Sema vs Strata
Sema
semalayer.com
Strata
strata.doSide by side
| Figure | Sema | Strata |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $49/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 3 |
| Spec score · Semantic Layer Software | 8.7 (#4) | 7.4 (#22) |
| API | The roadmap lists a developers API using workspace-scoped keys, and the product states that governed definitions resolve through an API. | Strata documents a REST API for metadata discovery and query execution, with requests validated against semantic fields. |
| Audience | Sema describes itself as built for enterprise and regulated teams, and its About page says it is designed for warehouses with thousands of tables. | Strata is aimed at teams opening warehouse data to non-technical users and AI agents; its pricing page says it is not intended as another query tool for SQL-fluent analysts. |
| Company | Sema says it was founded in 2025 and is remote-first. | The maker identifies itself as Strata Business Intelligence, LLC and lists its address in Vienna, Virginia. |
| Deployment | Sema says it can run in the customer’s VPC or its own environment; its self-hosted Kubernetes deployment uses a Helm chart and customer-provided Postgres and object storage. | Strata Server is a self-hosted web application distributed as a private container image, with deployment guides for quick install, production, and AWS ECS. |
| Integrations | Sema describes its capabilities as MCP tools for use with Claude, Cursor, or an in-house agent, and supports OAuth2/OIDC identity providers including Okta, Entra, Auth0, and Google Workspace. | Documented datasource adapters include PostgreSQL, Snowflake, MySQL, SQL Server, Athena, Trino, DuckDB, Druid, ClickHouse, Databricks, SQLite, and Redshift. |
| Product | Sema is a semantic layer for enterprise AI that connects databases, infers data meaning, and answers business questions in plain English with governance. | Strata is a semantic layer platform for self-service BI and warehouse access, turning database tables into a governed business-ready model for data exploration without SQL. |
| Security | Sema says it uses TLS in transit and encryption at rest, role-based access, restricted-column masking, workspace isolation, and an append-only log of queries, plans, and configuration changes. | The privacy policy says Strata uses encryption, firewalls, and SSL technology as security measures, while noting that these do not guarantee protection from breaches. |
| Support | The Pro plan includes email support, Business includes priority support, and Enterprise includes a named customer success manager. | Free includes email support with a 3-day response, docs, and community; Team aims for a 24-hour response; Enterprise support is custom. |
Plans
In their own words
Sema
Sema is a semantic layer for enterprise AI that connects databases and answers business questions in plain English, with governance controls. It maps tables, joins, metrics, and business terms into a typed graph; verified inferred joins can be reused in later answers. It can ask clarifying questions, show the SQL and graph nodes behind an answer, and select a chart. Users can save and schedule reports for email delivery and set metric alerts for thresholds or deviations. Available connectors include PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, and SQLAlchemy URIs; ClickHouse and Amazon Redshift are in beta, while SQL Server, Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, and dbt metadata are on the roadmap. Sema can run in a customer VPC or its own environment; self-hosting uses Kubernetes and Helm with customer-provided Postgres and object storage. The free Sandbox costs nothing and limits use to one connector, one user, 100 monthly chat queries, and five saved reports, without scheduled delivery or alerts. Pro costs $49 a month per user, with a three-seat minimum and a 14-day trial.
Strata
Strata turns database tables into a governed semantic model for self-service BI and warehouse access, so users can explore data without SQL. Teams define business-friendly fields, metrics, and relationships in YAML, with model changes tracked through migrations and Git. Query routing sends requests to a suitable datasource across a warehouse and fast OLAP tiers. The product includes dashboards with automatically laid out views, subscriptions, scheduled reports, and a Google Sheets add-on that refreshes results in place. Teams can also build agents on the governed model, inspect and edit their queries, and share agents; these inherit row-level security and masking and are restricted to modeled measures and dimensions. A REST API handles metadata discovery and query execution validated against semantic fields. Documented adapters include PostgreSQL, Snowflake, MySQL, SQL Server, Athena, Trino, DuckDB, Druid, ClickHouse, Databricks, SQLite, and Redshift. Strata Server is a self-hosted web application distributed as a private container image. The Free plan costs nothing and includes one developer, 25 users, and two data sources per project; Team and Enterprise prices are custom or unlisted.