Cube vs Heimdall
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
Heimdall
Simple application dashboard and launcher
| Feature | Cube | Heimdall |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Dashboards & Startpages | Dashboards & Startpages |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Rust | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 20,572 | ★ 9,291 |
| First released | 2019 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Looker, AtScale | Heimdall |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Cube or Heimdall better?
Neither is universally better. Cube has the larger community, while Heimdall is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Cube and Heimdall free and open-source?
Yes. Cube is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Heimdall under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cube and Heimdall with Docker?
Cube: yes. Heimdall: yes.