MetricFlow vs Xophia AI Headless BI
MetricFlow
github.comXophia AI Headless BI
xophia.aiSide by side
| Figure | MetricFlow | Xophia AI Headless BI |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 0 |
| Spec score · Semantic Layer Software | 9.1 (#3) | 6.7 (#28) |
| Integrations | Official documentation lists downstream integrations including Tableau, Hex, Dot, Mode, and Google Sheets. | The product page lists Snowflake, BigQuery, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, dbt, Power BI, Looker, Tableau, REST/GraphQL, and MCP, while noting the exact adapter set is scoped during implementation. |
| Purpose | MetricFlow defines and manages metric logic and generates SQL for querying metrics across data dimensions. | Headless BI provides a governed semantic layer so dashboards, products, and AI agents can use shared business definitions. |
| Security | dbt Labs reports ISO certifications, a SOC 2 Type II examination, and GDPR compliance for dbt. | The managed-cloud description specifies TLS 1.2 or higher in transit and AES-256 at rest. |
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.
Xophia AI Headless BI
Xophia AI Headless BI has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.