head to head · open source
Redash vs Lightdash
Redash has 28,800 GitHub stars, 4,623 forks, 805 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. Lightdash has 6,141 stars, 777 forks, 1,018 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Redash leads on adoption by 369% (28,800 vs 6,141 stars). Redash is written in Python under BSD-2-Clause; Lightdash is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Redash has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Lightdash 13%. Lightdash was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (business-intelligence), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Redash | Lightdash | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-03 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.6K | ⑂ 777 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Redash if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Lightdash if
- You want the Lightdash feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Lightdash fits your workflow better
About Redash
Redash is an open source business intelligence and data analytics platform built with Python and JavaScript. It enables users to connect to diverse data sources, write and execute SQL/NoSQL queries, build visualizations, and share interactive dashboards—all through a browser based interface.
read the full Redash overview →
About Lightdash
Lightdash is an open source, agentic business intelligence platform for modern data teams, written in TypeScript and distributed under a NOASSERTION license. It lives in the data and analytics ecosystem, specifically the data engineering and integration space, and it is built around dbt and warehouse native workflows. The project describes itself as agentic BI, meaning analytics is intended to move at the speed of code rather than through point and click configuration alone.
read the full Lightdash overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Redash or Lightdash more popular?
Redash has 28,800 GitHub stars and Lightdash has 6,141. Redash has the larger community by that measure.
Are Redash and Lightdash free?
Both are open source. Redash is licensed under BSD-2-Clause, and Lightdash has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Redash and Lightdash?
Redash is written in Python and Lightdash in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Redash or Lightdash?
Choose Redash if you want the larger community (28,800 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose Lightdash if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.