Lightdash vs Notch Metrics
Lightdash and Notch Metrics are both BI & dashboards tools. Lightdash is aimed at developers and small businesses, while Notch Metrics is aimed at small businesses and developers. Notch Metrics costs less, from $9/mo versus $3000/mo for Lightdash. Only Lightdash has a free plan.
BI built on dbt metrics
Revenue, MRR and subscriber counts in your MacBook notch
| Pricing | Open source · $3000 | Paid · $9 |
| Starting price | $3000/mo | $9/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Free trial | 21 days | 7 days |
| Built for | Developers, Small businesses | Small businesses, Developers, Creators, E-commerce |
| Platforms | web | macos |
| Country | GB · 2020 | — |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Lightdash if
Data teams using dbt who want a semantic-layer BI.
- Governed metrics in code
- Tight dbt integration
- Unlimited viewers
Look elsewhere if: Teams without dbt (Metabase).
Choose Notch Metrics if
Solo founders and small teams on Apple silicon Macs who want their revenue and growth numbers one glance away.
- Keeps key numbers in view without opening a browser tab
- Native Swift app with no Dock icon, window or menu bar clutter
- Covers payment, product analytics, traffic and AI spend in one place
Look elsewhere if: Teams that need subscription analytics, cohorts or shared dashboards (ChartMogul, Klipfolio).
Lightdash vs Notch Metrics pricing
Lightdash
- Open Source$0Self-hosted, core BI features, community Slack support
- Cloud Pro$3,000/moNo per-seat pricing, unlimited users, AI agents, onboarding
- EnterpriseCustomCloud or on-prem, SSO/SAML/SCIM, SOC 2, HIPAA
Notch Metrics
- Monthly$9/moAll live connectors, custom metrics over MCP, cancel anytime
- Yearly$49/yrSame features, billed once; about 55% off monthly billing
Lightdash · Key features
- Metrics defined in dbt YAML
- Self-serve exploration for business users
- Dashboards and scheduled deliveries
- AI analyst for natural language queries
- Embedding
- Open source and cloud
Cons
- Requires dbt
- Cloud pricing starts high
- Visualization less rich than Tableau
Notch Metrics · Key features
- Revenue, MRR and subscriber widgets that expand when you hover the notch
- 16 live sources including Stripe, Paddle, Polar, RevenueCat and Shopify
- Widgets in four sizes that can be dragged and resized in the notch
- Recent-payments feed showing plan and amount beside headline numbers
- Custom metrics written by Claude Code or another agent over MCP
- Provider keys encrypted server-side so the Mac never holds them
Cons
- No free tier; widgets stop updating when the trial ends
- Only for Apple silicon Macs on macOS 14 or later
- Several connectors are still marked beta
Lightdash vs Notch Metrics: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Lightdash or Notch Metrics?
Notch Metrics starts at $9/mo and Lightdash at $3000/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Lightdash and Notch Metrics have a free plan?
Lightdash has a free plan. Notch Metrics has no free plan, a 7-day free trial.