vioscale
Comparison

Cube vs Lightdash

On the evidence we track, Cube leads this comparison with a composite score of 74/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Cube full profile →Lightdash full profile →
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★Cube74
Lightdash60
Score
Vioscale score
Cube74 / 100medium · 73%
Lightdash60 / 100high · 75%
Pricing
Free tier
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Model
Cubefreemium
Lightdashfreemium
Price level
Cubemid
Lightdashhigh
Transparent
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Integrations
Count
Cube9
Lightdash19
Security
Gdpr
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Hipaa
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Soc2
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Sla pct
Cube99.95
Lightdash–
Status page
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
Cube–
Lightdash14
Github stars
Cube–
Lightdash6,084
Activity
Commits last 30d
Cube–
Lightdash100
Release
History
Cube–
Lightdash20 items
Language
Primary
Cube–
LightdashTypeScript
Market
Availability

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for bi software. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Core
BI paradigm
CubeSemantic layer
LightdashGoverned dashboards
Semantic / modelling layer
CubeBuilt-in
Lightdashdbt metrics
Engine
Warehouse-native (SQL push-down)
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Deployment
Self-hostable / OSS core
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Managed cloud available
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Intelligence
Natural-language query / AI copilot
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Delivery
Embedded / white-label analytics
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Scheduled reports / alerting
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Governance
Row-level security & SSO/SAML
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Commercial
Per-seat pricing published
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Free tier / free desktop
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Ecosystem
dbt-native integration
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Data-source connector breadth
Cube50+ data sources plus MCP connectors
Lightdash9 data warehouses (BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, Databricks, Postgres, Trino, C

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Cube

Leader

AI-native analytics platform combining business intelligence and embedded analytics. Grounds all answers in a governed semantic model to ensure consistency and reliability across chat, workbooks, dashboards, and AI agents.

Independently observed

Lightdash

A BI platform that anchors analytics in dbt-defined metrics and provides a governed semantic layer for organizations. Teams define metrics, joins, and business logic once, then access the data through dashboards, AI-powered Q&A, embedded analytics, or custom data applications, all with consistent governance and user permissions.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Cube

Leader
from $40/moSubscriptionFree tier

From $40/developer/month. Free tier available.

  • FreeFree
    • Connect any data source
    • Model in semantic layer IDE
    • Explore data in workbooks
    • Publish workbooks as dashboards
    • Semantic model agent
    • +2 more
  • Starter$40/developer/month
    • Everything in Free
    • Extended limits on agents
    • Use premium LLMs
    • Unlimited workbooks
    • Production deployment compute
    • +3 more
  • Premium$80/developer/month
    • Everything in Starter
    • Explorer and Viewer roles
    • Embedded dashboards
    • Embedded analytics chat
    • Unlimited queries
    • +4 more
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • Everything in Premium
    • 99.990% Uptime SLA
    • Dedicated single tenant installation
    • Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC)
    • Bring Your Own LLM (BYOLLM)
    • +3 more
as of verify ↗

Lightdash

from $3000/moHybridFree tier21-day trial

Open source free tier, Cloud Pro at $3,000/month (unlimited users), Enterprise custom. No per-seat pricing.

  • Open SourceFree
    • Unlimited seats
    • Data explorer and report builder
    • Native dbt integration
    • Scheduled deliveries
    • Alerting
    • +11 more
  • Cloud Pro$3,000/month flat rate, unlimited users and visualizations
    • Unlimited users
    • Unlimited visualizations
    • Native dbt integration with open semantic layer
    • Scheduled reports and alerting
    • Dashboards as code
    • +11 more
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • All Cloud Pro features, plus:
    • Cloud or on-premises deployment
    • SAML 2.0 and SCIM 2.0 provisioning
    • Advanced user management with custom roles
    • SOC 2 Type II compliance
    • +9 more
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
CLI
Cube✗
Lightdash✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
Self-hosted
Cube✓
Lightdash✓
On-premise
Cube✗
Lightdash✓
Hybrid
Cube✓
Lightdash✗

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (2)
  • Google Sheets
  • dbt

Cube

Leader
9 total - 7 not shared
  • Notion
  • Linear
  • Sentry
  • Attio
  • Excel
  • Okta
  • Power BI
Independently observed

Lightdash

19 total - 17 not shared
  • BigQuery
  • Snowflake
  • Redshift
  • Databricks
  • Postgres
  • Trino
  • ClickHouse
  • Athena
  • DuckDB
  • GitHub
  • GitLab
  • Azure DevOps
  • Bitbucket
  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Rollstack
  • MotherDuck
Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.