Lightdash vs Microsoft Power BI
Lightdash and Microsoft Power BI are both BI & dashboards tools. Lightdash is aimed at developers and small businesses, while Microsoft Power BI is aimed at enterprise and small businesses. Microsoft Power BI costs less, from $14/mo versus $3000/mo for Lightdash. Both have a free plan.
BI built on dbt metrics
Enterprise BI in the Microsoft ecosystem
| Pricing | Open source · $3000 | Freemium · $14 |
| Starting price | $3000/mo | $14/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | 21 days | 60 days |
| Built for | Developers, Small businesses | Enterprise, Small businesses |
| Platforms | web | web, windows, ios, android |
| Country | GB · 2020 | US · 2015 |
| 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 Microsoft Power BI if
Organizations on Microsoft 365 that want affordable, scalable BI.
- Low price per user
- Deep Microsoft integration
- Powerful modeling with DAX
Look elsewhere if: Mac-only teams or startups preferring lightweight tools (Metabase).
Lightdash vs Microsoft Power BI 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
Microsoft Power BI
- Free$0Fabric free account, personal authoring
- Pro$14/user/moPaid yearly; publish and share reports
- Premium Per User$24/user/moPaid yearly; larger models, more refreshes
- Fabric capacityCustomVariable capacity pricing
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
Microsoft Power BI · Key features
- Power Query data preparation
- DAX data modeling and measures
- Interactive reports and dashboards
- Copilot for report and DAX generation
- Teams and SharePoint integration
- Microsoft Fabric for end-to-end data
Cons
- Desktop authoring is Windows-only
- DAX learning curve
- Licensing complexity with Fabric
Lightdash vs Microsoft Power BI: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Lightdash or Microsoft Power BI?
Microsoft Power BI starts at $14/mo and Lightdash at $3000/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Lightdash and Microsoft Power BI have a free plan?
Yes, both Lightdash and Microsoft Power BI have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.