The Best Panoply Alternative for Startups
Panoply is an approachable managed warehouse with a curated set of connectors, but it stops short of governing metrics, delivering AI insights, or shipping dashboards out of the box. Definite gives startups the entire analytics stack—connectors, storage, semantic modeling, dashboards, and Fi, the AI analyst—so the answers arrive in minutes without wrestling BigQuery or Redshift.
And you still get Definite’s Data-Team-as-a-Service on-call instead of hiring warehouse admins.
How Panoply and Definite Stack Up
Panoply
Managed data warehouse service built on BigQuery with automated ingestion and basic SQL workbooks.
Key Features:
Pricing:
100M rows, 5 users, and predefined connectors.
Includes managed ingestion into BigQuery, SQL workbooks, and community support. Additional rows, query slots, or connectors incur overages.
More data, more seats, priority support.
Adds higher row limits, advanced scheduling, and faster support SLAs. Dashboards still require external BI tooling.
Custom SLAs and private networking.
Designed for larger datasets with custom retention, VPC peering, and dedicated support. Pricing depends on modeled usage plus BigQuery consumption.
Not Included:
Governed metrics, AI insights, built-in dashboards, or flat-rate pricing that scales with usage.
Definite
Complete data-stack-in-a-box with governed metrics, AI insights, and inclusive support.
Key Features:
Pricing:
Access to Growth features for qualifying startups.
Comprehensive tools to enable your business to make data driven decisions.
See What’s Included:
The Full Comparison
Definite replaces the ingestion, warehouse, modeling, dashboards, and AI that Panoply expects you to assemble.
Setup & Time-to-Value
Connect sources, pick a template, and share governed dashboards in under 30 minutes.
Warehouse is ready quickly, but you still configure BI, permissions, and alerts before anyone sees insights.
Stack Coverage
Ingestion → storage → semantic metrics → AI → dashboards all included.
Managed warehouse only; BI, metrics, and activation require other tools.
Data Ingestion
500+ managed connectors with scheduled syncs and historical backfills.
Dozens of curated connectors; long-tail data often needs manual scripts or third-party ETL.
Storage & Query Engine
DuckDB + Iceberg lakehouse optimized for sub-second analytics without tuning.
BigQuery under the hood—powerful but billed by bytes scanned and requires optimization.
Modeling & Metrics
Governed Cube.dev layer enforces shared KPIs and reusable logic.
SQL worksheets and views; no semantic layer or KPI governance.
AI & Insights
Fi, the AI analyst, answers questions, spots anomalies, and drafts narratives automatically.
No native AI; you rely on SQL or external services.
Automation & Alerts
Native Slack/email alerts, Sheets syncs, and Python automation.
Basic scheduling; advanced alerts require additional tools.
Governance & Access
Fine-grained roles, audit trails, and metric-level permissions.
Project-level sharing tied to Google accounts; limited granularity without GCP admin work.
APIs & Extensibility
Full REST/GraphQL APIs, embed SDKs, and reverse ETL.
SQL endpoints and JDBC/ODBC connections; activation handled elsewhere.
Ideal For
Startups that want enterprise-grade analytics without assembling infrastructure.
Teams that already have BI tooling and need a managed warehouse but can live without governed metrics or AI.
| Category | Definite | Panoply |
|---|---|---|
| Setup & Time-to-Value | Connect sources, pick a template, and share governed dashboards in under 30 minutes. | Warehouse is ready quickly, but you still configure BI, permissions, and alerts before anyone sees insights. |
| Stack Coverage | Ingestion → storage → semantic metrics → AI → dashboards all included. | Managed warehouse only; BI, metrics, and activation require other tools. |
| Data Ingestion | 500+ managed connectors with scheduled syncs and historical backfills. | Dozens of curated connectors; long-tail data often needs manual scripts or third-party ETL. |
| Storage & Query Engine | DuckDB + Iceberg lakehouse optimized for sub-second analytics without tuning. | BigQuery under the hood—powerful but billed by bytes scanned and requires optimization. |
| Modeling & Metrics | Governed Cube.dev layer enforces shared KPIs and reusable logic. | SQL worksheets and views; no semantic layer or KPI governance. |
| AI & Insights | Fi, the AI analyst, answers questions, spots anomalies, and drafts narratives automatically. | No native AI; you rely on SQL or external services. |
| Automation & Alerts | Native Slack/email alerts, Sheets syncs, and Python automation. | Basic scheduling; advanced alerts require additional tools. |
| Governance & Access | Fine-grained roles, audit trails, and metric-level permissions. | Project-level sharing tied to Google accounts; limited granularity without GCP admin work. |
| APIs & Extensibility | Full REST/GraphQL APIs, embed SDKs, and reverse ETL. | SQL endpoints and JDBC/ODBC connections; activation handled elsewhere. |
| Ideal For | Startups that want enterprise-grade analytics without assembling infrastructure. | Teams that already have BI tooling and need a managed warehouse but can live without governed metrics or AI. |
One Choice: One Platform
Definite pulls in all your data, stores it in a fast, reliable data warehouse, applies consistent models, turns it into interactive dashboards, and lets you query it with AI — all in one managed platform. (Skip the three-month build, five different vendors, and full-time data engineer.)
Fi can work with any part of Definite’s Ecosystem to get you results faster.
Sync data in near‑realtime latency from over 500 sources. Need a custom connection? We’ll build it for you.
Send scheduled or triggered alerts, sync data to Google Sheets or your CRM, or export it as downloads or from the API.
Make Every Decision Definite
Panoply makes BigQuery easier to adopt, but it still hands you a warehouse to manage plus the responsibility for BI, metric governance, alerts, and AI. Definite delivers the whole stack—connectors, storage, semantic metrics, dashboards, and Fi—so the answers arrive without assembling five different vendors.
Panoply gives you a managed warehouse. Definite gives you the managed insights.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Common questions about Definite vs Panoply