Exploring Grafana, Deepnote & Visivo

Grafana vs. Deepnote vs. Visivo

Compare key features, capabilities, and differentiators between Grafana, Deepnote, Visivo. This comprehensive analysis will help you make an informed decision for your data visualization needs.

Quick Comparison

Key features and capabilities at a glance

FeatureGrafanaDeepnoteVisivo
Deployment ModelOpen-source (AGPLv3), Grafana Enterprise, Grafana Cloud, Self-hostedCloud (browser-based), Enterprise deployment, Private cloudOpen-source, Cloud Service, Self-hosted
PricingOSS free; Grafana Enterprise (paid add-ons); Grafana Cloud (free tier & paid).Free tier (limited projects); paid for premium features. Closed-source.Open source (GPL-3.0)
Cost$$$$$$
Git Integration
CI/CD & Testing
Real-time
AI Features
Visual to Code
DAG-Based

Target Users & Use-Cases

Each BI tool is designed with specific user personas in mind.

Grafana

DevOps engineersIT monitoring teamsData engineers for time-series analytics

Deepnote

Data science teamsEducatorsAnalysts collaborating on notebooks

Visivo

Analytics EngineersData teamsBusiness usersEngineers

Ease of Development & Deployment

Development experience directly impacts team productivity and time-to-value.

Grafana

3/5

Deepnote

4/5

Visivo

5/5

Key Integrations & Ecosystem

A robust ecosystem of integrations is essential for modern BI tools.

Grafana

Time-series databases (Prometheus, InfluxDB)SQL databases and cloud metricsAlerting systems (PagerDuty, Slack)

Deepnote

SQL databases (PostgreSQL, BigQuery, etc.)Cloud storage (Google Drive, S3)dbt workflow integration

Visivo

dbt coreAll major databasesCustom connector frameworkSlack for alertsGithub

Visualization Capabilities

The ability to create compelling visualizations is key to data storytelling.

Grafana

Optimized for time-series and metrics visualizations (graphs, gauges, alerts). Supports logs and traces panels too. Basic charts for category data exist but not Grafana's strong suit. Highly customizable dashboards via JSON config or UI. Many community panels (plugins) to extend visualization types.

Deepnote

Jupyter-like notebooks with collaborative editing. Supports interactive visualizations by writing code (Python, R, SQL blocks). Has a GUI for basic charts: you can switch a SQL cell's results into a chart view (bar/line) quickly. Can arrange outputs into a dashboard layout for sharing. Custom viz requires coding (e.g., Plotly, seaborn).

Visivo

Highly custom UI with easy defaults

Detailed Differentiators

Each platform's unique strengths and limitations.

Grafana

Best for operational dashboards – combining metrics, logs, and traces in one UI (especially with Grafana Cloud). Very extensible via plugins.
Not designed for ad-hoc business analytics on arbitrary data – e.g., no built-in SQL query builder for relational data (user must write queries or use other tools to prepare data). Visualizations not as geared for presentation (more for investigation).

Deepnote

Real-time collaboration on notebooks (like Google Docs for Jupyter) – multiple users can work simultaneously. Great for mixed code-and-text narratives and then turning into lightweight dashboards for stakeholders.
Still requires coding for most analysis; not a drop-in replacement for tools like Tableau for a pure business user.

Visivo

BI-as-code approach enables version control, collaboration, and CI/CD workflows. DAG-based architecture provides powerful data transformation capabilities and dependency management. Seamless visual-to-code workflow allows both technical and non-technical users to build dashboards effectively.
Requires understanding of data concepts; not a pure drag-and-drop tool like Tableau. Initial setup requires technical knowledge for optimal configuration.

Security & Architecture

Critical considerations for enterprise deployments.

Grafana

DB Access: Yes, connects directly to data sources (or through its agents). Virtualization: More like federation – it queries multiple backends via plugins. Push: Metric data is often pushed into time-series DBs which Grafana then reads – so indirectly yes (in monitoring use-cases). Grafana itself pulls from those DBs. Other: Auth via LDAP/OAuth. Granular permissions on dashboards and data sources. Encryption and other enterprise security features in paid version.

Deepnote

DB Access: Yes, uses direct credentials to query databases in SQL cells. Virtualization: No separate layer – it's a client executing queries or code. Push: No (though you could push data via Python in a notebook to an external system). Other: Deepnote runs in cloud with project-specific isolation; offers Google SSO. Not designed for role-based consumption – notebooks can be shared via link with view/edit rights.

Visivo

No db access required. Very strong security features due to the DAG-based access controls and the push based deployment model.

Why Visivo Stands Out

While each platform has its strengths, Visivo offers unique advantages for modern data teams.

DAG-Based Architecture for complex data transformations
Visual to Human-readable Code conversion
Multiple development approaches for all skill levels
AI-Powered dashboard creation
Full Git integration and version control
Open-source with enterprise features

Ready to Experience Modern BI?

Try Visivo today and see how it transforms your data analytics workflow.

$ curl -fsSL https://visivo.sh | bash
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Jared Jesionek (co-founder)
Jared Jesionek (co-founder)
Jared Jesionek (co-founder)
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How can I help? This connects to our slack so I'll respond real quickly 😄
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