Evidence vs Lightdash
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Evidence
Code-driven business intelligence with Markdown
VS
Lightdash
Open-source BI built on top of dbt
| Feature | Evidence | Lightdash |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Web Analytics | Developer Tools & Git |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,833 | ★ 6,022 |
| First released | 2021 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Tableau, Looker | Looker |
Why pick each one
Choose Evidence if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6.8k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Choose Lightdash if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 6k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Evidence or Lightdash better?
Neither is universally better. Evidence has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Evidence and Lightdash free and open-source?
Yes. Evidence is licensed under MIT and Lightdash under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Evidence and Lightdash with Docker?
Evidence: yes. Lightdash: yes.