vioscale
Comparison

Hex vs Lightdash

No clear leader: Lightdash (60.3) and Hex (55.5) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Hex full profile →Lightdash full profile →
Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
Hex56
Lightdash60
Score
Vioscale score
Hex56 / 100medium · 72%updating
Lightdash60 / 100high · 75%updating
Pricing
Free tier
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Model
Hexfreemium
Lightdashfreemium
Price level
Hexlow
Lightdashhigh
Transparent
Hex✗
Lightdash✓
Integrations
Count
Hex8
Lightdash19
Security
Disclosure policy
Hex✓
Lightdash–
Gdpr
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Hipaa
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Soc2
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Status page
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
Hex–
Lightdash14
Github stars
Hex–
Lightdash6,084
Activity
Commits last 30d
Hex–
Lightdash100
Release
History
Hex–
Lightdash20 items
Language
Primary
Hex–
LightdashTypeScript
Market
Availability

Capabilities

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

Core
BI paradigm
HexNotebook
LightdashGoverned dashboards
Semantic / modelling layer
HexBuilt-in
Lightdashdbt metrics
Engine
Warehouse-native (SQL push-down)
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Deployment
Self-hostable / OSS core
Hex✗
Lightdash✓
Managed cloud available
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Intelligence
Natural-language query / AI copilot
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Delivery
Embedded / white-label analytics
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Scheduled reports / alerting
Hex-
Lightdash✓
Governance
Row-level security & SSO/SAML
Hex-
Lightdash✓
Commercial
Per-seat pricing published
Hex✗
Lightdash✓
Free tier / free desktop
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Ecosystem
dbt-native integration
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Data-source connector breadth
HexDatabricks, dbt, Git repos, warehouse tables, Unity Catalog metrics
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.

Hex

An AI analytics platform for building interactive data products and sharing insights. Features agentic notebooks, natural language query capabilities, and semantic modeling with 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.

Hex

from $36/moSubscriptionFree tier14-day trial

From $36/editor/month. Free tier. 14-day free trial on Team plan.

  • CommunityFree
    • Notebook agent trial
    • Connect any data source
    • Up to 5 notebooks
    • Build with all cell types
    • Small compute
  • Professional$36/editor/month
    • Notebook agent
    • Standard credits
    • Unlimited notebooks
    • Up to 5 published apps
    • 30-day version history
    • +1 more
  • Team$75/editor/month, 14-day free trial
    • Threads agent
    • Semantic model agent
    • Extended credits
    • Unlimited published apps
    • Visual exploration and drill down
    • +5 more
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • Explorer seat add-on
    • Audit logs
    • Premium credits
    • OAuth database connections
    • Observability API
    • +6 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
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
CLI
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Hex✓
Lightdash✓
Self-hosted
Hex✗
Lightdash✓
On-premise
Hex✗
Lightdash✓

Integrations

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

In common (3)
  • Databricks
  • dbt
  • Slack

Hex

8 total - 5 not shared
  • Databricks Unity Catalog
  • Claude
  • Cursor
  • MCP
  • Git
Independently observed

Lightdash

19 total - 16 not shared
  • BigQuery
  • Snowflake
  • Redshift
  • Postgres
  • Trino
  • ClickHouse
  • Athena
  • DuckDB
  • GitHub
  • GitLab
  • Azure DevOps
  • Bitbucket
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Google Sheets
  • Rollstack
  • MotherDuck
Independently observed

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