Lightdash Software Reviews

“It's how a BI system should be like

Pros

Lightdash has truly revolutionized the way we work. It has removed the disconnect between business-driven insights and those from the data team by eliminating shadow semantic layers. The intuitive separation of dashboards and charts is excellent, all of which are validated via DBT. This ensures that each dashboard element directly addresses a business question, while stakeholders can mix and match charts that are semantically correct and governed for their specific needs. It was one of the easiest tools to implement, and we were up and running in less than two days. We have replaced Tableau, PowerBI and Google Looker with Lightdash, and we've seen increased usage among our business stakeholders since then.

Cons

I found it difficult to fill out this section since there really isn't much in terms of functionality or engineering that's lacking. However I do think there's room for improvement in the variety of visualizations, particularly geo spatial ones and clustering maps, which are common in dashboards outside the standard BI scope.

“Great experience

Pros

it has become our go to BI tool. It's incredibly easy to get started with, and it has all the essential features for managing a BI team. It's also part of the semantic layer' BI tool community, which goes beyond just making charts. It empowers non-technical users to explore data and derive meaningful insights based on pre-set logic created by the analytics team. In the past, I'd give business users access to a BI tool but they often created dashboards with inaccurate conclusions since there was no way to predefine calculations or joins. Lightdash resolves this problem effectively. I also appreciate how well it integrates with DBT. In past roles, using other BI tools, the gap between our database logic and the BI tool was enormous, making it tough to track changes and see how they would affect the BI reports. Since Lightdash is built on top of DBT, it's much easier to manage. It's great that any user can create reports and explore, filter or group them within the boundaries set by our analytics team. And, the team is very responsive to bug fixes and feature requests.

Cons

it is still relatively new, and there are a few features missing that would really benefit us. None of these missing features are deal-breakers but we do find ourselves having to find workarounds pretty often. Fortunately all of these features are in their backlog/roadmap, so I'm hopeful for their arrival soon.

“Fantastic BI solution for small teams!

Pros

The thorough documentation and ongoing support from the Lightdash team have been fantastic, from implementation to daily use. I feel spoiled by how quickly they respond :D it's a real asset for lean teams since it keeps things moving smoothly.

Cons

The comprehensive documentation and support from the team, from implementation through to daily use, have been fantastic. I feel spoiled by how quickly the LD team responds, which is especially helpful for lean teams since it keeps everything running smoothly.

“A smooth, adaptable, and forward-thinking partner

Pros

I appreciate how flexible their product is and how engaged the team is with their partners. They offer valuable advice and take feedback seriously while quickly implementing improvements.

Cons

Nothing negative to report here. My experience with their team and product has been nothing short of excellent.

“Ideal tool for our team

Pros

Version control and the integration with DBT make self service effortless! Plus the speed at which new features are rolled out is impressive.

Cons

The visuals are still in development when compared to older, more established tools.

“The clear choice for dbt-first BI teams catering to data-driven users

Pros

A few years ago, we chose Thought spot over Looker. I wish Lightdash had been as advanced back then as it is now. But we have made the switch to Lightdash recently, and it's been a great decision. Key highlights include: it's open-source or has an affordable low-cost cloud option, with a clear pricing structure that doesn't depend on consumption or user licenses. Some people refer to it as "open-source Looker," and if the team continues at this pace, I could easily see it becoming a dominant BI tool, with Looker being considered the closed-source version of it. The integration with DBT means all data logic is managed in one repo, and it offers convenient CI/CD support. It has advanced modeling features, which aren't as mature as LookML yet, but they're getting there. It's intuitive for non-technical users, requiring minimal onboarding, which unlocks self-service capabilities. At our company, the small BI team handles the top-level reports, and the rest is managed by data champions from various teams. A surprising bonus I realized after switching to it: there are no limits on the number of projects or user sharing. We've been able to segregate reporting areas and share reports with clients, a feature that is typically premium in traditional BI platforms. We have also retired DataStudio reports that were used just for easy external sharing. The requirements and issue tracking are transparent and their team is supportive, approachable, and quick to respond. All communications happen via Slack, with a strong community, so there's no need to submit tickets or deal with slow enterprise portals.

Cons

Some advanced modeling capabilities are still a work in progress, but the team is aware and actively improving the logic. Also there's no support for multi-tab reporting at the moment. And I have to admit, after getting used to such quick responses (usually within an hour), I'm starting to get a bit impatient when they take a few hours to respond to my many questions!

“It really delivers excellent compatibility with dbt

Pros

The integration with DBT is seamless. Previously, our company's BI was limited to Google Sheets but Lightdash has allowed us to visualize over 150 models in under six months. Being developer-first and tightly integrated with DBT made setting up this tool with a small team incredibly smooth. The customer support has also been exceptional, with the team always quick to respond to any questions.

Cons

There have definitely been some growing pains as Lightdash has evolved from an alpha product to one that's ready for prime time. However they're catching up to other tools at an impressive pace. The mobile experience could be much stronger though.

“BI platform that also serves as an engineer's best ally

Pros

The speed of iteration, helpfulness of the team, and their ability to prioritize adding the most valuable features has been impressive. Deploying to Lightdash via CI-CD has saved our team a lot of time compared to other solutions, and it has significantly increased BI user engagement by making content available faster. The CLI and API are excellent for developers, allowing us to integrate Lightdash into multiple parts of the analytics workflow and manage versioning and compatibility from one central location. The low barrier to entry for business users has helped shift much of the workload away from our data team.

Cons

The ability to deploy to it via CI-CD has saved our team a lot of time compared to other solutions. It's also increased the number of BI users engaged within the company by making it easy to deploy additional content quickly.