Business Intelligence · head to head
Exa vs Holistics
The short version
- Only Holistics has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Exa pricing is metered per 1,000 requests and stacks by feature: $7 per 1,000 basic searches, $12 to $15 per 1,000 for deep search variants, and separate per-ACU and per-search charges for the Agent product, as of August 2026.; Holistics the entry plan is $960 per month billed monthly, which is a high floor for a BI tool
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Exa and Holistics actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Business Intelligence).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Exa
Nothing recorded that Holistics does not also cover.
Only in Holistics
- Data Modeling
- Version Control
- Scheduling
- Caching
- Embedding
- BigQuery
- Snowflake
- Redshift
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Exa
No use cases recorded yet. See the Exa review.
Holistics
- Modelling business metrics in a code-defined semantic layer with Git version controlnot Exa
- Self-service exploration and dashboards for non-SQL usersnot Exa
- Embedding analytics into a customer-facing productnot Exa
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Exa
- Pricing is metered per 1,000 requests and stacks by feature: $7 per 1,000 basic searches, $12 to $15 per 1,000 for deep search variants, and separate per-ACU and per-search charges for the Agent product, as of August 2026.
Holistics
- The entry plan is $960 per month billed monthly, which is a high floor for a BI tool
- Every plan includes only the first 10 users, with additional users charged at $15 per month each on Entry and Standard and $18 on the Security Compliance Suite
- The Entry plan caps reports at 100, and each additional 100 reports costs $120 per month
- Google SSO requires the Standard plan at $1,200 per month; enterprise SSO with SAML and SCIM provisioning requires the Security Compliance Suite at $2,400 per month
- Row-based access control, IP whitelisting, pass-through authentication and user activity monitoring are all Security Compliance Suite features
- Connecting Git version control to your own repository requires Standard; Entry only gets Holistics-hosted Git
- White labelling, dynamic row-level permissions and unlimited dashboard viewers for embedded analytics are Custom Plan only, with no published price
- Bank payments and custom payment terms are Custom Plan only, and custom infosec or legal paperwork is Enterprise plan only
- The two months off discount requires yearly billing
Pricing, plan by plan
Exa
On requestNo published plan breakdown. See the Exa review.
Holistics
Free- FreeFree
- 3 Users
- Basic Features
- Community Support
- Standard$250/month
- Unlimited Users
- Advanced Features
- Email Support
Which should you pick?
Choose Exa if
Nothing in the data separates Exa from Holistics on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.
Choose Holistics if
- You need data modeling.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Cloud.
- You also want version control.
Questions people ask
- Is Exa or Holistics better?
- Neither clearly leads. Exa starts at On request and Holistics at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Exa or Holistics?
- Holistics has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Exa and Free for Holistics.
- Does Exa or Holistics run on more platforms?
- Exa runs on Web. Holistics runs on Web, Cloud.
- Can I use Holistics for free?
- Yes. Holistics has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Exa starts at On request.
- What can Exa do that Holistics cannot?
- Holistics covers Data Modeling, Version Control, Scheduling, Caching.