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Business Intelligence · head to head

Snowplow vs Sourcegraph

Snowplow logo

Snowplow

Business Intelligence

Behavioural data pipeline you run in your own cloud, relicensed away from Apache 2.0 in 2024

From
On request
Free plan
No
Visit SnowplowFull review
Sourcegraph logo

Sourcegraph

Developer Tools

Code search and intelligence platform for large codebases with Cody AI assistant

From
$16000/year
Free plan
No
Visit SourcegraphFull review

The short version

  • Sourcegraph is an enterprise code intelligence platform.
  • Sourcegraph starts at $16000/yr; Snowplow prices on request.
  • Where Sourcegraph falls short: enterprise pricing starting at $16k annually creates significant barrier for small teams.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Snowplow and Sourcegraph actually diverge.

Attributes where Snowplow and Sourcegraph differ
AttributeSnowplowSourcegraph
Starting priceOn request$16000/year
Pricing modelQuoteSubscription
PlatformsLinux, Web, Self-hostedWeb, Self-hosted
CategoryBusiness IntelligenceDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: free tier (No).

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 Snowplow

  • Own-cloud deployment
  • Schema enforcement
  • Warehouse loading
  • Enrichment
  • Trackers
  • Streaming output
  • Data models
  • Snowplow BDP

Only in Sourcegraph

Nothing recorded that Snowplow does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Snowplow

  • A data team that needs full-fidelity event data in its own warehouse to build attribution or machine learning features rather than to populate dashboardsnot Sourcegraph
  • A regulated business that cannot send behavioural data to a third-party analytics vendor and must keep collection inside its own cloud accountnot Sourcegraph
  • A product organisation tired of silently malformed events, which wants a schema contract enforced at collection timenot Sourcegraph
  • A company modelling customer behaviour across web, mobile and server events that needs them in one consistent structurenot Sourcegraph

Sourcegraph

  • Large-scale code migrations across hundreds of repositoriesnot Snowplow
  • Enterprise governance and code ownership trackingnot Snowplow
  • AI-assisted bug hunting and security pattern detectionnot Snowplow
  • Onboarding engineers into large unfamiliar codebasesnot Snowplow
  • Regulatory compliance and code audit trailsnot Snowplow

Where each one falls short

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

Snowplow

  • The core pipeline was relicensed from Apache 2.0 on 8 January 2024 to the Snowplow Limited Use Licence Agreement and a Confluent-derived community licence, so organisations that adopted it as permissively licensed software must now review their entitlement, buy a licence, or migrate
  • You run the pipeline in your own cloud, which means the infrastructure bill, the on-call rota and the upgrade work are yours, and at high event volume that operational cost frequently exceeds what a hosted product would have charged
  • Schema enforcement is the main benefit and the main friction, because every new event requires a schema to be authored and versioned, and teams without discipline around that end up blocked on their own governance process
  • There is no analysis layer: Snowplow delivers data to your warehouse and nothing else, so you still need modelling, a BI tool and the people to run them before anyone sees a number
  • The licence change fractured the community, spawning an Apache 2.0 fork, which means community contributions and third-party tooling are now split across two codebases with uncertain long-term maintenance

Sourcegraph

  • Enterprise pricing starting at $16k annually creates significant barrier for small teams
  • No free tier or standard plan published; all options require custom sales engagement
  • Complex enterprise-only positioning limits adoption compared to GitHub Copilot's pervasiveness
  • Requires indexing entire codebase; not suitable for small or ephemeral projects

Pricing, plan by plan

Snowplow

On request
  • Snowplow BDPOn request
    • Commercial pricing quoted by event volume and deployment
    • Core pipeline components under the Snowplow Limited Use Licence Agreement, not Apache 2.0
    • Trackers, analytics SDKs and Iglu SDKs remain Apache 2.0

Sourcegraph

$16000/year
  • Enterprise$16,000/yr
    • Scales with team size
    • Credits for AI features per user
    • Deep Search

Which should you pick?

Choose Snowplow if

  • You need own-cloud deployment.
  • You work on Linux, Web, Self-hosted.
  • You also want schema enforcement.
Snowplow review

Choose Sourcegraph if

  • You work on Web, Self-hosted.
Sourcegraph review

Questions people ask

Is Snowplow or Sourcegraph better?
Neither clearly leads. Snowplow starts at On request and Sourcegraph at $16000/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Snowplow or Sourcegraph?
Snowplow starts at On request and Sourcegraph at $16000/year.
Does Snowplow or Sourcegraph run on more platforms?
Snowplow runs on Linux, Web, Self-hosted. Sourcegraph runs on Web, Self-hosted.
What is Snowplow best used for?
Snowplow is most often used for a data team that needs full-fidelity event data in its own warehouse to build attribution or machine learning features rather than to populate dashboards, a regulated business that cannot send behavioural data to a third-party analytics vendor and must keep collection inside its own cloud account, a product organisation tired of silently malformed events, which wants a schema contract enforced at collection time, a company modelling customer behaviour across web, mobile and server events that needs them in one consistent structure. Of those, a data team that needs full-fidelity event data in its own warehouse to build attribution or machine learning features rather than to populate dashboards and a regulated business that cannot send behavioural data to a third-party analytics vendor and must keep collection inside its own cloud account are not what Sourcegraph is typically brought in for.
What can Snowplow do that Sourcegraph cannot?
Snowplow covers Own-cloud deployment, Schema enforcement, Warehouse loading, Enrichment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Snowplow: Is Snowplow still open source?

Not in the permissive sense. On 8 January 2024 the core pipeline moved from Apache 2.0 to the Snowplow Limited Use Licence Agreement, with version 1.1 following in December 2024, alongside a community licence based on the Confluent Community Licence. Trackers and analytics SDKs remain Apache 2.0.

Snowplow: Can we still run it for free in production?

Free use of the relicensed core components is materially constrained and commercial use generally requires an agreement. Read the current licence text against your intended use rather than relying on older documentation.

Snowplow: Is there an Apache 2.0 alternative?

Yes, a fork called OpenSnowcat was created in response to the relicensing and continues under Apache 2.0.

Snowplow: What does Snowplow BDP cost?

Not published. It is quoted by event volume and deployment, and your own cloud infrastructure costs are separate and additional.

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