Google Looker
Modern BI platform for governed data modeling and dashboards
Lightdash
Self‑serve analytics built on your dbt models
Turn dbt‑defined metrics into interactive dashboards, letting anyone in your organization explore data, drill‑down, and share insights without writing SQL, all with a familiar, open‑source interface.
Overview
Empower Everyone with Data
Lightdash bridges the gap between data engineering and business analysis by exposing dbt‑defined metrics and dimensions as self‑serve visualizations. Teams can explore, segment, and filter data without writing SQL, while retaining a single source of truth for business logic.
Flexible Deployment & Robust Governance
Deploy Lightdash wherever you need—use the free Cloud trial, a one‑click Render instance, a local script, or production‑grade Kubernetes via community Helm charts. Built‑in version history, chart rollback, and CI/CD validation keep analytics reliable and auditable.
Collaborative Insight Sharing
Create dashboards, schedule deliveries to Slack or email, and share work via simple URLs. The intuitive UI, lineage view, and table calculations let users dig deeper, fostering trust and data‑driven decision making across the organization.
Highlights
Define metrics and dimensions in YAML alongside dbt
Automatic lineage and model‑driven dimension creation
Versioned charts with rollback and CI/CD validation
Shareable URLs, Slack and email scheduling
Pros
- Open‑source and free to self‑host
- Tight integration with existing dbt projects
- Self‑serve UI reduces reliance on SQL experts
- Built‑in governance with version history and CI/CD
Considerations
- Initial setup requires a dbt workflow
- Advanced visualizations may be limited compared to enterprise BI tools
- Self‑hosting adds operational overhead
- Community support may be slower than paid vendor SLAs
Managed products teams compare with
When teams consider Lightdash, these hosted platforms usually appear on the same shortlist.
Looking for a hosted option? These are the services engineering teams benchmark against before choosing open source.
Fit guide
Great for
- Companies already using dbt for data transformation
- Teams seeking an affordable Looker alternative
- Organizations that value open‑source transparency
- Businesses wanting to enable self‑service analytics
Not ideal when
- Enterprises requiring dedicated 24/7 vendor support
- Teams without any dbt or SQL expertise
- Use cases demanding highly custom visual components
- Strict SaaS‑only compliance environments
How teams use it
Business users explore metrics without SQL
Analysts define metrics in dbt; non‑technical staff generate dashboards and answer questions instantly.
CI/CD validation of analytics definitions
Metric and dimension changes are tested automatically, preventing breaking dashboards in production.
Low‑cost startup analytics stack
Deploy Lightdash on Render for free, share insights via Slack, and avoid expensive BI licenses.
Migration from Looker to an open‑source solution
Retain existing dbt‑based business logic while cutting subscription costs.
Tech snapshot
TypeScript94%
HTML6%
JavaScript1%
CSS1%
Shell1%
Nix1%
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to use dbt with Lightdash?
Yes, Lightdash reads metrics and dimensions defined in your dbt project to power its visualizations.
Can I host Lightdash on my own infrastructure?
Absolutely. Lightdash provides a local install script, a Render one‑click deploy, and Helm charts for Kubernetes.
Is there a cloud‑hosted version?
Lightdash Cloud offers a managed service with a free trial and paid plans for larger teams.
How does Lightdash handle data security?
When self‑hosted, you control access to the database and the application; the open‑source code can be audited for security.
Can I schedule report deliveries?
Yes, dashboards can be sent to Slack or email on a schedule, or shared via permanent URLs.
Project at a glance
Active- Stars
- 5,484
- Watchers
- 5,484
- Forks
- 666
Repo age4 years old
Last commit57 minutes ago
Primary languageTypeScript
Last synced 44 minutes ago