The Modern Data Stack
How high-growth companies build their data infrastructure
The modern data stack is a collection of cloud-native, mostly open-source tools that power analytics and data engineering at scale. These tools work well together and are the de facto standard at companies like Airbnb, Netflix, and Shopify.
Airbyte
Connects 300+ sources with an open-source, self-hosted option. The go-to ELT tool for getting data into your warehouse.
dbt
SQL-first transformation with version control, testing, and docs built in. Transforms raw data into analytics-ready models.
Snowflake
Columnar cloud warehouse that separates compute from storage. Scales to petabytes without managing infrastructure.
Dagster
Asset-based orchestration that models your data as a graph of dependencies — easier to debug than task-based alternatives.
DataHub
Open-source metadata platform for data discovery, lineage, and governance. Used at LinkedIn, Airbnb, and Saxo Bank.
Soda
Declarative data quality checks that run in your warehouse. Catch bad data before it reaches your dashboards.