Cube vs portkey
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
portkey
Simple web portal that serves as a startup page, displaying a
| Feature | Cube | portkey |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Dashboards & Startpages | Dashboards & Startpages |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 20,572 | ★ 162 |
| First released | 2019 | 2026 |
| Replaces | Looker, AtScale | — |
Why pick each one
Choose portkey if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Cube or portkey better?
Neither is universally better. Cube has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Cube and portkey free and open-source?
Yes. Cube is licensed under Apache-2.0 and portkey under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cube and portkey with Docker?
Cube: yes. portkey: yes.