Dataform vs Great Expectations
Dataform
cloud.google.com
Great Expectations
greatexpectations.ioSide by side
| Figure | Dataform | Great Expectations |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 3 |
| Spec score · Data Preparation for Analytics | 7.7 (#12) | 8.1 (#9) |
| Orchestration | Workflows can be scheduled with Dataform workflow configurations, Managed Service for Apache Airflow, Workflows and Cloud Scheduler, or automated with Cloud Build triggers. | GX lists Apache Airflow, Dagster, and Prefect as orchestration integrations. |
| Security | Dataform compiles code in a sandbox without internet access, and compilation cannot call external APIs. | GX Cloud metadata is encrypted at rest with AES-256 and in transit with TLS 1.2, and tenant isolation uses Postgres Row Level Security. |
Plans
Great Expectations
- DeveloperFree
- EnterprisePriced on request
- TeamPriced on request
In their own words
Dataform
Dataform has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Great Expectations
Great Expectations (GX) is a framework for defining data tests and checking whether data meets their criteria. GX Core is a Python library for building and running data-validation workflows, and it requires Python versions 3.10 through 3.13. GX Cloud provides a web interface for data teams, including technical and nontechnical stakeholders, and runs tests in the environment where connected data resides using read-only connections. Data Docs turns Expectations, validation results, and related metadata into static web pages. GX lists data-source integrations including Databricks, BigQuery, Pandas, PostgreSQL, Snowflake, Spark, Redshift, and cloud storage services. Notification integrations include Slack, Email, PagerDuty, OpsGenie, and Microsoft Teams; orchestration integrations include Apache Airflow, Dagster, and Prefect. Custom rules can be written with SQL in GX Cloud or through GX Core. The Developer plan costs nothing and covers up to five data assets under test per month and three users, with unlimited rows per asset. Team and Enterprise have custom data-asset limits and no listed prices.