Lightdash

Lightdash is a business intelligence platform built natively on dbt, designed for data teams that model their metrics in dbt and want BI that speaks the same language. Instead of redefining metrics in a separate tool, Lightdash reads dimensions and metrics directly from your dbt project, so a single source of truth flows from transformation to dashboard. Analysts define metrics as code in dbt, and business users get governed self-service exploration on top — no duplicated logic, no metric drift.

The platform delivers the full BI experience — interactive dashboards, charts, filters, drill-downs, and scheduled delivery — while keeping everything version-controlled and reviewable through Git. Dashboards-as-code, a semantic layer grounded in dbt, and native integration with the data warehouse give engineering-minded teams the governance and reproducibility they expect from software, and newer AI agents and MCP support let users ask questions of their data in natural language. Because Lightdash is open source (Apache 2.0), teams can self-host for free or use Lightdash Cloud for a managed experience.

Lightdash targets analytics engineers and data teams already invested in dbt who want tight, trustworthy BI without per-seat friction. Pricing reflects that: the open-source edition is free to self-host, while Lightdash Cloud offers unlimited users with Cloud Starter around $800 per month, Cloud Pro around $2,400 per month adding governance and AI, and custom Enterprise plans, plus a 21-day trial. It competes with Preset, Metabase, Mode, and Looker, differentiating on its dbt-native semantic layer and unlimited-user pricing.