What is the difference between ETL and ELT?

ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) transforms data before loading it into the warehouse - traditional approach, good when transformation is complex or data needs cleaning before storage. ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) loads raw data first, then transforms it inside the warehouse using SQL and dbt - the modern approach that leverages cheap cloud storage and powerful warehouse compute. Most modern data teams use ELT. Our engineers implement whichever approach fits your architecture.