Evidence vs Lightdash
Both are alternatives to Tableau. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as Lightdash vs Evidence — same comparison, one verdict.
Evidence and Lightdash are closely matched on ownership (94 vs 87) — this one comes down to pricing and to which trade-offs below you can live with.
Evidence
Dashboards as Markdown and SQL, versioned in Git.
Evidence takes a genuinely different position: a report is a Markdown file with SQL in it, built into a static site. That means dashboards live in your repository, get reviewed in pull requests, deploy through CI and cannot be silently edited by someone in a UI. MIT licensed. It is the wrong tool for exploratory analysis and the right one for recurring, trusted reporting that has to be identical every month. Included because the BI category assumes a GUI is a requirement and for a good number of engineering teams it is the opposite.
Lightdash
BI that reads your dbt models, so metrics are defined once.
Lightdash builds its entire semantic layer from your existing dbt project: define a metric once in dbt, and it appears in BI with the same definition everywhere. That solves the specific and expensive problem of the same number meaning three different things in three dashboards, which is where most BI trust breaks down. Around 6k stars — the smallest here — and it only makes sense if you already run dbt. Where you do, it is the tightest fit on this page.
Side by side
6 points of comparison, every one read from a verified field. Green marks the side that wins a row outright. A dash means we do not hold that fact — never that it is zero.
| Evidence | Lightdash | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty ScoreOur transparent 0–100 composite for data ownership and exit cost. | 94 | 87 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first data | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | MIT (open core; paid cloud tier) |
| Pricing | Free and open source. Evidence Cloud is an optional paid hosted tier. | Open-source core free and self-hostable. Lightdash Cloud is paid. |
Evidence edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
Evidence
Strengths
- +Reports live in Git — reviewed, versioned, deployable through CI
- +MIT with no enterprise carve-out
- +Output is a static site: fast, cheap, nothing to keep running
- +Impossible to quietly alter a number without a commit
Trade-offs
- −No point-and-click building — you write SQL and Markdown
- −Not an exploration tool; it produces fixed reports
- −Non-technical staff cannot author
- −Small community
Lightdash
Strengths
- +Metrics defined once in dbt and used everywhere — no drifting definitions
- +Version-controlled BI, reviewed in pull requests like code
- +MIT core
- +Fast to adopt if dbt is already in place
Trade-offs
- −Effectively requires dbt — useless without it
- −Smallest project and community on this page
- −Fewer visualisation types than Superset
- −Less suited to ad-hoc exploration by non-technical staff
Which one fits you
The trade-offs above, turned into a decision. Find the line that describes your team.
Choose Evidence
if a lower exit cost matters more to you than any single feature, and reports live in Git — reviewed, versioned, deployable through CI.
Choose Lightdash
if metrics defined once in dbt and used everywhere — no drifting definitions.
Neither, yet
if both carry a real cost you should weigh first — no point-and-click building — you write SQL and Markdown, and effectively requires dbt — useless without it. If either of those is a dealbreaker for your team, the shortlist is wrong rather than the choice.
Evidence vs Lightdash — common questions
Is Evidence a better fit than Lightdash for bi & dashboards?
It depends on what you are optimising for, and the honest split is this: Evidence scores 94 to Lightdash's 87 on data ownership and exit cost, so it is the safer choice if you care about being able to leave. Lightdash earns its place on a different axis — metrics defined once in dbt and used everywhere — no drifting definitions. Neither is a wrong answer for every team; the table above is the actual comparison.
What happens if we want to switch later?
Evidence keeps its data local or in open formats, so leaving is an export rather than a negotiation. Lightdash is still self-hostable, so the files stay on your server either way — but it is not local-first by design, so check what its export produces before you rely on it.
Can I self-host Evidence or Lightdash?
Both can be self-hosted. The difference is what it costs you in time rather than whether it is possible — see the setup and maintenance rows above.
Are Evidence and Lightdash both alternatives to Tableau?
Yes — both appear in our Tableau comparison, which is why they are worth putting side by side. People usually arrive here already having decided to move off Tableau and now choosing between the two replacements, which is a narrower and much easier question.
Related alternative guides
Facts verified 2026-08-04. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.