Lightdash is a business intelligence platform built around dbt projects.
It turns dbt models into a self-service analytics environment where data teams can define business metrics and dimensions in code, while other users can explore governed data, build charts and dashboards, and answer questions without writing SQL. It also focuses on developer-friendly workflows, with support for validation, preview environments, and version-controlled analytics content.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Uses dbt projects as the foundation for a semantic BI layer.
- Lets teams declare metrics and dimensions in YAML alongside dbt models.
- Automatically creates dimensions from dbt models and syncs dbt descriptions and metadata.
- Provides drill-down access to underlying chart records and supports table calculations.
- Includes lineage views for understanding upstream and downstream model dependencies.
- Offers a data visualisation library for building charts and dashboards.
- Supports preview BI environments, automated content validation, and CI/CD workflows.
- Lets users share work by URL or schedule deliveries through Slack or email.
- Cross-platform support – runs under Linux and macOS.
Website: github.com/lightdash/lightdash
Support:
Developer: Lightdash
License: MIT License (core code); enterprise components are separately licensed.
Lightdash is written in TypeScript. Learn TypeScript with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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| Lightdash | Looker alternative |
| evidence | Code-based alternative to drag-and-drop business intelligence tools |
| Briefer | Collaborative data workspace for teams |
| Shaper | SQL-first analytics and dashboard platform |
| RapidMiner | Data analysis, knowledge discovery, data mining, predictive analytics |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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