If you're building a SaaS product and customers keep asking "can I see my own dashboard inside your app instead of exporting to a spreadsheet," you'll eventually look at embedded analytics platforms. GoodData and Sisense are two of the more established options, and they list each other as direct alternatives — but they compete on pricing philosophy as much as features. Here's what actually separates them.
What they have in common
Both GoodData and Sisense are aimed at software companies embedding dashboards and AI-generated insights into their own products, both target mid-size to large organizations including regulated industries like finance and healthcare, and both keep enterprise pricing behind a sales conversation rather than a self-serve checkout.
GoodData — priced per workspace, not per seat
GoodData takes a different angle on pricing than most embedded-analytics tools: instead of charging per user, it charges per workspace, and a single workspace can hold unlimited users and unlimited data. That matters if you're embedding analytics into a product with thousands of end users who each only check their own numbers occasionally — a per-seat model would punish you for exactly the kind of adoption you want. On top of that, GoodData layers automated agentic workflows and a governed semantic layer meant to keep AI-generated insights grounded in consistent metric definitions rather than free-floating guesses.
Good for: products with a large number of end users who each use analytics lightly — the workspace model avoids per-seat costs scaling with your customer count.
Limits: no public pricing figures, the workspace model isn't ideal if you have very few users who use it heavily, and the more advanced AI agent features are Enterprise-only.
Price: Professional tier priced per workspace (unlimited users/data), quote-based; Enterprise on quote with a 99.5% SLA.
Sisense — the more established platform, with a self-serve entry point
Sisense is one of the longer-standing names in embedded analytics, providing APIs and generative-AI capabilities so developers can build dashboards and automatically generated insights directly into their own applications instead of bolting on a third-party reporting tool that looks out of place. It offers two paths in: a Self-Serve option with a 7-day free trial for startups who want to move fast, and a full Enterprise tier with custom pricing and stricter data-access controls for regulated industries like healthcare, fintech, and supply chain.
Good for: teams that want to actually try the product hands-on before a sales call, and organizations that value a longer track record and broader compliance credentials.
Limits: the free trial is short at 7 days, there's no public Enterprise pricing either, and it's less differentiated on price than some newer, workspace-based entrants like GoodData.
Price: Self-Serve with 7-day free trial; Enterprise fully custom.
Side by side
| GoodData | Sisense | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per workspace (unlimited users/data) | Self-Serve or custom Enterprise |
| Try before buying | No self-serve trial mentioned | 7-day free trial |
| AI layer | Governed semantic layer + agentic workflows | Generative-AI insights |
| SLA | 99.5% on Enterprise | Not publicly specified |
| Track record | Newer pricing model, less legacy install base | Longer-established, broader compliance history |
| Public pricing | None | None (beyond the trial) |
Verdict
Pick GoodData if your product has a large number of end users who each glance at their own dashboard occasionally — the per-workspace pricing avoids the seat-count penalty a growing user base would otherwise trigger. Pick Sisense if you want to actually try the platform hands-on before committing to a sales conversation, or if a longer track record and broader compliance certifications matter more to your buyers than a novel pricing model. Neither publishes real numbers past the trial or entry tier, so budget for a genuine sales negotiation either way.