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Business Intelligence · head to head

Lightdash vs Soketi

Lightdash logo

Lightdash

Business Intelligence

Open-source BI for dbt users

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit LightdashFull review
Soketi logo

Soketi

Developer Tools

Self-hosted, Pusher-compatible WebSockets server with a stalled maintenance record

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit SoketiFull review

The short version

  • Lightdash is an open-source business intelligence tool.
  • Both are free.
  • Only Lightdash lists dbt Integration; only Soketi lists pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Where Lightdash falls short: requires existing dbt infrastructure, not suitable for teams without data models.
  • Where Soketi falls short: there is no commercial support to buy, so a production incident at three in the morning is entirely your problem with no escalation path.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lightdash and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Lightdash and Soketi differ
AttributeLightdashSoketi
PlatformsWeb, Self-hostedLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryBusiness IntelligenceDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).

Not yet recorded: pricing model for Lightdash, founded for Soketi.

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 Lightdash

  • dbt Integration
  • Metrics Layer
  • Dashboards
  • Scheduling
  • Version Control
  • dbt
  • BigQuery
  • Snowflake

Only in Soketi

  • Pusher protocol compatibility
  • Presence and private channels
  • Horizontal scaling
  • App management backends
  • Webhooks
  • Prometheus metrics

What people use each for

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

Lightdash

  • Self-service analyticsnot Soketi
  • Data explorationnot Soketi
  • Ad-hoc reportingnot Soketi
  • Collaborative analysisnot Soketi
  • Embedded analyticsnot Soketi

Soketi

  • A Laravel application that already uses Echo and wants to stop paying a hosted realtime providernot Lightdash
  • Realtime notifications or presence indicators where data must not leave your own infrastructure for compliance reasonsnot Lightdash
  • A local or CI environment that needs a Pusher-compatible server without hitting a paid accountnot Lightdash
  • A high-connection-count application where hosted per-connection pricing has become the largest line in the infrastructure billnot Lightdash

Where each one falls short

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

Lightdash

  • Requires existing dbt infrastructure, not suitable for teams without data models
  • Enterprise features and AI agents unavailable in open-source MIT-licensed core

Soketi

  • Maintenance has effectively stalled: the maintainer has said time is severely limited, releases are infrequent, and the community has been discussing whether the project is abandoned, which means security fixes may not arrive
  • Dependency drift on Node and uWebSockets.js will eventually force you to fork or migrate, and that cost is unbudgeted at the point you adopt it
  • There is no commercial support to buy, so a production incident at three in the morning is entirely your problem with no escalation path
  • Scaling beyond a single node needs Redis and careful configuration, and getting presence channels correct across nodes is a genuine source of subtle bugs
  • It implements the Pusher protocol rather than tracking it, so any protocol feature Pusher adds later will not appear, and the compatibility guarantee slowly decays

Pricing, plan by plan

Lightdash

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • MIT-licensed core
    • Self-hostable
    • dbt integration
  • Cloud ManagedOn request
    • Managed hosting
    • Premium features
    • AI agent capabilities

Soketi

Free
  • SoketiFree
    • MIT licensed
    • Unlimited connections subject to your own hardware
    • No vendor billing

Which should you pick?

Choose Lightdash if

  • You need dbt integration.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted.
  • You also want metrics layer.
Lightdash review

Choose Soketi if

  • You need pusher protocol compatibility.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want presence and private channels.
Soketi review

Questions people ask

Is Lightdash or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Lightdash starts at Free and Soketi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lightdash or Soketi?
Lightdash starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does Lightdash or Soketi run on more platforms?
Lightdash runs on Web, Self-hosted. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Lightdash for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Lightdash best used for?
Lightdash is most often used for self-service analytics, data exploration, ad-hoc reporting, collaborative analysis. Of those, self-service analytics and data exploration are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Lightdash do that Soketi cannot?
Lightdash covers dbt Integration, Metrics Layer, Dashboards, Scheduling. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Lightdash: Is Lightdash free?

Yes. Lightdash is free and open source under the MIT license. Self-hosting is completely free. Managed cloud services and enterprise features require separate licensing.

Source
Soketi: Is Soketi still maintained?

Barely. The maintainer has stated that available time is very limited and releases have been sparse; treat it as community-maintained.

Lightdash: How does Lightdash integrate with dbt?

Lightdash reads dbt models and metric definitions directly. A team defines metrics once in dbt and reuses them across dashboards, exploration, and AI agents without redefinition.

Source
Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?

No. Pusher client SDKs and Laravel Echo work by changing the host, port and credentials.

Lightdash: Does Lightdash support SQL queries?

Yes. As a modern BI platform for analysts, Lightdash supports full SQL capabilities alongside dbt model exploration and visual query builders.

Source
Soketi: What does it cost?

Nothing in licence fees. It is MIT licensed; you pay for the server it runs on.

Lightdash: What are Lightdash AI agents?

Lightdash AI agents, available on paid plans, allow natural language queries against your data, generating SQL and visualizations automatically from questions.

Source
Soketi: What are people moving to?

Laravel Reverb for Laravel applications, and Sockudo, a Rust reimplementation, for others.

Lightdash: Can Lightdash be self-hosted?

Yes. Lightdash's MIT-licensed core is completely self-hostable and free. Enterprise features and AI agents ship under separate licensing.

Source
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