Holistics
Code-first BI with a programmable semantic layer — self-service analytics that stays governed
Overview
Holistics is a Singapore-based, fully bootstrapped BI platform built for analytics engineers who want engineering-grade practices in their data stack. Founded in 2015 as a spin-off of an internal tool at Viki (Rakuten), it has grown to roughly $5M ARR with customers across 40 countries — all without a dollar of external funding. Its defining feature is AML (Analytics Modeling Language), a typed code-first semantic layer where models, dimensions, measures, and relationships are defined as first-class constructs and versioned in Git, not locked in proprietary GUIs.
On top of the semantic layer sits an AI query assistant that reasons over governed metric definitions rather than generating ad-hoc raw SQL — making answers traceable and consistent. The platform layers in role-based access control, row-level security, enterprise SSO/SAML, SCIM provisioning, dbt integration, Canvas dashboards, and embedded analytics with white-labelling. All three pillars — modeling, querying, and dashboarding — emit auditable code that can be reviewed in pull requests and promoted through environments, positioning Holistics as the "Looker-without-the-Google-tax" for cost-conscious technical teams.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 11 Jul 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
- 100 reports
- Canvas dashboards
- dbt integration
- Git version control (hosted)
- Unlimited reports
- Custom charts
- Google SSO
- Own Git repository
- RBAC + row-level security
- SSO/SAML + SCIM
- IP whitelisting
- User activity monitoring
- Custom usage monitoring
- Bank payment terms
Use cases
What you can produce with Holistics
- A Git-versioned semantic model (AML) defining all company metrics, dimensions, and relationships as auditable code
- Self-service Canvas dashboards deployed to non-technical business users with governed filters and drill-downs
- AI-generated analytics answers grounded in governed metric definitions with multi-turn conversational follow-up
- Role-based and row-level access control policies mapped to data warehouse roles and enforced at query time
- Embedded analytics dashboards white-labelled into a product with dynamic per-customer data isolation
- dbt model metadata surfaced directly inside Holistics datasets for a unified transformation-plus-BI workflow
- Automated data delivery (email, Slack, scheduled exports) from any report without manual SQL runs
ASEAN Perspective
Holistics in Southeast Asia
Holistics is one of the few BI platforms that is genuinely ASEAN-native rather than ASEAN-adapted — founded in Singapore, engineering offices in Vietnam, and a customer list heavy with SEA internet companies including Shopback, Fave, VCNC, 99.co, RedDoorz, Kata.ai, Qoala, LINE GAMES, and Spenmo. An APAC-region data-center endpoint (secure.holistics.io) supports data residency needs relevant to Singapore's PDPA and regional data-localisation requirements. Pricing is published in SGD alongside USD and EUR, a small but meaningful signal that the company treats Singapore as a primary market rather than an afterthought. Bootstrapped and profitable, Holistics is a credible proof point that enterprise-grade data tooling can be built and scaled out of Southeast Asia.
Holistics earns its reputation with analytics engineers who want Looker-grade governance without Looker-grade lock-in or spend. The AML/AQL code-first stack, native Git workflows, dbt integration, and an AI assistant that answers from governed metric definitions instead of freelancing SQL are genuinely different from GUI-first competitors — Capterra reviewers (4.6/5, 89 reviews) consistently cite the single source of truth and faster iteration versus Tableau or Looker. A Singapore HQ, customers spanning 40 countries, and long-standing SEA reference customers (ShopBack, Fave, 99.co, RedDoorz, Kata.ai) give it real regional roots rather than a bolted-on APAC page.
The costs are real too. Entry pricing at $800/month (annual) locks out solo analysts who'd rather trial Metabase for free, dashboard design flexibility trails Tableau, and the AML learning curve isn't trivial for SQL-only users. Teams already committed to a dbt semantic layer might find Lightdash a tighter fit. Best suited to growth-stage data teams that have outgrown Metabase.
What people say
$800 a month gets you Holistics' Entry plan — a real number in a BI category full of "contact sales" — and that transparency is part of why analytics engineers rate it 4.6/5 on Capterra (89 reviews) and in the 4.3–4.6 range on G2. It's a Singapore-built, fully bootstrapped platform (no outside funding since 2015, when it spun out of an internal tool at Viki/Rakuten), now running across 40 countries with long-standing Southeast Asian customers like ShopBack, Fave, 99.co, RedDoorz, and Kata.ai.
The reason it gets picked over Metabase or Looker is AML — a typed, Git-versioned semantic layer that treats metrics as code, reviewable in pull requests rather than buried in a proprietary GUI. Reviewers consistently point to single-source-of-truth modeling, dbt integration, and responsive support as the reason they stuck around after evaluating heavier BI stacks.
It's not without friction. Several users note dashboard design is less polished than Tableau's, performance can slow on large Snowflake queries, and AML has a real learning curve if your team is SQL-only rather than analytics-engineering-native. The REST API is functional but still described as a work in progress. Pricing is viewed as fair relative to Looker's six-figure contracts, though the $800 entry floor still shuts out very early-stage teams and solo analysts.
Summary of public user & expert reviews, compiled by RECATOOLS.
Notable facts
- Holistics spun out of an internal data tool built at Viki, the Korean drama streaming platform acquired by Rakuten — the founders turned their own analytics headache into a product.
- The company has never raised external funding, reaching $5M ARR entirely on customer revenue with a 65-person team split between Singapore and Vietnam.
- Holistics created DBML (Database Markup Language) as an open-source side project — the diagram tool DBDiagram.io, built on DBML, has its own large following independent of the core BI product.
- Founder Huy Nguyen was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list in 2018, just three years after launching Holistics.
Frequently asked questions
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Holistics's official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Holistics unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
For the latest details, please refer to Holistics directly →
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