vioscaleAI
Comparison

Lightdash vs Looker

On the evidence we track, Lightdash leads this comparison with a composite score of 64/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Lightdash full profile →Looker full profile →
Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
★Lightdash64
Looker52
Score
vioscaleAI score
Lightdash64 / 100medium · 73%
Looker52 / 100medium · 53%
Pricing
Free tier
Lightdash✓
Looker✗
Model
Lightdashfreemium
Lookercommercial
Price level
Lightdashlow
Looker–
Transparent
Lightdash✓
Looker✗
Integrations
Count
Lightdash13
Looker6
Security
Certifications
Gdpr
Lightdash✓
Looker✓
Hipaa
Lightdash✓
Looker–
Iso27001
Lightdash–
Looker✓
Soc2
Lightdash✓
Looker✓
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Sla pct
Lightdash–
Looker99.9
Status page
Lightdash✓
Looker✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
Lightdash14
Looker–
Github stars
Lightdash6,185
Looker–
Stackoverflow questions
Lightdash–
Looker2,000
Activity
Commits last 30d
Lightdash100
Looker–
Release
Cadence days
Lightdash–
Looker30
History
Lightdash20 items
Looker–
Language
Primary
LightdashTypeScript
Looker–
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
Lightdash7 items
Looker8 items

Capabilities

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

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

What each one is

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

Lightdash

Leader

An agentic BI platform that defines trusted metrics and business logic in dbt, then powers self-serve analytics across dashboards, natural-language AI agents, and embedded data apps. Available as open-source for self-hosting or managed cloud.

Independently observed

Looker

A business intelligence and analytics platform offering self-service dashboards, data exploration through LookML models, and embedded analytics capabilities with support for cloud and self-hosted deployment.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

Lightdash

Leader
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 ↗

Looker

Pricing not documented yet.

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
Lightdash✓
Looker✓
CLI
Lightdash✓
Looker✗
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Lightdash✓
Looker✓
Self-hosted
Lightdash✓
Looker✓

Integrations

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

In common (5)
  • BigQuery
  • Snowflake
  • GitHub
  • GitLab
  • Bitbucket

Lightdash

Leader
21 total - 16 not shared
  • Redshift
  • Databricks
  • Postgres
  • Trino
  • ClickHouse
  • Athena
  • DuckDB
  • Azure DevOps
  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Google Sheets
  • dbt
  • Rollstack
  • MotherDuck
  • Google Slides
  • PowerPoint
Independently observed

Looker

10 total - 5 not shared
  • Dataplex
  • Cloud Storage
  • GitHub Actions
  • GitLab CI
  • Bitbucket Pipelines
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Lightdash or Looker: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

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