HR & Recruiting · head to head
15Five vs Airbyte
The short version
- Only Airbyte has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: 15Five split across three tiers, so performance reviews, OKRs and 360 feedback need Perform at $11 per user per month rather than the $4 Engage tier; Airbyte the self-managed open source Core edition has no SSO or RBAC, no multiple workspaces, no row filtering or encryption, and no monitoring integrations
- They diverge on capability: 15Five covers Weekly check-ins, Airbyte covers Data replication.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which 15Five and Airbyte actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in 15Five
- Weekly check-ins
- 1-on-1 meetings
- OKRs & goal tracking
- Performance reviews
- High fives recognition
- Engagement surveys
- Pulse surveys
- Manager effectiveness
Only in Airbyte
- Data replication
- Schema detection
- ELT pipelines
- Real-time sync
- Data transformation
- Monitoring
- Custom connectors
- 300+ connectors
Both cover
- GDPR
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
15Five
- Running engagement surveys with heat maps and benchmarkingnot Airbyte
- Performance reviews and continuous feedback cyclesnot Airbyte
- Setting and tracking OKRsnot Airbyte
- 360 degree feedback and talent matrix reviewsnot Airbyte
- Compensation review cycles as a paid add-onnot Airbyte
Airbyte
- Replicating data from SaaS applications into a warehousenot 15Five
- Self-hosting an open source ELT pipelinenot 15Five
- Managed data replication without running infrastructurenot 15Five
- Building connectors for sources without an off-the-shelf integrationnot 15Five
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
15Five
- Split across three tiers, so performance reviews, OKRs and 360 feedback need Perform at $11 per user per month rather than the $4 Engage tier
- Manager training microlearnings are only in Total Platform at $16 per user per month
- Compensation is a paid add-on at $9 per user per month, rising to $11 with benchmarking
- The Kona meeting assistant is a further $2 per employee per month and Kona Coach $19 per manager per month
- Advertised prices are the annual rates
Airbyte
- The self-managed open source Core edition has no SSO or RBAC, no multiple workspaces, no row filtering or encryption, and no monitoring integrations
- Sync frequency on Core is limited compared with the managed tiers, which offer 15 minute syncs
- Support on the free tier is community and AI only; premium support requires Pro or Enterprise
- The free Agents plan stops at 1,000 agent operations a month and pauses capacity until the next month once hit
- Agent overages are billed per operation at $0.004 to $0.005 once past the plan allowance
Pricing, plan by plan
15Five
$4/month- Engage$4/month
- Engagement surveys
- Pulse surveys
- Action planning
- Perform$10/month
- Weekly check-ins
- 1-on-1s
- Performance reviews
- Total Platform$16/month
- Everything in Engage & Perform
- Career paths
- Competencies
Airbyte
Free- Open SourceFree
- Self-hosted
- Community support
- Full features
- Cloud$50/month
- Cloud hosted
- Email support
- Enterprise$500/month
- Dedicated support
- Advanced features
Which should you pick?
Choose 15Five if
- You need weekly check-ins.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
- You also want 1-on-1 meetings.
Choose Airbyte if
- You need data replication.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Self-hosted.
- You also want schema detection.
Questions people ask
- Is 15Five or Airbyte better?
- Neither clearly leads. 15Five starts at $4/month and Airbyte at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, 15Five or Airbyte?
- Airbyte has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $4/month for 15Five and Free for Airbyte.
- Does 15Five or Airbyte run on more platforms?
- 15Five runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. Airbyte runs on Web, Self-hosted.
- Can I use Airbyte for free?
- Yes. Airbyte has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. 15Five starts at $4/month.
- What is 15Five best used for?
- 15Five is most often used for running engagement surveys with heat maps and benchmarking, performance reviews and continuous feedback cycles, setting and tracking okrs, 360 degree feedback and talent matrix reviews. Of those, running engagement surveys with heat maps and benchmarking and performance reviews and continuous feedback cycles are not what Airbyte is typically brought in for.
- What can 15Five do that Airbyte cannot?
- 15Five covers Weekly check-ins, 1-on-1 meetings, OKRs & goal tracking, Performance reviews. Airbyte covers Data replication, Schema detection, ELT pipelines, Real-time sync. Both handle GDPR.
Related pages
Other head to heads
- 15Five vs BambooHR
- 15Five vs Workday
- 15Five vs Culture Amp
- 15Five vs Freshteam
- 15Five vs TINYpulse
- 15Five vs Zoho People
- 15Five vs Bonusly
- 15Five vs CharlieHR
- 15Five vs Kudos
- 15Five vs Lattice
- 15Five vs Personio
- 15Five vs Achievers
- 15Five vs Breathe HR
- 15Five vs Darwinbox
- 15Five vs Employment Hero
- 15Five vs greytHR
- 15Five vs HiBob
- 15Five vs Homebase
- 15Five vs Microsoft Power Automate
- 15Five vs n8n
- 15Five vs Zapier
- 15Five vs MuleSoft
- 15Five vs Parabola
- 15Five vs Zapier Plus
- 15Five vs Jitterbit
- 15Five vs mParticle
- 15Five vs Paragon
- 15Five vs RudderStack
- 15Five vs Workato
- 15Five vs Automate.io
- 15Five vs Boomi
- 15Five vs Browser Use
- 15Five vs Browserbase
- 15Five vs Celigo
- 15Five vs Census
- 15Five vs CrewAI
- Airbyte vs BambooHR
- Airbyte vs Workday
- Airbyte vs Culture Amp
- Airbyte vs Freshteam
- Airbyte vs TINYpulse
- Airbyte vs Zoho People
- Airbyte vs Bonusly
- Airbyte vs CharlieHR
- Airbyte vs Kudos
- Airbyte vs Lattice
- Airbyte vs Personio
- Airbyte vs Achievers
- Airbyte vs Breathe HR
- Airbyte vs Darwinbox
- Airbyte vs Employment Hero
- Airbyte vs greytHR
- Airbyte vs HiBob
- Airbyte vs Homebase
- Airbyte vs Microsoft Power Automate
- Airbyte vs n8n
- Airbyte vs Zapier
- Airbyte vs MuleSoft
- Airbyte vs Parabola
- Airbyte vs Zapier Plus
- Airbyte vs Jitterbit
- Airbyte vs mParticle
- Airbyte vs Paragon
- Airbyte vs RudderStack
- Airbyte vs Workato
- Airbyte vs Automate.io
- Airbyte vs Boomi
- Airbyte vs Browser Use
- Airbyte vs Browserbase
- Airbyte vs Celigo
- Airbyte vs Census
- Airbyte vs CrewAI


