Comparison
ChatPlotDB vs Hex
These are not really the same product. Hex is where a data team does its work; ChatPlotDB is where everyone else asks the data team's questions without filing a ticket.
Hex is a collaborative data workspace: SQL and Python notebooks, published apps, a semantic model, and an AI agent that writes and explains code inside them. It is built for analysts and data scientists. ChatPlotDB has no notebook and no Python cell: you connect a database and ask a question in English, and it writes the SQL, runs it read-only, and returns a table or chart. The right question is not which is better but which person you are buying for.
Two tools aimed attwo different people
Facts about Hex are from hex.tech/pricing, checked 30 July 2026.
| Feature | ChatPlotDB | Hex |
|---|---|---|
| Who it's for | Anyone who can ask a question in English: ops, support, finance, founders. | Analysts and data scientists who write SQL and Python. |
| The interface | A conversation. No notebook, no cells, no code to run. | Notebooks with SQL, Python and no-code cells, published as interactive apps. |
| Python | No. | Yes, first-class, with AI autocomplete and error explanation. |
| Databases | PostgreSQL, MySQL, Amazon DynamoDB, plus CSV and Excel uploads. | Connect any data source, including warehouses; free plan included. |
| Guardrails on generated SQL | Executed read-only, with the SQL that ran shown beside the answer. | The notebook is the guardrail: an analyst reads and runs the code themselves. |
| Scheduled refresh and alerts | Dashboard cards refresh on a schedule and alert into Slack on a threshold. | Scheduled runs and alerts, on the Team plan and above. |
| Free tier | Yes, one database connection. | Community: free, up to 5 notebooks and 5 published apps, small compute. |
| Paid pricing | $39/month, then $75 per seat/month for teams. | Professional $36 per editor/month, Team $75 per editor/month, Enterprise custom. |
| Run it in your own infrastructure | Enterprise: your AWS account and VPC, models via Amazon Bedrock, or fully on-premise. | Enterprise: single-tenant or EU multi-tenant deployment, custom Docker images. |
Choose Hex when you havea data team to equip
If the people asking the questions are the same people who write the queries, Hex is the stronger tool and it isn't close.
A notebook is the right container for real analysis. Hex gives an analyst SQL and Python in the same document, version history, and the ability to publish the result as an interactive app that a stakeholder can filter without touching the code. ChatPlotDB does none of that, by design: there is no cell to write Python in, so anything that needs a regression, a custom transform, or a library is out of scope for us and routine for Hex.
Hex also reaches further into the warehouse. It connects to any data source and its semantic model agent works against a modelled layer; ChatPlotDB connects to PostgreSQL, MySQL and DynamoDB. If your analytics sit in Snowflake or BigQuery today, that alone decides it.
And the Community plan is genuinely usable: free, with up to five notebooks and five published apps. For an individual analyst evaluating tools, that is a better starting point than anything we offer.
Choose ChatPlotDB when thebottleneck is the data team
The problem we built for is not "our analysts need better tools". It is "everyone else has to queue behind them".
In most companies the people who understand the business cannot query the database, and the people who can write SQL do not know which questions matter. Every answer becomes a ticket, a meeting, and a wait. Buying your analysts a better notebook makes them faster; it does not remove the queue, because the queue is made of people who will never open a notebook.
ChatPlotDB is for that queue. Someone in support asks how many accounts on the starter plan opened a ticket last week, and gets a table back, no cell to run, no Python, no analyst in the loop. The config layer is what makes that safe to trust: it records which tables matter and what your team means by "active", so the same question returns the same number no matter who typed it.
Note the pricing shape while you're comparing. Hex Team is $36 to $75 per editor per month, priced for the people producing analysis. ChatPlotDB Team is $75 per seat for people consuming it. If you are buying for ten analysts, Hex. If you are buying for a sixty-person company where four people write SQL, the maths goes the other way, and the two are not mutually exclusive.
Common questions
No, and it isn't trying to be. Hex is a notebook workspace for people who write SQL and Python; ChatPlotDB is a question box for people who don't. Plenty of companies would sensibly run both: the analysts in Hex, everyone else asking ChatPlotDB instead of filing a ticket.
No. There is no notebook and no code cell. If your analysis needs a custom transform, a statistical model, or a Python library, that is a job for a notebook tool like Hex.
As published on hex.tech in July 2026: Community is free with up to 5 notebooks and 5 published apps, Professional is $36 per editor per month, Team is $75 per editor per month, and Enterprise is custom. Paid tiers include medium compute, with pay-as-you-go compute available on Team and above.
ChatPlotDB is free for one connection, $39 a month for Professional, and $75 per seat per month for Team. The units differ: Hex charges per editor producing analysis, we charge per seat consuming it.
ChatPlotDB, because there is nothing to learn beyond typing a question. Hex's AI agent will write SQL from a description, but the surrounding surface is still a notebook: cells, execution order, a published app someone has to build first.
Both, on their enterprise tiers. Hex Enterprise offers single-tenant or EU multi-tenant deployment with custom Docker images. ChatPlotDB Enterprise runs inside your own AWS account and VPC with model calls served through Amazon Bedrock in your chosen region, or fully on-premise.
[ Sources ]
Everything stated here about Hex comes from their own published pages, last checked on 30 July 2026. Prices and features change: check the source before you decide, and tell us if anything here has gone out of date.
