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Business Intelligence · head to head

Mode vs Rill Data

Mode logo

Mode

Business Intelligence

Collaborative analytics for data teams

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Rill Data logo

Rill Data

Business Intelligence

Local-first BI on DuckDB and ClickHouse with dashboards defined as code

From
$20/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Mode has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Mode free tier limited to 4GB RAM and 1 CPU for SQL notebooks, insufficient for large datasets; Rill Data the seat price of 20 dollars is misleading as a budget figure: Rill’s own calculator puts a small two-seat project at around 256 dollars a month, with compute making up the great majority.
  • They diverge on capability: Mode covers SQL Editor, Rill Data covers Local development.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mode and Rill Data actually diverge.

Attributes where Mode and Rill Data differ
AttributeModeRill Data
Starting priceFree$20/month
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer user per month plus metered compute
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows
Founded2013Unknown

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 Mode

  • SQL Editor
  • Python/R Notebooks
  • Interactive Reports
  • Version Control
  • Scheduling
  • Snowflake
  • Redshift
  • BigQuery

Only in Rill Data

  • Local development
  • Dashboards as code
  • Embedded DuckDB
  • Bring your own database
  • Alerts and scheduled reports
  • Embedded analytics

What people use each for

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

Mode

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

Rill Data

  • An analytics team that wants dashboard changes to go through code review rather than being edited in a web UInot Mode
  • Interactive exploration of event-scale data where a warehouse round trip per filter click is too slownot Mode
  • Embedding fast slice-and-dice dashboards into a product where the underlying store is already ClickHouse or Druidnot Mode
  • A data engineer prototyping a metrics layer locally on a laptop before committing to any cloud spendnot Mode

Where each one falls short

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

Mode

  • Free tier limited to 4GB RAM and 1 CPU for SQL notebooks, insufficient for large datasets
  • Requires SQL knowledge for most analysis tasks, creating dependency on technical resources
  • Paid plan pricing not publicly listed; requires sales consultation
  • Recently acquired by ThoughtSpot in 2026, creating product direction uncertainty
  • Limited customization options for visual aspects and embedded analytics

Rill Data

  • The seat price of 20 dollars is misleading as a budget figure: Rill’s own calculator puts a small two-seat project at around 256 dollars a month, with compute making up the great majority.
  • Dashboards are defined in YAML and SQL, so business users cannot create or change one without a developer and a Git workflow, which stalls self-service adoption.
  • It is built for the explore-a-metric pattern and does not produce pixel-perfect financial or operational reports, so most organisations still need a second reporting tool.
  • AI tokens and API calls are quota-limited per seat, with API overage at a cent per call, so programmatic consumers can create an unbudgeted line item.
  • As a smaller vendor competing against Looker, Tableau and Power BI, the ecosystem of consultants, templates and trained analysts is thin, which raises the cost of hiring for it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Mode

Free
  • FreeFree
    • SQL Editor
    • Python/R Notebooks
    • Basic Charts
  • Business$65/month
    • Advanced Visualizations
    • Collaboration
    • Integrations

Rill Data

$20/month
  • Starter$20/month
    • Per seat, up to twenty seats
    • Three projects
    • Compute at 0.15 USD per compute unit hour
  • Growth$30/month
    • Per seat, up to one hundred seats
    • Ten projects
    • Compute at 0.20 USD per compute unit hour
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Annual platform licence with negotiated capacity
    • Unlimited seats and projects
    • Dedicated infrastructure

Which should you pick?

Choose Mode if

  • You need sql editor.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want python/r notebooks.
Mode review

Choose Rill Data if

  • You need local development.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want dashboards as code.
Rill Data review

Questions people ask

Is Mode or Rill Data better?
Neither clearly leads. Mode starts at Free and Rill Data at $20/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mode or Rill Data?
Mode has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Mode and $20/month for Rill Data.
Does Mode or Rill Data run on more platforms?
Mode runs on Web. Rill Data runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Mode for free?
Yes. Mode has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Rill Data starts at $20/month.
What is Mode best used for?
Mode 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 Rill Data is typically brought in for.
What can Mode do that Rill Data cannot?
Mode covers SQL Editor, Python/R Notebooks, Interactive Reports, Version Control. Rill Data covers Local development, Dashboards as code, Embedded DuckDB, Bring your own database.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Mode: What languages does Mode support for analysis?

Mode notebooks support SQL, Python (3.11 with pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, matplotlib), and R (4.2.0 with ggplot2, dplyr, tidyr). Both Python and R allow additional library installation at runtime.

Source
Rill Data: Is Rill open source?

The Rill developer binary is open source and free to run locally; Rill Cloud is the paid product.

Mode: Can I integrate Mode notebook results into reports?

Yes. Mode allows adding notebook cell results directly to reports, with synchronized scheduling so reports re-run to keep data current.

Source
Rill Data: How much does it actually cost?

Seats start at 20 USD per month, but hosted compute at 0.15 USD per compute unit hour typically dominates the bill. Bringing your own database removes the usage fee.

Mode: Does Mode support collaborative analysis?

Yes. Mode notebooks provide moveable code blocks and markdown cells enabling exploratory analysis and team collaboration on data queries and visualizations.

Source
Rill Data: Can business users build dashboards?

Not directly. Dashboards are YAML and SQL under version control.

Rill Data: Which databases can back a deployed project?

DuckDB, ClickHouse, Druid, Pinot, Snowflake and others.

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