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Business Intelligence · head to head

Yellowfin vs Zenlytic

Yellowfin logo

Yellowfin

Business Intelligence

Action-based business intelligence

From
$50/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zenlytic logo

Zenlytic

Business Intelligence

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

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Yellowfin the pricing page publishes no rate, no minimum and no per-user price; every model ends in a Get Pricing form; 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: Yellowfin covers Automated Analysis, Zenlytic covers Zoe conversational agent.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Yellowfin and Zenlytic actually diverge.

Attributes where Yellowfin and Zenlytic differ
AttributeYellowfinZenlytic
Starting price$50/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Mobile, EmbeddedWeb
Founded2003Unknown

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 Yellowfin

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

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.

Yellowfin

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

Zenlytic

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

Where each one falls short

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

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

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

Yellowfin

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

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 Yellowfin if

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

Choose Zenlytic if

  • You need zoe conversational agent.
  • You also want yaml semantic layer.
Zenlytic review

Questions people ask

Is Yellowfin or Zenlytic better?
Neither clearly leads. Yellowfin starts at $50/month and Zenlytic at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Yellowfin or Zenlytic?
Yellowfin starts at $50/month and Zenlytic at On request.
Does Yellowfin or Zenlytic run on more platforms?
Yellowfin runs on Web, Mobile, Embedded. Zenlytic runs on Web.
What is Yellowfin best used for?
Yellowfin is most often used for embedding white-labelled dashboards and analytics into a software product, enterprise reporting with automated business monitoring and alerting, data storytelling and guided natural language querying for business users. Of those, embedding white-labelled dashboards and analytics into a software product and enterprise reporting with automated business monitoring and alerting are not what Zenlytic is typically brought in for.
What can Yellowfin do that Zenlytic cannot?
Yellowfin covers Automated Analysis, Data Stories, Collaboration, Signals. Zenlytic covers Zoe conversational agent, YAML semantic layer, LookML import, Row and column permissions.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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
Zenlytic: Does Zenlytic publish pricing?

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

Yellowfin: Is Yellowfin pricing predictable and scalable?

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

Source
Zenlytic: Can it read my Looker model?

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

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
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.

Zenlytic: Do I need dbt?

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

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