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Frequently asked questions

Have a question about Putki or Apache Hop? Explore our FAQs or reach out to us directly.

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Think of it like this:
  • Apache Hop is the open-source project, managed by the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). It's the powerful, community-driven engine. Like the Linux kernel, it's a world-class piece of technology available to everyone.
  • know.bi is our company. We are a team of experts and leading contributors to the Apache Hop project. We are the "Red Hat" in this analogy.
  • Putki is our commercial product, built by know.bi. It is our enterprise-grade, supported, and secured distribution of Apache Hop, designed for mission-critical use in corporate environments.
You are paying for the assurances, security, and enhanced capabilities that enterprises require. Apache Hop is a fantastic tool; Putki makes it an enterprise-ready platform. With Putki, you get:
  • Security hardening: Vulnerability-scanned builds, hardened Docker images, and patch releases between major Apache Hop versions.
  • Guaranteed support & SLAs: Direct access to the foremost experts for timely help when you need it most.
  • Service packs: Security patches and critical bug fixes for specific versions, so you can maintain stability in production without major upgrades.
  • Maintained connectors: Pre-built, fully supported integrations with Odoo, Shopify, HubSpot, and more — not part of the open-source project.
  • Observability & governance: Grafana dashboards, Autodoc, SQL Parser, RDBMS Impact Analysis — everything your team needs to run pipelines reliably at scale.
We follow a clear and transparent open core principle:
  • Apache Hop gets everything needed for an individual developer or data engineer to be incredibly successful — the core engine, all fundamental transforms, open-standard connectivity, and community-driven connectors. Apache Hop will always be a complete, powerful, and usable platform on its own.
  • Putki gets features primarily relevant to teams and enterprises running Hop in a governed, multi-user production environment — security hardening, observability tooling, governance features, and connectors to proprietary enterprise systems.
Yes. Putki is developed by the same team that actively contributes to Apache Hop. Revenue from Putki subscriptions funds our company and enables us to dedicate a significant portion of our developers' time to the open-source project.
  • Our team includes 3 of the top 10 Apache Hop contributors.
  • We contribute continuously to core engine improvements, bug fixes, new features, and documentation.
  • We participate in design discussions, reviews, and long-term roadmap decisions within the Apache Hop community.
Putki customers are therefore not only purchasing a supported enterprise solution, but also directly funding the ongoing development of Apache Hop itself.
A Service Pack is a collection of critical security patches and regression fixes for a specific version of Apache Hop. In a fast-moving open-source project, the community is focused on the next major release. However, many large organizations need to run a stable version in production for an extended period. Our Service Packs provide the critical fixes you need to stay secure and stable, without forcing you to undergo a full platform upgrade.
This is what our professional services and custom development offerings are for. As a Putki customer, you can directly fund the development of features, connectors, or bug fixes that are critical to your business. This allows you to influence the roadmap and get the functionality you need, faster. Get in touch to discuss scope and cost.
Apache Hop is an open-source project maintained by its community. Bug reports and contributions are welcome on the Apache Hop GitHub. If you report a bug there, the community — including our team — may pick it up in a future release.

If you need a fix on a specific timeline or for a production system, that's something we can scope as a paid engagement. Get in touch and we'll tell you honestly whether it's feasible and what it would cost.
The Apache Hop community is active and helpful. Start with the free resources: If you've worked through the docs and are still stuck, our Coaching packages are designed for exactly that situation — structured sessions with the engineers who built the platform, no subscription required. When you're ready to run Apache Hop in production with commercial backing, we're here.