Apache Superset vs Mode

Apache Superset is a free, open-source platform for exploring data and creating visualizations. Users can build charts with a no-code tool or work in a SQL IDE, then assemble charts and tables into interactive dashboards with drag-and-drop tools. It includes more than 40 visualization types and supports custom visualizations through plug-ins. Dashboard features include filters, cross-filters, drill-to-detail, and drill-by; other listed tools include caching, Jinja templating, CSS templates, and a semantic layer. The database guide lists 81 supported databases, with each engine requiring a separately installed driver; examples include Trino, Apache Hive, Apache Spark SQL, PostgreSQL, and Google BigQuery. Superset is self-hosted and can be installed through Docker Compose, Kubernetes, or as a Python package from PyPI. Kubernetes is described as the production best-practice option and requires Kubernetes expertise. Superset also lists row-level security, scheduled reports, embedded analytics, and natural-language queries. Its OpenAPI-specification REST API supports automation and integrations, and most endpoints require JWT authentication. Community support is available through Slack, GitHub, a mailing list, and meetups.

Mode is a business intelligence platform that brings data teams and business teams together for analytics, from ad hoc analysis through self-serve reporting and advanced work. It offers a SQL editor with connected Python and R notebooks. Reports can combine explorable charts, output cells, and narrative text, while Visual Explorer supports browser exploration of more than 100,000 data points. Interactive dashboards provide drag-and-drop exploration, visualizations, custom themes, and scheduled runs. Teams can build internal data tools with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, APIs, parameters, and embedded reports. Listed integrations include dbt freshness, GitHub, Excel workbooks, Google Sheets, semantic layers, Slack, local file uploads, and webhooks. Mode connects to most major data warehouses but does not build SaaS-tool connectors. Studio supports up to three users and 10 MB per query. Pro lists 250 GB per month, 5 GB per query, and a three-user minimum; Enterprise requires at least 50 users. API and web access, scheduled queries, shared queries, SQL notebooks, and AI query assistance are listed. Data is encrypted with TLS 1.2 or higher in transit and AES-256 at rest.