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4.4/5.0
VerifiedFreeLast technical review:
Markdown for AI (.md)

Evidence

Open-source, code-based business intelligence platform using SQL and Markdown.

Pricing

$0/mo

Free
Score

4.4/5

License
MIT
Certifications
1
Last technical review
2026-11-01
Available plansVisit website (opens in a new tab)

Technical Overview

Evidence is an open-source alternative to drag-and-drop BI tools. It lets engineering and analytics teams build data products using only SQL queries and Markdown files, integrating workflows directly into version control repositories. It is deployed as code and managed like any software project.

Analyst Evaluation: Pros and Limitations

Verified Advantages

  • Complete code-first approach using Markdown and SQL.
  • Auditable and self-hostable open-source architecture.
  • Native integration with Git version control workflows.

Technical Considerations

  • Steep learning curve for non-technical team members.
  • Fewer pre-built visual connectors compared to closed SaaS tools.

Technical Capabilities & Features

4/7
Included:REST & GraphQL API
Not available:SSO / SAML Authentication
Included:Self-Hosted Option
Included:Full Data Export
Included:Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
Not available:Custom Domains & SSL
Not available:Immutable Audit Logs
Scorecard
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Technical Scorecard: Evidence

85/100
DX & Tech Documentation
Excellent
90/100
Pricing Fairness
Excellent
95/100
Security & Governance
Favorable
75/100
Data Portability & Sovereignty
Excellent
90/100
Performance & Reliability
Favorable
75/100

Time to Value & Fit by Segment: Evidence

Estimated Time-to-Value1 - 7 days (Agile)

Standard sprint integration without complex external dependencies.

Learning CurveModerate (Standard)

Requires consulting technical documentation and basic credentials setup.

Fit Index by Organization Size

Startup & Agile Teams1 to 50 members
8%
Mid-Market & Scaleup50 to 500 members
7%
Corporate Enterprise500+ members
6%
Pricing & TCO
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Pricing

$0.00/mo

Model: FREE.

Free Tier Verification:

  • No credit card required
  • Commercial use allowed
  • Unlimited usage with no expiration
  • No mandatory watermarks
Get Evidence (opens in a new tab)
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Projection: Evidence$0.00/mo
Deterministic cost estimation at 12 and 36 months based on team size, including SSO tax premiums and annual prepay discounts.
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Licensing Cost (1 to 100+ seats)
$0/forever
Unlimited team members with zero penalties
SSO Tax (SAML Enterprise)
$0no surcharge
No artificial security barriers
3-Year Investment (Software TCO)
$0total
operates under a zero-cost or open-source model. Licensing TCO is identical:
Usage Surcharges & Bill Shock Simulator: EvidenceWhat usage costs as you scale
Detect overage penalties before they impact engineering budget.
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Prototype / MVP (10 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 10 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$0/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$0/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Suitable for development; verify concurrent connection limits.

Base Production (50 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 50 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$0/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$0/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Implement table compression policies and temporal partitioning.

Active Growth (250 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 250 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$0/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$0/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Offload cold backups to standard object storage (S3).

Large Scale (1.000 GB (1 TB))

Included base quota in plan: 1,000 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$0/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$0/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Migrate to dedicated instance or self-hosted cluster to curtail I/O fees.

Security & Data Exit
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Compliance & Security Standards: Evidence

SOC 2 Type IINot reported
ISO 27001Not reported
GDPR / RGPDAudited
HIPAANot reported
PCI-DSSNot reported
Jurisdiction & Legal Sovereignty
🇺🇸United States [US]Subject to US CLOUD ActDPA On Request
SSO Availability (SAML Enterprise)
No SSO Documented
Data Residency
SELF_HOSTED
AI Privacy Policy
Not evaluated
Data Liberation & Migration Runbook: EvidenceMARKDOWN · SQL · HTML
Actionable escape runbook and credential export guarantees to mitigate vendor lock-in.
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Supported Structured Export Formats
MARKDOWNSQLHTML
Password Hash Portability
Locked: Proprietary Algorithm / No Export

Credential hashes are guarded under proprietary algorithms and cannot be exported.

CLI Command / Rescue Endpoint
git clone <repository-url>
Exit Protocol & Migration Notes

Los archivos fuente están escritos en Markdown plano y SQL, lo que permite exportar o migrar el código fuente directamente a cualquier repositorio Git sin bloqueo de plataforma.

Deployment & Infrastructure Requirements: EvidenceMIT
Hardware specs and Docker directives to run on local servers, dedicated VPS, or Kubernetes without telemetry leak to the cloud.
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Minimum Memory1 GB RAM (Recommended)
Compute CPU1 vCPU
Runtime / LanguageTypeScript
Code LicenseMIT
Docker CLI Directive
docker run -d --name evidence -p 8080:8080 evidence:latest
Companion Services & Dependencies:
PostgreSQL 15+Redis 7+
Community & Repository
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Technical Reputation of Evidence

83/100 Technical Trust

Frequent Praises in Production

  • Complete code-first approach using Markdown and SQL.
  • Auditable and self-hostable open-source architecture.
  • Native integration with Git version control workflows.

Reported Production Frictions

  • Steep learning curve for non-technical team members.
  • Fewer pre-built visual connectors compared to closed SaaS tools.
Commercial Treatment & Vendor Lock-in:1-Click Cancellation

Immediate cancellation from account settings without phone calls or forced retention.

Open source repository activity: Evidence7,077
Stars, forks and release cadence
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Stars7.1k
Forks434
Open Issues18
SPDX LicenseMIT
Latest Commit DetectedOct 30, 2026

Frequently Asked Technical Questions (Evidence)

How does Evidence connect to data sources?

Evidence connects directly to databases and data warehouses using SQL adapters configured directly inside the project repository.

Is it possible to self-host Evidence?

Yes, as an open-source web application, you can self-host and deploy it on your own cloud infrastructure or local servers.

Is programming knowledge required to use it?

Practical knowledge of SQL is required to query data, along with familiarity with Markdown for authoring reports.

Direct Alternatives

All tools in Evidence
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