Kater

Switch to Kater

Most BI migrations take months. Switch to Kater in a day.

Migrate one dashboard, check its numbers against the original, and publish. We do the migration with you, for free.

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Start from the tool you use today.

You do not have to replace it. Kater reads the same warehouse, so your team’s agent can use Kater beside your dashboards. Move them one at a time, or never.

Tableau Visual analytics Tableau is the best tool for drawing charts by hand. Kater lets your agent build the whole dashboard, and one command moves yours over. Kater vs Tableau Power BI Microsoft BI Power BI is the default in Microsoft shops. Kater replaces DAX with SQL your agent already writes, and puts every report in git. Kater vs Power BI Looker Semantic BI Looker made the governed model and git normal in BI. Kater keeps both, writes the model in SQL, and puts dashboards in git too. Kater vs Looker Sigma Spreadsheet BI Sigma puts a spreadsheet on the warehouse. Kater gives your agent a codebase, and gives everyone else the same governed numbers. Kater vs Sigma Metabase Open-source BI Metabase is the easy first BI tool. Kater is the one your agent can build in, with each metric defined once in SQL. Kater vs Metabase Hex Notebook BI Hex is a great notebook for analysts. Kater is BI for the whole company, with files in git as the source of truth. Kater vs Hex Omni Modern semantic BI Omni builds governed BI around the dashboard. Kater keeps the governed model, and your own agent builds dashboards, apps and answers on it. Kater vs Omni Lightdash BI on dbt Lightdash brings BI to your dbt project. Kater writes metrics in SQL, and keeps every dashboard and app in git by default. Kater vs Lightdash dbt Semantic Layer Semantic layer The dbt Semantic Layer defines metrics in YAML, for other tools to query. Kater reads the SQL dbt compiles, and adds measures, dashboards and apps on top. Kater vs dbt Semantic Layer Using another tool? Your agent migrates one dashboard to Kater, on your warehouse, and you compare the numbers. Or we do the migration with you, for free. Ask for a free migration

Side by side

BI with an AI feature vs. BI built for agents.

BI with an AI feature

  • In the vendor’s database
  • An analyst, click by click
  • Edit it live and hope
  • Again in every workbook
  • Log in and search dashboards
  • Per creator and per viewer

Kater

  • In git, as files you own
  • Your agent, and you review
  • Compile, test, diff, publish
  • Once, for everything
  • Ask in Slack, Claude or ChatGPT
  • One subscription for the team

Why we built it

We did your job first.

We spent ten years as data engineers and analysts, at Microsoft and Kaiser Permanente. We defined revenue again in every new tool. We answered the same question every week. We watched two dashboards disagree in the same meeting.

Then coding agents changed how software gets built. We saw how data teams would build from now on: in files, with an agent beside them, and with every change reviewed. No BI tool worked that way, so we built one.

Kater is the tool we wanted when we did your job.

Yvonne Chou Robin Seitz

Yvonne Chou and Robin Seitz

Founders of Kater

Honest fit

When Kater is not the right fit yet.

Some teams should wait. Here is where another tool serves you better today.

  • Your warehouse is not Snowflake or DuckDB.

    Those are the two warehouses Kater connects to today. Have a warehouse we do not support? Request it.

    Request a warehouse

  • You need to embed analytics in your own product today.

    Kater has no embedding (for now). It is in development.

    Ask about early access

  • You have a few dashboards, and nobody writes SQL or uses an agent.

    A hosted drag-and-drop tool may be enough for now.

For most data teams, that last point is changing fast. An agent now writes the SQL and the YAML. Your team decides what each metric means, and approves the change.

How to switch

Switch in a day, one dashboard at a time.

From Tableau, one command moves a dashboard. Kater rebuilds it as a private draft in minutes, checks its numbers against Tableau, and waits for you to publish. From other tools, your agent takes the same steps with Kater’s tools.

  1. 01

    Connect your warehouse.

    Connect Snowflake or DuckDB. Schema sync writes one file for each table, so your agent can read the whole warehouse.

  2. 02

    Migrate one dashboard.

    From Tableau, run kater migrate on the workbook. From another tool, ask your agent to migrate it. Kater rebuilds the calculations, filters and charts as a private draft.

  3. 03

    Check the numbers.

    Kater compares the draft with the dashboard you know, chart by chart. It asks you only about what it cannot match.

  4. 04

    Publish, then do the next one.

    Publish when the numbers match. Each dashboard takes minutes, so a whole switch can take a day.

Want help? We do the migration with you, on your warehouse, for free.

Ask for a free migration

Questions

Before you switch

Is Kater a BI replacement?

It can be, but it does not have to be. Kater reads the same Snowflake or DuckDB warehouse as your BI tool, so you can keep your dashboards there. Add Kater to give your team’s agent one definition for each metric, your context and your access rules. Move dashboards over later, one at a time, if you want. We help you set Kater up beside the tools you have.

Do business users have to write code?

No. Builders and their agents work in the files. Business users read dashboards and apps in the browser, or ask their own agent in Slack, Claude or ChatGPT. Every answer uses the definitions the data team governs.

What if our team does not use a coding agent yet?

You can work in the browser. Select fields to build a query, select a chart, and drag it onto a dashboard. An agent makes the work faster, and it builds apps, but you can start without one.

Why not build it ourselves with Claude Code and our warehouse?

You can, and it is fast for one page. But each page writes its own SQL, with no shared metrics, permissions, tests or history. Kater gives the agent all of that, so the hundredth dashboard agrees with the first.

Why not use the AI in our warehouse, such as Snowflake Intelligence?

A warehouse agent answers questions in its own chat. Kater adds what a BI platform needs around the answers: shared metrics, dashboards, apps, sharing, tests and History. It also works with the agent your team already uses.

Which warehouses does Kater connect to?

Snowflake and DuckDB today. Queries run live on your warehouse, so there are no extracts to refresh. If you run something else, request it on our integrations page.

Is Kater ready for enterprise?

Yes. Kater is SOC 2 Type II certified. It has SSO, row-level security, access filters and grants, and access by folder and file.

Do we have to move everything at once?

No. Migrate one dashboard at a time, and keep your current tool while you compare the numbers. Each dashboard takes minutes, so a whole switch can take a day.

Do you charge to help us migrate?

No. Tell us what you want to move. We do the migration with you, on your warehouse, and we do not charge for it.

How do we move our Tableau dashboards?

Run kater migrate on a .twb or .twbx file, or ask your agent to migrate the dashboard. Kater rebuilds it as a private draft in minutes, compares its numbers with Tableau, and asks you only about what it cannot match. You publish when it matches.

How does Kater pricing work?

Kater has a 30-day free trial with every feature. After it, Kater is a subscription quoted for your team. We do not charge per viewer or per dashboard, so more readers do not mean a larger bill. Start a free trial, or talk to us for a quote.

Does Kater send our data to an AI model?

Kater runs no chat of its own. Your own agent connects through the Kater MCP, acts as the person who signed in, and sees only what that person can see. It uses the model provider you already selected.

Do we still need a data team?

Yes. The data team decides what each metric means and approves changes to the shared layer. The agent does the typing. The data team does the judgment.

Can we take our work with us?

Yes. Everything is a file. Clone a local copy with kater git clone, and write the shared layer back to your own GitHub repository.

Ready to switch? We do the migration for free.

Tell us what you want to move. We do the migration with you, on your warehouse, and we do not charge for it. Then compare the numbers and decide.

Start Free TrialAsk for a free migration