Evidence
Evidence is an open-source, code-based alternative to traditional drag-and-drop BI tools that enables building polished data products using SQL, markdown, and AI development tools in a powerful browser-based IDE.
https://evidence.dev/?ref=producthunt
Product Information
Updated:Dec 23, 2025
What is Evidence
Evidence is a lightweight framework for building data applications and business intelligence solutions that takes a code-first approach rather than using drag-and-drop interfaces. It provides a modern front-end for data work that allows analysts and developers to create professional, interactive data visualizations and reports using familiar tools like SQL and markdown. The platform is built on open-source foundations and is trusted by leading organizations including Apple, IDC, and others for their data product development needs.
Key Features of Evidence
Evidence is an open-source business intelligence platform that combines SQL, markdown, and AI capabilities to build data-driven web applications and reports. It offers a modern development experience with real-time previews, version control, and AI-assisted development, while providing enterprise-grade security features and high-performance query engine that supports multiple data sources.
Code-First Development: Build data products using SQL and markdown in a browser-based IDE with features like schema-aware autocomplete, component introspection, and real-time previews
AI-Enhanced Development Tools: Integrated AI agent that assists with documentation lookup, schema checking, error debugging, and Evidence markdown writing
High-Performance Query Engine: Sub-second query performance on billions of rows with intelligent caching, automatic optimization, and support for multiple data sources including Snowflake, BigQuery, and ClickHouse
Enterprise Security: SOC 2 Type II certified with features like row-level security, SSO integration, directory sync (SCIM), and granular access controls
Use Cases of Evidence
Internal Business Reporting: Create interactive KPI dashboards and operational reports for daily business monitoring and decision support
Customer-Facing Analytics: Build and embed polished data products and reports that can be shared with customers or integrated into existing applications
Data Analysis and Exploration: Enable data teams to quickly prototype, validate hypotheses, and perform iterative data analysis with version control
Pros
Modern developer experience with version control and CI/CD integration
High performance and scalability with intelligent caching
Strong enterprise security features and compliance
Cons
Requires SQL knowledge to use effectively
Initial setup and server start can take up to 2 minutes
How to Use Evidence
Install Evidence VSCode Extension: Install the Evidence extension from the VSCode Marketplace as this is the easiest way to get started with Evidence
Create New Evidence Project: Use the VSCode Command Palette to create a new Evidence project, or select 'Start from our templates' and choose evidence-dev/template
Start Development Server: Click the 'Start Evidence' button to install dependencies and start the dev server, or run 'npm install' followed by 'npm run dev' commands. Initial setup may take up to 2 minutes
Connect Data Sources: Navigate to localhost:3000/settings in development environment to connect your data sources (databases, flat files, etc.) by selecting source type and entering required credentials
Create Pages: Create .md files in the src/pages directory. Pages are written in Markdown format with support for HTML. You can add headers, text formatting, links and other Markdown elements
Add SQL Queries: Add SQL queries using code blocks with 'evidence-query-name' attribute. Queries can be written directly in pages or stored in separate .sql files in the queries directory
Build Visualizations: Use Evidence's built-in visualization components to create charts and interactive data visualizations based on your SQL query results
Configure Environment Variables: For production deployment, set up database credentials as environment variables following the format EVIDENCE_SOURCE__[your_source]__[option_name]
Deploy Application: Deploy using Evidence Cloud (recommended) or self-host. For Evidence Cloud, you can deploy in 5 minutes with built-in security and user management features
Test and Monitor: Use 'npm run build:strict' for strict validation before deployment. Monitor query performance and utilize Evidence's caching features for optimization
Evidence FAQs
Evidence is an open-source framework for building data products with SQL. It's a code-driven alternative to drag-and-drop BI tools that allows users to build reports, decision-support tools, and customer-facing/embedded reporting.
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