Is Fabi or Zenlytic better?

Neither clearly leads. Fabi starts at Free and Zenlytic at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Fabi or Zenlytic?

Fabi has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Fabi and On request for Zenlytic.

Does Fabi or Zenlytic run on more platforms?

Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.

Can I use Fabi for free?

Yes. Fabi has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Zenlytic starts at On request.

What is Fabi best used for?

Fabi is most often used for a single analyst at a startup fielding ad hoc questions faster than dashboards can be built for them, an operations team that needs python for a one-off analysis but has to hand the result to non-technical colleagues, replacing a set of scheduled jupyter notebooks that nobody outside the data team can read or rerun, exploratory work against a warehouse where building a semantic model first would cost more than the answer is worth. Of those, a single analyst at a startup fielding ad hoc questions faster than dashboards can be built for them and an operations team that needs python for a one-off analysis but has to hand the result to non-technical colleagues are not what Zenlytic is typically brought in for.

What can Fabi do that Zenlytic cannot?

Fabi covers Smartbooks, Smart Reports, AI analysis, Scheduled runs. Zenlytic covers Zoe conversational agent, YAML semantic layer, LookML import, Row and column permissions.

Business Intelligence · head to head

Fabi vs Zenlytic

Fabi

Business Intelligence

AI notebooks combining SQL, Python and no-code for small data teams

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Zenlytic

Business Intelligence

Conversational analytics on a governed semantic layer that shows you the SQL it ran

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Fabi has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Fabi fabi is an early-stage company with a small team, so the durability risk is real and there is no obvious migration path for Smartbooks if it stops trading.; Zenlytic answer quality is bounded by the semantic model, so a team without a maintained dbt project and metric definitions must complete a modelling project before the AI is useful at all.
They diverge on capability: Fabi covers Smartbooks, Zenlytic covers Zoe conversational agent.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fabi and Zenlytic actually diverge.

Attributes where Fabi and Zenlytic differ
Attribute	Fabi	Zenlytic
Starting price	Free	On request
Pricing model	Per user per month	quote
Free tier	Yes	No

Identical on both: platforms (Web), 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 Fabi

Smartbooks
Smart Reports
AI analysis
Scheduled runs
Database connectors
Viewer seats

Only in Zenlytic

Zoe conversational agent
YAML semantic layer
LookML import
Row and column permissions
Dashboards
dbt integration
Embedded analytics
Query transparency

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Fabi

A single analyst at a startup fielding ad hoc questions faster than dashboards can be built for themnot Zenlytic
An operations team that needs Python for a one-off analysis but has to hand the result to non-technical colleaguesnot Zenlytic
Replacing a set of scheduled Jupyter notebooks that nobody outside the data team can read or rerunnot Zenlytic
Exploratory work against a warehouse where building a semantic model first would cost more than the answer is worthnot Zenlytic

Zenlytic

A data team of three fielding sixty ad hoc requests a week from operators who could answer them in chat insteadnot Fabi
An ecommerce company where merchandisers need cohort and margin questions answered without waiting for an analystnot Fabi
A Looker customer looking for an exit that can import existing LookML rather than remodel from scratchnot Fabi
A finance team that needs every AI-generated number to show its SQL before it goes in a board packnot Fabi

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Fabi

Fabi is an early-stage company with a small team, so the durability risk is real and there is no obvious migration path for Smartbooks if it stops trading.
There is no meaningful governance layer: no data catalogue, no certified metric definitions and limited lineage, so it does not scale to an organisation that needs a single agreed number.
The free and Builder tiers cap AI requests, and the daily cap on Starter is reached quickly during genuine exploratory work.
Connector counts are limited by tier, so the Builder plan at 39 dollars connects to exactly one data source, which is rarely enough in practice.
It overlaps heavily with what Snowflake, Databricks and Hex now ship natively, so a company already paying for one of those is buying a fourth notebook interface.

Zenlytic

Answer quality is bounded by the semantic model, so a team without a maintained dbt project and metric definitions must complete a modelling project before the AI is useful at all.
It is a small venture-funded company in a category that Snowflake, Databricks and Microsoft are all building into natively, which is a real procurement risk on a multi-year contract.
Pricing is not published and is negotiated per deal, so small buyers have no benchmark and no leverage.
The visualisation and dashboard layer is thinner than established BI tools, so teams wanting pixel control over reporting will find it limiting.
It assumes a cloud data warehouse; organisations with data spread across operational databases and spreadsheets have to consolidate first, which is the expensive part of the project.

Pricing, plan by plan

Fabi

Free

StarterFree
- One builder seat
- Ten dashboard viewers
- Five Smartbooks
Builder$39/month
- Twenty-five Smart Report viewers
- Ten Smartbooks with workflows
- One data connector
Team$199/month
- Four builder seats, extra seats at 39 USD
- Fifty viewers
- Premium connector
Enterprise$undefined/year
- Unlimited builder seats
- Full connector access
- Custom security review

Zenlytic

On request

Zenlytic$undefined/year
- Annual contract quoted by seats and deployment
- Semantic layer, dashboards and Zoe included
- Embedded analytics licensed separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Fabi if

You need smartbooks.
You want to start without paying.
You also want smart reports.

Fabi review

Choose Zenlytic if

You need zoe conversational agent.
You also want yaml semantic layer.

Zenlytic review

Questions people ask

Is Fabi or Zenlytic better?: Neither clearly leads. Fabi starts at Free and Zenlytic at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fabi or Zenlytic?: Fabi has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Fabi and On request for Zenlytic.
Does Fabi or Zenlytic run on more platforms?: Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Fabi for free?: Yes. Fabi has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Zenlytic starts at On request.
What is Fabi best used for?: Fabi is most often used for a single analyst at a startup fielding ad hoc questions faster than dashboards can be built for them, an operations team that needs python for a one-off analysis but has to hand the result to non-technical colleagues, replacing a set of scheduled jupyter notebooks that nobody outside the data team can read or rerun, exploratory work against a warehouse where building a semantic model first would cost more than the answer is worth. Of those, a single analyst at a startup fielding ad hoc questions faster than dashboards can be built for them and an operations team that needs python for a one-off analysis but has to hand the result to non-technical colleagues are not what Zenlytic is typically brought in for.
What can Fabi do that Zenlytic cannot?: Fabi covers Smartbooks, Smart Reports, AI analysis, Scheduled runs. Zenlytic covers Zoe conversational agent, YAML semantic layer, LookML import, Row and column permissions.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Fabi: Is there a free plan?

Yes, a Starter tier with one builder, ten viewers, five Smartbooks and ten AI requests a day.

Zenlytic: Does Zenlytic publish pricing?

No. Contracts are quoted annually based on seats and deployment scope.

Fabi: Do viewers cost money?

Viewers are bundled by tier rather than charged individually; builders are the priced seat.

Zenlytic: Can it read my Looker model?

Yes, it imports LookML, which is the main reason Looker customers evaluate it.

Fabi: Can I run arbitrary Python?

Yes, Smartbooks include Python cells alongside SQL and no-code steps.

Zenlytic: Does it write arbitrary SQL against my warehouse?

No. Queries are constrained to the semantic layer, and the generated SQL is shown with every answer.

Fabi: How many data connectors does the entry paid plan include?

One. Additional and premium connectors come with the Team tier.

Zenlytic: Do I need dbt?

Not strictly, but the product is designed around a modelled warehouse and works poorly without one.

Fabi vs Zenlytic

Fabi

Zenlytic

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Fabi

Only in Zenlytic

What people use each for

Fabi

Zenlytic

Where each one falls short

Fabi

Zenlytic

Pricing, plan by plan

Fabi

Zenlytic

Which should you pick?

Choose Fabi if

Choose Zenlytic if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Fabi

More on Zenlytic

Keep looking

Other head to heads