Cube vs Sampler Dashboard
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted dashboards & startpages options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Cube
Semantic layer and headless BI for building data apps
VS
Sampler Dashboard
Terminal dashboard for visualizing shell command output
| Feature | Cube | Sampler Dashboard |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Dashboards & Startpages | Dashboards & Startpages |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, source | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 20,572 | ★ 14,727 |
| First released | 2019 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Looker, AtScale | Grafana |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Cube or Sampler Dashboard better?
Neither is universally better. Cube has the larger community, while Sampler Dashboard is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Cube and Sampler Dashboard free and open-source?
Yes. Cube is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Sampler Dashboard under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cube and Sampler Dashboard with Docker?
Cube: yes. Sampler Dashboard: check the project docs for container support.