For teams choosing a data-pipeline tool, the difficult part is separating broad feature descriptions from projects with strong current signals. This September 2026 snapshot uses the supplied ToolVitals records—scores, health, shipping, status, licensing, and project descriptions—to compare open/source-visible options.
The ranking includes open/source-visible tools only and orders them by ToolVitals score descending, then health and shipping for equal composite scores. GitHub stars are context only; they do not determine the ranking.
Rankings
| Rank | Tool | Openness | License | Health | Shipping | GitHub Stars | Score | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apache Airflow | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 99 | 98 | 46820 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 2 | dbt | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 98 | 98 | 13805 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 3 | texera | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 98 | 98 | 313 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 4 | Debezium | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 98 | 97 | 13107 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 5 | Bruin | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 97 | 1702 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 6 | Feldera | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 97 | 97 | 2086 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 7 | HPCC Systems | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 97 | 616 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 8 | Dagster | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 96 | 16138 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 9 | AtroCore | OSI-approved OSS | GPL-3.0 | 96 | 97 | 235 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 10 | Open Wearables | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 97 | 96 | 2486 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 11 | Sail | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 96 | 3370 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 12 | CloudQuery | OSI-approved OSS | MPL-2.0 | 96 | 96 | 6516 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 13 | Altimate Code | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 96 | 95 | 811 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 14 | MLRun | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 95 | 1695 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 15 | Pixeltable | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 95 | 1619 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 16 | Meltano | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 95 | 94 | 2624 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 17 | PRQL | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 94 | 10915 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 18 | CocoIndex | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 93 | 11534 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 19 | Jitsu | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 94 | 96 | 5069 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 20 | Apache DevLake | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 93 | 3135 | 94 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 21 | Unstract | OSI-approved OSS | AGPL-3.0 | 95 | 93 | 7234 | 94 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 22 | Arroyo | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 85 | 78 | 5031 | 82 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 23 | Multiwoven | OSI-approved OSS | AGPL-3.0 | 73 | 67 | 1673 | 71 | 🟢 Good |
| 24 | DocETL | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 73 | 58 | 4081 | 67 | 🟢 Good |
| 25 | Mage | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 69 | 56 | 8821 | 64 | 🟢 Good |
| 26 | aisheets | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 21 | 10 | 1640 | 17 | 🔴 Needs Attention |
| 27 | HRFlow | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 14 | 4 | 41 | 10 | 🔴 Needs Attention |
| 28 | cptn.io | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 8 | 0 | 492 | 5 | 🔴 Needs Attention |
| 29 | Automate DV | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 7 | 0 | 596 | 4 | 🔴 Needs Attention |
| 30 | Documind | OSI-approved OSS | AGPL-3.0 | 1 | 0 | 1520 | 1 | 🔴 Needs Attention |
| 31 | Neosync | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 0 | 0 | 4141 | 0 | 🔴 Needs Attention |
| 32 | Orchest | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 0 | 0 | 4132 | 0 | 🔴 Needs Attention |
| 33 | Ploomber | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 0 | 0 | 3620 | 0 | 🔴 Needs Attention |
Top 3 Highlights
Apache Airflow ranks first with a ToolVitals score of 98, a health score of 99, a shipping score of 98, and status 🟢 Excellent. It is a platform to programmatically author, schedule, and monitor workflows, making orchestration its defining focus. The record lists it as OSI-approved OSS under Apache-2.0.
dbt ranks second with a ToolVitals score of 98, health score of 98, shipping score of 98, and status 🟢 Excellent. Its description centers on helping data analysts and engineers transform data using practices associated with software engineering. The record lists it as OSI-approved OSS under Apache-2.0.
texera ranks third with a ToolVitals score of 98, health score of 98, shipping score of 98, and status 🟢 Excellent. Its description emphasizes collaborative, machine-learning-centric data analytics using workflows, giving it a distinct analytics focus within the top three. The record lists it as OSI-approved OSS under Apache-2.0.
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