About DataLens
DataLens is a modern business intelligence and data visualization system. It was developed and used extensively as a primary BI tool inside Yandex and is also offered as part of the Yandex Cloud platform, while the open-source version can be run independently.
Topics describe it as an analytics, dashboard, reporting and SQL visualization tool. The quick start needs Docker and the Docker Compose plugin; cloning the repository and running a start command launches all containers, and the UI is then available on port 8080, which can be changed with an environment variable. For production use the maintainers recommend generating a compose file with random secrets, which stores a generated admin password in the environment file.
Charts can use D3.js, or the proprietary Highcharts library if you enable it, in which case you must comply with Highcharts' own license. DataLens is licensed under Apache-2.0, has a roadmap, release notes and a Telegram community, and suits teams that want self-hosted dashboards.
Key features
- Dashboards and data visualization
- SQL-based datasets and charts
- Docker Compose deployment
- Generated secrets for production setups
- D3.js charts with optional Highcharts
- Also available in Yandex Cloud
Good fit for
- →Self-hosted business intelligence dashboards
- →Reporting on SQL data sources
- Built with
- PLpgSQL
- Tags
- business-intelligence
- dashboards
- data-visualization
- analytics
- sql
- docker
- reporting
DataLens: questions and answers
- What is DataLens used for?
- DataLens is a business intelligence and data visualization system, developed at Yandex, that you can run on your own servers with Docker. It is a good fit for self-hosted business intelligence dashboards and reporting on SQL data sources.
- Is DataLens open source?
- Yes. DataLens is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at datalens-tech/datalens and is written mainly in PLpgSQL.
- Is DataLens free?
- Yes. DataLens is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
- Can I self-host DataLens?
- Yes. DataLens can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
- What is DataLens an alternative to?
- DataLens is an open-source alternative to Tableau, Data Studio, Qlik and Power BI. Other open-source alternatives to Tableau include Superset, Metabase and DataEase.
- Is DataLens actively maintained?
- Yes. The most recent commit to DataLens was on 24 August 2026, and the latest release is v2.9.0, published on 19 February 2026. The project has 1.7k stars on GitHub.
Open-source alternatives to DataLens
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Superset
BI & Dashboards
Apache Superset is a Data Visualization and Data Exploration Platform
Apache-2.0vs Tableau★ 75k
Metabase
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The easy-to-use open source Business Intelligence and Embedded Analytics tool that lets ev
OSSvs Tableau★ 50k
DataEase
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🔥 人人可用的开源 BI 工具,数据可视化神器。An open-source BI tool alternative to Tableau.
OSSvs Tableau★ 25k
Lightdash
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Agentic BI. Analytics at the speed of code ⚡️
OSSvs Looker★ 6.2k
Datart
BI & Dashboards
Datart is a next generation Data Visualization Open Platform
Apache-2.0vs Tableau★ 2.3k
Saiku
BI & Dashboards
Open-source semantic layer: one cube for Excel (MDX/XMLA), dashboards, and AI agents (MCP)
Apache-2.0vs Tableau★ 1.3k
SaaS alternatives to DataLens
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Tableau
BI & Dashboards
Tableau is a business intelligence and data visualization tool for exploring data and building interactive dashboards.
SaaS
Data Studio
BI & Dashboards
Free Google tool, previously Looker Studio, for dashboards from many data sources
SaaS
Qlik
BI & Dashboards
Business intelligence and data integration platform with associative analytics
SaaS
Power BI
BI & Dashboards
Microsoft business intelligence tool for interactive dashboards, reports and data modeling
SaaS
Zoho Analytics
BI & Dashboards
Self-service BI tool from Zoho with dashboards and an AI assistant
SaaS
IBM Cognos Analytics
BI & Dashboards
Enterprise reporting and BI suite with AI-assisted dashboards
SaaS

