Softwr

Business Intelligence · head to head

Snowplow vs Yellowfin

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
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Yellowfin logo

Yellowfin

Business Intelligence

Action-based business intelligence

From
$50/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Yellowfin the pricing page publishes no rate, no minimum and no per-user price; every model ends in a Get Pricing form
  • They diverge on capability: Snowplow covers Own-cloud deployment, Yellowfin covers Automated Analysis.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Snowplow and Yellowfin actually diverge.

Attributes where Snowplow and Yellowfin differ
AttributeSnowplowYellowfin
Starting priceOn request$50/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsLinux, Web, DockerWeb, Mobile, Embedded
FoundedUnknown2003

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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 Snowplow

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

Only in Yellowfin

  • Automated Analysis
  • Data Stories
  • Collaboration
  • Signals
  • Embedded Analytics
  • Salesforce
  • Google Analytics
  • SQL Server

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 Yellowfin
  • A regulated business that cannot send behavioural data to a third-party analytics vendor and must keep collection inside its own cloud accountnot Yellowfin
  • A product organisation tired of silently malformed events, which wants a schema contract enforced at collection timenot Yellowfin
  • A company modelling customer behaviour across web, mobile and server events that needs them in one consistent structurenot Yellowfin

Yellowfin

  • Embedding white-labelled dashboards and analytics into a software productnot Snowplow
  • Enterprise reporting with automated business monitoring and alertingnot Snowplow
  • Data storytelling and guided natural language querying for business usersnot 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.

Yellowfin

  • The pricing page publishes no rate, no minimum and no per-user price; every model ends in a Get Pricing form
  • One of the three embedded models is a revenue share, so Yellowfin takes a cut of the revenue your analytics module earns
  • Another model prices by server core, so scaling deployment hardware raises the licence cost independently of users
  • Getting a quote requires submitting a form with a marketing consent checkbox and a user-count band rather than seeing a rate card

Pricing, plan by plan

Snowplow

On request
  • Snowplow BDP$undefined/year
    • 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

Yellowfin

$50/month
  • Team$50/month
    • Dashboards
    • Stories
    • Collaboration
  • EnterpriseFree
    • Advanced Features
    • Embedding
    • Custom SLA

Which should you pick?

Choose Snowplow if

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

Choose Yellowfin if

  • You need automated analysis.
  • You work on Web, Mobile, Embedded.
  • You also want data stories.
Yellowfin review

Questions people ask

Is Snowplow or Yellowfin better?
Neither clearly leads. Snowplow starts at On request and Yellowfin at $50/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Snowplow or Yellowfin?
Snowplow starts at On request and Yellowfin at $50/month.
Does Snowplow or Yellowfin run on more platforms?
Snowplow runs on Linux, Web, Docker. Yellowfin runs on Web, Mobile, Embedded.
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 Yellowfin is typically brought in for.
What can Snowplow do that Yellowfin cannot?
Snowplow covers Own-cloud deployment, Schema enforcement, Warehouse loading, Enrichment. Yellowfin covers Automated Analysis, Data Stories, Collaboration, Signals.

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.

Yellowfin: What pricing models does Yellowfin offer?

Yellowfin offers three flexible models for embedded analytics: Aligned Utility Model (price per unit), Revenue Share Model (based on analytics revenue value), and Server Core (fixed price based on server deployment).

Source
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.

Yellowfin: Is Yellowfin pricing predictable and scalable?

Yes, Yellowfin pricing is simple, predictable and scalable with no hidden costs or surprises.

Source
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.

Yellowfin: Are there limits on user access or development environments?

No limitations exist on access to functionality across users. There are also no limits on dev and test licenses, ensuring DevOps is covered.

Source
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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