MetricFlow vs Synopsis Semantic Layer
MetricFlow
github.comSynopsis Semantic Layer
getsynopsis.aiSide by side
| Figure | MetricFlow | Synopsis Semantic Layer |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $100/mo | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 5 | 1 |
| Spec score · Semantic Layer Software | 9.1 (#3) | 6.9 (#25) |
| Founded | 2016 | 2024 |
| Headquarters | Oakland, California, USA | Chicago, Illinois |
| Integrations | Official documentation lists downstream integrations including Tableau, Hex, Dot, Mode, and Google Sheets. | The product page describes Excel and Google Sheets integrations, Slack access, MCP connections for AI tools, browser extension, SQL, API, and CSV or Excel exports. |
| Purpose | MetricFlow defines and manages metric logic and generates SQL for querying metrics across data dimensions. | Synopsis says its semantic layer learns company metric definitions from documents such as budgets, board decks, and reports, then enforces them across answers. |
| Security | dbt Labs reports ISO certifications, a SOC 2 Type II examination, and GDPR compliance for dbt. | Synopsis states it is SOC 2 Type II and says its report is available under NDA. |
Plans
MetricFlow
- DeveloperFree
- MetricFlowFree
- Starter$100 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
- Enterprise+Priced on request
In their own words
MetricFlow
MetricFlow is a free, open-source tool from dbt Labs for defining metric logic and generating SQL across data dimensions. Metrics and semantic models are written in YAML within a dbt project, using simple, conversion, cumulative, derived and ratio types. Entity types and parameters construct joins while avoiding fan-out and chasm joins. MetricFlow works with dbt 1.6 and higher and lists Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks and Redshift, plus Postgres for dbt v1 only. A working dbt project and adapter are required. It is distributed under Apache 2.0 and installs from PyPI with `pip install dbt-metricflow`. The tool does not currently support dbt built-in functions or packages. Custom integrations can use JDBC, ADBC, GraphQL or the Python SDK. The dbt Semantic Layer, powered by MetricFlow, lists integrations including Power BI, Tableau, Google Sheets, Excel, Omni, Hex, Mode and Sigma. MetricFlow is self-hosted and costs nothing; hosted Semantic Layer Starter access is listed at $100 per user/month.
Synopsis Semantic Layer
Synopsis Semantic Layer has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.