No. 20 of 28 ·Semantic Layer Software

Sidemantic

Web · Self-hosted · API

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Freedom report

No signalScore 5.0

Free tierNo free tier on record
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely1 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedThinly documented

Sidemantic is ranked #20 of 28 in semantic layer software on Freedom251. It runs on API, Self-hosted, Web.

Compared on semantic layer software

Governed metrics: Yes
Dimensions and joins: Yes
Query API: Yes
Deployment model: self_hosted

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The record

Purpose: Sidemantic is an open-source semantic layer for defining metrics once and querying them consistently across tools.
Model authoring: Models can be authored in YAML, SQL, or Python.
Model imports: It imports semantic models from more than 15 formats, including Cube, MetricFlow, LookML, Malloy, and Snowflake Cortex.
Warehouse support: Native adapters are listed for Snowflake, BigQuery, Postgres, ClickHouse, Databricks, and Spark, with additional databases supported via ADBC.
Query interfaces: Users can query through semantic SQL, Python API, CLI, MCP server, or the Postgres wire protocol.
Join inference: Cross-model queries infer join paths from declared relationships without requiring a JOIN keyword in semantic SQL.
Aggregation correctness: Symmetric aggregates are used to prevent double-counting across one-to-many joins.
AI access: Sidemantic exposes metrics to LLMs through MCP and describes built-in guardrails for governed AI access.
Interactive demo: The site offers an interactive workbench with built-in demo data that does not require a database.
Not a BI or ETL tool: Sidemantic runs on top of a warehouse and is described as neither an ETL tool nor a BI tool.
License: The GitHub repository identifies the project as open source under the AGPL-3.0 license.
Support: The maker links to documentation and a Discord community for the project.
Maturity: The project describes itself as young and notes that format conversion and its Postgres protocol server may have rough patches.
Maker: The site footer identifies Sidequery Corporation as the company.

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Semantic Layer Software in 2026#20 of 28

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Sources

sidemantic.com· checked 4 Oct 2026
sidequery.dev/sidemantic/adapters· checked 4 Oct 2026
sidequery.dev/sidemantic/what-is-sidemantic· checked 4 Oct 2026
github.com/sidequery/sidemantic· checked 4 Oct 2026