MAR (Monthly Active Rows) is Fivetran's volume-based pricing model. Customers are charged based on the number of unique rows that are inserted, updated, or deleted per month across their connectors. Each row counts once per month no matter how many times it changes, but new and modified rows compound across all your connectors. The model is the opposite of flat-rate pricing.
How MAR is calculated
- Fivetran tracks every row written to your destination by every connector.
- Each unique row counts once per month, regardless of how many times it's updated within that month.
- At month end, Fivetran sums all unique rows across all connectors.
- You're charged at the per-MAR rate of your plan, with rates declining at higher volume tiers.
Why MAR feels unpredictable for NetSuite
NetSuite's data model amplifies MAR counts in ways that are easy to miss:
- Each transaction creates multiple rows. An invoice with 10 line items writes to
transaction(1 row),transactionline(10 rows), andtransactionaccountingline(10-20 rows). One business event = 21-31 MAR. - OneWorld consolidation multiplies activity. The same transaction may appear under subsidiary, regional, and consolidated views.
- Month-end activity spikes. Closing entries, accruals, and adjustments cause unique-row counts to balloon.
- Initial backfill is huge. Year one includes all historical NetSuite data, often millions of rows.
Real-world Fivetran cost example for NetSuite
A mid-market NetSuite customer (200 employees, $50M revenue) typically generates 500K-2M MAR per month from NetSuite alone. At Fivetran's standard tiers, that's $1,000-$5,000+ per month, or $12,000-$60,000+ per year, before adding any other connectors. On top of that, Fivetran's NetSuite connector requires SuiteAnalytics Connect ($5,988/year), so total annual cost typically lands at $18,000-$66,000+.
Flat-rate vs MAR: which wins?
| Aspect | MAR (Fivetran) | Flat-rate (Acterys) |
|---|---|---|
| Predictability | Low | High |
| Annual cost (typical) | $12K-$60K+ | ~$10K |
| SAC required | Yes (+$5,988/yr) | No |
| Behavior at month-end spikes | Costs surge | No change |
| Best for | Multi-source ELT with stable volumes | NetSuite-focused teams wanting predictable cost |
When MAR pricing is fine
MAR isn't always wrong. It works well if you have very low data volumes, multiple non-NetSuite sources where Fivetran's connector library justifies the platform, or stable predictable row counts. For NetSuite-only or NetSuite-primary integrations, flat-rate alternatives almost always win on total cost.
Related glossary entries
- SuiteAnalytics Connect — Fivetran's NetSuite connector requires this.
- SuiteQL — flat-rate connectors use this instead of ODBC.