaction to cost pressure.

Instead of committing to a full ETL migration:

  • Negotiate early start 3–6 months before renewal
  • Use a compatibility mode to run both systems in parallel
  • Use a value-led approach to change only switch if it improves performance, simplifies delivery, or reduces long-term cost and risk.

 

Insight #3: The Real Cost is Engineering Time

Yes, cloud costs matter. But the real drag on ETL budgets is engineering friction:

  • Constantly fixing brittle sync issues.
  • Schema changes breaking pipelines.
  • Manual handoffs between fragmented tools.

“There’s no line item on the bill for your team’s frustration,” Aaron said. “But that’s what really slows things down.”

To reduce ETL costs and improve velocity:

  • Automate pipelines and sync schedules.
  • Remove tools that create friction.
  • Streamline workflows with shared interfaces.

 

Insight #4: Plan Before The Panic

John and Michael agreed that the worst time to migrate ETL platforms is under pressure.

Instead:

  • Track ETL renewal dates well in advance.
  • Run Etl cost comparisons and ROI analysis early.
  • Test Fivetran alternatives or Matillion alternatives quietly in the background.
  • Use mirror mode to compare cost and performance side-by-side.

This gives you leverage. As Michael put it: “The vendors I like best are the ones who say, ‘Tell me where you want to run it, and we’ll spin it up there.’

 

Making It Happen

If you’re staring down a renewal, start here:

  • Map your ETL costs to infrastructure.
  • Identify where engineering time is being lost.
  • Ask: Is your current tool still better than ETL alternatives.
  • Run side-by-side testing before making a switch.

Key metrics to track:

  • Reduction in ETL processing hours.
  • Time to onboard new sources
  • Cost per GB of data processed.

These are the KPIs to build your ETL migration business case.

 

Your Next Steps

Want to stop firefighting and start delivering?

  • Start by getting visibility.
  • Reclaim your roadmap.
  • And never let a renewal deadline force your hand again.

👉 Watch the full LinkedIn Live replay or book a free Renewal Planning Session to explore how to cut ETL costs without disruption and regain control over spend.

 

Further Resources

https://meetings.hubspot.com/aphethean/switch?uuid=a6f5fe7e-ae01-4dc7-876b-8427d7b3e6dc

 

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