Hex

Hex is a full data workspace, not just a notebook. You get notebook-style exploration (SQL and Python in the same document), but also AI assistance through Magic AI, native warehouse connectors, real-time collaboration, parameterized interactive apps, scheduled runs, and polished dashboard publishing. Jupyter and Colab are notebook runtimes; Hex is an end-to-end product for turning data into decisions.

Hex offers a free Community plan for individuals with personal projects, SQL, Python, basic visualizations, and limited Magic AI usage. It's genuinely useful for learning and solo work. The Team plan at $30/user/month unlocks collaboration, full Magic AI, warehouse connectors, and scheduled runs. Enterprise tiers are quote-based.

Magic AI is Hex's built-in AI assistant that can generate SQL from natural language using your warehouse schema, write Python code for analysis, explain existing queries, suggest visualizations, and even build multi-cell analysis workflows from a single prompt. It's context-aware, meaning it knows the tables and columns you have access to and the content of the rest of your notebook. It's widely considered one of the strongest AI assistants in the data notebook space.

Hex leads on AI-first analysis and interactive app publishing. Deepnote leads on Jupyter compatibility and developer experience. Mode leads on SQL-first BI workflows and polished dashboards. All three are strong; the decision usually comes down to what your team values most. Teams already on dbt and modern data stacks tend to pick Hex or Mode; teams coming from Jupyter tend to pick Deepnote; SQL-first analyst teams tend to pick Mode.

Yes. Hex's core differentiator is the notebook-to-app workflow: you build analysis in a notebook, add parameterized inputs (dropdowns, sliders, date pickers, multi-select), arrange outputs in an app layout, and publish to stakeholders. The result is a fully interactive report that stakeholders can filter and re-run without touching the underlying code. It's one of the smoothest publishing experiences in the data workspace category.

Yes. Hex has a native dbt integration that lets you reference dbt models directly in SQL cells, respecting your semantic layer and metric definitions. For teams running dbt as their modeling layer, Hex preserves the governance benefits while adding exploratory and AI-driven analysis on top. This combination is increasingly standard in the modern data stack.

Yes. Hex is SOC 2 Type II compliant. Enterprise plans add SSO/SAML, SCIM provisioning, audit logs, private networking, and dedicated compute. Warehouse queries respect your existing permissions, and credentials are encrypted per workspace. For regulated industries, Enterprise also offers data residency options and private deployment configurations.