DashboardFox vs Mode Analytics
Mode is a strong tool for SQL-native analysts — but it doesn't publish pricing, requires technical skills to use, and was acquired by ThoughtSpot in 2023. Here's an honest look at how we compare.
Mode Analytics — where it falls short
$0
Published pricing
Contact sales for any quote
~$49K
Median contract/yr
Per Vendr buyer data
$0
Row-level security
Collection permissions only
2023
Acquisition year
Now under ThoughtSpot's roadmap
The short answer
Mode is a genuinely excellent tool for SQL-native data teams. If your analysts live in SQL, Python, and R, need a collaborative code-first environment, and want integrated notebooks for statistical modeling — Mode is purpose-built for that workflow. Mode's AI Assist writes SQL from plain language, and ThoughtSpot's natural language search can make the combined platform powerful for organizations with both technical and non-technical users.
But if you need pricing you can see before talking to sales, dashboards your business users can build without writing code, row-level security that doesn't require an enterprise contract, white-label branding for clients, or a self-hosted option — DashboardFox gives you all of that starting at $99/month. And our roadmap is ours — not tied to a parent company's acquisition strategy.
TL;DR — The key differences
-
Transparent pricing Mode doesn't publish pricing — you have to call sales. Vendr's buyer data puts the median contract around $49K/year. DashboardFox starts at $99/month, published on our website, no sales call required.
-
Built for your whole team Mode requires SQL, Python, or R proficiency to get real value. DashboardFox has drag-and-drop for business users AND raw SQL for analysts — same plan, same price.
-
Row-level security in every plan Mode has no row-level security — it relies on collection permissions and database-level access controls. DashboardFox includes Data Tags (configure once, applies everywhere) in every plan including the $99 Starter.
-
Full white-label included Mode sells White-Label Embeds as a paid add-on, with reduced interactivity — no custom domains, no branded login pages. DashboardFox includes full white-label in every plan.
-
Acquisition uncertainty ThoughtSpot acquired Mode for $200M in 2023 and is actively pushing customers toward its own platform. Mode's roadmap is now tied to ThoughtSpot's priorities, not yours.
Which one is right for you?
We're not going to pretend we're better in every scenario.
Choose DashboardFox if:
- Your audience includes business users who don't write SQL
- You need transparent, predictable pricing you can budget for without a sales call
- White-label client-facing dashboards are a requirement
- Row-level security is non-negotiable — even on your starting plan
- You want to start a free trial in minutes, not schedule a demo
- You need a self-hosted option for compliance or air-gapped environments
Choose Mode if:
- Your team is SQL/Python/R-native analysts who value a code-first workflow
- You need integrated Python and R notebooks for statistical modeling and ML
- Your analysts collaborate heavily on ad hoc analysis with shared SQL workspaces
- You want ThoughtSpot's AI and natural language query capabilities as part of a combined platform
- You have the budget for enterprise-level analytics and are comfortable with opaque pricing
Not sure we're the right fit? Before you decide, here's where we fall short for some teams. See the full breakdown →
- Not for SQL or notebook-first analysts — Mode is built for teams who think in Python, R, and SQL notebooks. We're intentionally the other direction: non-developers build dashboards without code. If query-level control and exploratory analysis in a notebook is the core workflow, Mode is the better fit.
- No associative cross-filtering — clicking a chart opens a drill report, not a cross-filter across the page.
The pricing transparency problem
Mode doesn't publish pricing. You have to contact sales for a quote. Here's what industry data tells us about what teams actually pay.
DashboardFox
Growth Plan
$249
/month — up to 30 active users
- ✓ Pricing published on our website — no sales call
- ✓ Row-level security, white-label, SQL included
- ✓ Business users and analysts on the same plan
Mode
Pro / Enterprise
Contact Sales
No public pricing available
- ✗ Must contact sales for any pricing information
- ✗ Vendr buyer data: roughly $14K–$170K/year, median ~$49K
- ✗ Some buyers report renewal uplifts
Annual comparison: DashboardFox Growth costs $2,988/year (or $2,388 on annual billing). Vendr's buyer data puts Mode's median contract around $49,000/year — and it's often bundled with ThoughtSpot products after the acquisition.
Mode does not publish pricing. Vendr's buyer data shows contracts from roughly $14K to $170K/year, with a median around $49K. DashboardFox pricing is always on our website — no sales call needed.
See what DashboardFox costs for your team size
View Pricing
Mode does not publish pricing publicly. Cost estimates on this page are sourced from third-party procurement platforms (Vendr, Spendflo) and industry research as of October 2026. Actual Mode pricing may vary — we recommend contacting Mode directly at mode.com for a current quote.
Feature comparison
Focused on where the two tools actually differ
| Feature | DashboardFox | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & Access | ||
| Published pricing | ✓ On website | ✗ Contact sales |
| Pricing model | Monthly active users — $99/mo+ | Custom quotes — est. $6K–$50K+/year |
| Free trial | ✓ 14 days free, extend to 21, no credit card | Studio: free but limited to 3 users, 10MB/query |
| Monthly billing | ✓ Month-to-month available | ✗ Annual contracts |
| Self-hosted option | ✓ $4,995 one-time | ✗ Cloud only |
| User Accessibility | ||
| Business user experience | ✓ Drag-and-drop builder + visual query builder | ✗ Requires SQL, Python, or R |
| SQL support | ✓ All plans | ✓ Core strength |
| Semantic layer / no-code data modeling | ✓ Apps (unlimited, all plans) | Datasets (analyst-created, shared to business users) |
| Security & Data | ||
| Row-level security | ✓ All plans — Data Tags, configure once | ✗ Collection and DB permissions only |
| Dedicated customer database | ✓ All plans | ✗ Shared infrastructure |
| SSO | Session-token SSO and 2FA (app, email, text) on all plans · breached-password checks and lockout · Duo and header-based SSO on Scale+ · native SAML/OIDC in development | SAML SSO and SCIM as paid add-ons |
| Branding & Delivery | ||
| White-label / remove branding | ✓ All plans — full UI control | Embeds only — reduced interactivity |
| Custom domain | ✓ All plans | ✗ |
| Custom login page | ✓ All plans | ✗ |
| Branding policies (per audience) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Scheduled reports | ✓ PDF/Excel/image, filters preserved | ✓ Email/Slack — but filters not available in schedules |
| Where Mode leads | ||
| Python / R notebooks | — | ✓ Integrated, in-platform |
| Ad hoc SQL collaboration | — | ✓ Shared SQL editor with history |
| AI / natural language queries | — Coming soon | ✓ AI Assist (SQL from plain language); ThoughtSpot search |
| Large dataset visualization | — | ✓ Tens of millions of rows (Enterprise) |
Switching from Mode? We'll help you move.
We'll rebuild your top dashboards so you're not starting from scratch — talk to the people who built it.
Your BI vendor changed. We didn't.
Most teams find us after their reporting vendor changed on them: a big price hike, an acquisition, support that stopped answering, a roadmap that stalled. We've helped teams move off Izenda, Crystal Reports, SSRS, Logi and others — and we've been competing with billion-dollar BI vendors since 1999.
- Built for the long haul. Bootstrapped and independent, with no investors pushing for an exit. Many customers have been with us for over 10 years.
- Pricing that doesn't ambush you. Published, flat pricing. No per-seat creep, no surprise renewal hikes, no paywalled security features.
- You talk to the people who built it. No tier-one queue, no outsourced support. The engineers who wrote the code answer.
- Upgrades keep your reports working. We ship weekly, and every report you've built carries forward.
Free training included. 40+ short video lessons in the DashboardFox Academy, from connecting your first database to row-level security and white-label. No paid onboarding package required.Browse the Academy →
Common questions
Mode doesn't publish pricing. Their free Studio tier supports up to 3 users with a 10MB/query limit — it's essentially a sandbox. Paid plans (Pro, with a 3-user minimum, and Enterprise, with a 50-user minimum) require contacting sales. Vendr's buyer data shows contracts from roughly $14,000 to $170,000/year, with a median around $49,000. Some buyers also report renewal uplifts. DashboardFox publishes all pricing on our website — four plans from $99/month to custom Enterprise — no sales call needed.
Barely. Mode added a Visual Explorer for drag-and-drop chart building, and Datasets let analysts create reusable data assets that business users can explore. But the core workflow — writing SQL queries, building Python/R notebooks, customizing reports with HTML/CSS/JavaScript — is built for technical users. Independent reviewers consistently note that Mode requires SQL, Python, R, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript proficiency to unlock its full capabilities. DashboardFox gives business users a drag-and-drop builder and visual query builder alongside full SQL access for analysts — on the same plan, at the same price.
ThoughtSpot completed its $200M acquisition of Mode in July 2023. Mode still operates as a standalone product at mode.com, but its roadmap is now part of ThoughtSpot's strategy. ThoughtSpot has been cross-selling its own platform to Mode customers and vice versa. If you're evaluating Mode today, it's worth understanding that product decisions — pricing, features, integrations — are now made by ThoughtSpot, not the original Mode team. DashboardFox is bootstrapped, independent, and our roadmap is driven by our customers, not an acquirer's growth strategy.
No. Mode's security model is based on collection permissions (grouping reports) and database connection permissions (controlling who can query which databases). There is no security at the schema, table, or row level within Mode itself. If you need row-level data isolation — showing different data to different users from the same report — you'd need to implement that in your database layer or use separate connections. DashboardFox includes Data Tags in every plan: assign tags to users, and every report auto-filters. Configure once, applies everywhere.
Every plan, including Starter, includes two-factor sign-in (authenticator app, email code, or text message), screening against known-breached passwords, account lockout after repeated failures, and an audit trail of every sign-in and admin action. Session-token SSO lets users sign in from your own app. Scale and above add Duo, text messages through your own SMS provider, and header-based SSO. Native SAML/OIDC is in development. We don't hold a SOC 2 report — we're upfront about that — but we routinely pass customers' own security assessments, and a BAA is available on any plan with the Compliance Tier. See how we protect your data →
Not yet — and we're deliberate about that. We watched the first wave of "AI BI" produce hallucinated column names and misread data models. We're getting our core semantic layer right first. AI is coming soon: query building in plain language, visualization suggestions, and analysis on your outputs. Model-agnostic — we're not locking into one provider. We'll ship it when it actually works, not when it makes a good headline.
Mode offers White-Label Embeds (WLE), a paid add-on that lets you embed reports without Mode branding. However, WLE comes with reduced viewer interactivity — some drill-down features are disabled, and Mode's own support documentation notes known technical issues when report creators leave a workspace. There are no custom domains, no branded login pages, and no per-audience branding policies. DashboardFox includes full white-label in every plan: custom domain, branded login page, feature visibility controls, multiple branding policies, and zero "Powered by" badges — with full interactivity preserved.
Mode's Studio plan is free and includes SQL, Python, and R — but it's limited to 3 users and 10MB per query. There's no scheduling, no permissions, and no email/Slack sharing. It works as a sandbox for individual analysts exploring data, but it's not viable for team use or client delivery. DashboardFox offers a free 14-day trial (extend to 21) with full features — no credit card, no restrictions, no 3-user cap.
Since Mode does not publish pricing, the cost estimates on this page are sourced from third-party procurement platforms (Vendr, Spendflo) and publicly available industry research as of October 2026. Actual Mode pricing will depend on your team size, usage, and negotiation. We recommend contacting Mode directly at mode.com for a current quote. DashboardFox pricing is always available at dashboardfox.com/pricing.
