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Compare Hightouch and Rudderstack

RudderStack is a customer data infrastructure tool while Hightouch is a feature-complete Composable CDP ranked #1 on G2 for highest estimated ROI.

Hightouch
Rudderstack

The world’s most innovative companies choose Hightouch as their Composable CDP

Spotify.
Warner Music Group.
PetSmart.
WeightWatchers.
Ramp.
Calendly.
GitLab.
Grammarly.
Spotify.
Aritzia.
Warner Music Group.
PetSmart.
Tripadvisor.
GameStop.
Cars.com.
WeightWatchers.
Iterable.
Ramp.
Plaid.
Calendly.
GitLab.
Malwarebytes.
Greenhouse.
Grammarly.

Hightouch and RudderStack both are platforms that allow you to sync data to downstream marketing destinations like CRM tools, email tools, and advertising platforms. Both platforms have the functionality to collect events via an SDK, resolve identities, and sync data to 200+ tools.

However, there are plenty of differences ranging from usability to pricing, to scalability.

Compare Hightouch and RudderStack

FunctionalityHightouchRudderstack
Data Collection
Client-side, server-side, & other 3rd-party sources
Client-side, server-side, & other 3rd-party sources
Data Storage
Your existing data infrastructure (data warehouse, data lake, or database)
Your existing data infrastructure (data warehouse, data lake, or database)
Data Retention
Unlimited lookback & history
Unlimited lookback & history
Data Schema
Controlled by you (supports any custom entity or object)
Controlled by you (supports any custom entity or object)
Audience Management
No-code audience builder (supports any online or offline data stored in your data warehouse)
Limited audience-building capabilities for non-technical users
Journey Orchestration
Yes
Yes
Identity Resolution
No-code tool to define exact or fuzzy-match rules to build owned identity graphs within your data warehouse
Warehouse-native, code-based, deterministic IDR
Identity Graph Storage Location
Lives in your warehouse
Lives in your warehouse
Reverse ETL
Core sync engine that integrates with existing toolsets & workflows
Available with limited capabilities (visual mapping is not available for all destinations)
Real-Time Audience Computation
Dependent upon data landing in the warehouse
Dependent upon data landing in the warehouse
Real-Time Streaming (Event Forwarding)
Yes
Yes
Low-Latency Profile API
Yes
Yes
Streaming Reverse ETL
Yes
Yes
Data Activation Flow
Warehouse to destination (no data is stored in Hightouch)
Data warehouse to destination
Activation Destinations
250+
200+
Source of Truth
Single: Your owned data warehouse
Single: Your owned data warehouse
Security & Compliance
Data lives in your infrastructure (can be configured to be GDPR, CCPA, & HIPAA compliant)
Can be configured to be GDPR, CCPA, & HIPAA compliant
Pricing
Unbundled: individually priced features with no MTU billing
Dependent on event volume & add-on features
Proof of Concept (POC)
Less than 1 month
Variable

Pros and Cons of Hightouch

Pros

  • Most powerful point & click audience builder (supports any offline & online customer data)
  • Warehouse-native campaign analytics to experiment, measure & analyze audiences
  • Publicly available customer support metrics (99% CSAT Score)

Cons

  • Newer vendor in the CDP market
  • Must have actionable data available in a data platform

Pros and Cons of RudderStack

Pros

  • Open-source SDKs
  • Can leverage your existing platform for underlying storage
  • Supports ETL pipelines to ingest data in addition to event collection

Cons

  • Not marketer-friendly (built for data teams)
  • Audience builder is difficult to use
  • Identity resolution mapping/merging logic is inflexible & purely deterministic
  • Reverse ETL is limited & underdeveloped

Should I Buy Hightouch or RudderStack?

It depends what your priorities as a business are. RudderStack has excellent event collection SDKs, however lacks a fully built out data activation suite of products. They check a lot of the boxes as far as "having" the products, but their Reverse ETL product and Identity Resolution products are currently immature compared to Hightouch.

RudderStack is trying to be a Composable CDP, but their core competency is as an open-source infrastructure solution for event collection targeted at developers.

If you are looking for a tool that can be used across an organization to activate all of your tools, Hightouch is a much more built out and flexible tool to do so.

200%

boost in
engagement


PetSmart logo.

1 day

migration


Minno logo.

52%

increase
in ROAS


Lucid logo.

Start syncing data in minutes

Check out this 5 minute interactive demo to learn how you can sync customer data to any business tool.

Hightouch Audiences user interface.

Recognized as an industry leader by industry leaders

Iterable logo.

Technology Partner
of the Year

Hightouch doesn’t store your data

Composable CDPs are more secure because no duplicate storage is required. Instead, we simply read from your data warehouse, where it stays safe and sound.


Connect to 200+ tools

Send any data to any tool. Skip building and maintaining pipelines, uploading CSVs, and having data silos across marketing, sales, customer success, finance, and analytics.

PostHog
Facebook Custom Audiences
PostgreSQL
Slack
Redis
Retention Science
Rokt
Adobe Campaign Classic
Oracle DB
Adobe Target
Stripe
MongoDB
iSpot.tv
Zoomd
NCR Advanced Marketing Solution
Salesforce (Sandbox)
Amazon Ads DSP and AMC
Zoho CRM