Pendo provides two primary solutions for customers who need to make Pendo data available in data warehouses and business intelligence (BI) tools: Data Sync and the Aggregation API. Choosing between Data Sync and the Aggregation API depends on the type of data, the volume of data, and the granularity of data required for your use cases, as well as the number of use cases for Pendo data outside of Pendo that exist across your organization. This article explains the differences between the two to help you choose the best approach for your needs.
When to use Data Sync
Data Sync is a solution that delivers bulk Pendo data with granular, millisecond-level event data. Customers can choose to receive Avro files in cloud storage or sync data tables directly into their Snowflake instance. See Overview of Pendo Data Sync for more details.
Use Data Sync when you need:
- All underlying event data for proprietary data analysis
- Granular event data for user-journey analysis
- Pendo data for multiple different data use cases
When to use the Aggregation API
The Pendo API allows customers to query specific subsets of Pendo data. A commonly used feature for data extraction is the Aggregation API, which allows customers to write custom queries of their Pendo data. See the Engage API documentation and the Pendo API Academy course for more details.
Use the Aggregation API if you need to pull small, specific sets of data for custom workflows or targeted queries.
- Specific aggregate metrics or pre-calculated scores from Pendo (e.g., Product Engagement Score)
- Targeted data extracts without full event history
- Data not currently available in the Data Sync schema (e.g. Pendo segments, feedback items from Listen)
Feature comparison
| Feature | Data Sync | Aggregation API |
|---|---|---|
| Use case | Large-scale, recurring exports | Small, targeted queries |
| Data delivery | Automatic push to a supported cloud storage or warehouse destination | Manual requests to pull data |
| Data export capacity | Up to 3 calendar years of historical data + daily recurring exports | 5 minutes or 4 GB output per request |
| Output format | Avro files | JSON |
| Pages / Features / Track Events | Individual events with exact timestamps and URLs ✅ | Aggregated data only (hourly granularity) ☑️ |
| Guides / Polls | Individual events with exact timestamps and URLs ✅ | Individual events with exact timestamps and URLs ✅ |
| Listen data | Not available ❌ | Available ✅ |
| Retroactive export updates | Updates available if tags are modified or added ✅ | Not available (must re-query manually) ❌ |