dbt

What it is for

dbt is a hosted analytics-engineering desk: you open Explorer, and Developer is Free. Use it when the job is models, jobs, and lineage you start at $0, not when you need a $20 chat seat.

What makes it unique: the cover is the official dbt Explorer lineage (Jaffle Shop Snowflake, customers model, ecom/stg sources into orders) from the docs still — not a pricing card. The graph itself is ops of Explorer. dbt Cloud bills per user, not a chat seat. Open-source dbt Core is $0 to self-host.

Key features

• Projects — a dbt project you connect to a warehouse (cover Jaffle Shop Snowflake; pricing). One project. Developer / Starter print 1 project. Cover project switcher sits here.
• Cloud IDE — the browser editor you write models in (pricing Browser-based IDE). An editor, not a project. Developer Free includes it.
• Jobs — a scheduled or CI run that builds models (pricing Job scheduling and monitoring). A run, not an editor. Developer prints 3,000 successful models built / month.
• Explorer — the lineage / catalog desk you click a model on (cover still; docs; video). A catalog, not a job. Cover customers + source/stg nodes sit here. Lineage with dbt Catalog prints on Starter+.
• Environments — the deploy target (dev / prod) a job hits (docs). An environment, not a project. Distinct from writing a model.

dbt Core / the CLI is install. Successful-models and queried-metrics tiles are the meter. Semantic Layer API access prints on Starter — ops of metrics, not a sixth desk.

Who it's for

Best fit: analytics engineers who will stay on Developer Free (1 seat, 3,000 models / month, 1 project) while they open a first Explorer graph, then buy Starter at $100 / user / month when they want Catalog lineage and the Semantic Layer.

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) from getdbt.com/pricing. Tiles print Developer Free / Starter $100 per user / month / Enterprise Custom.

• Developer — Free. One Developer seat. 3,000 successful models built / month. 1 project. Browser-based IDE, MFA, job scheduling and monitoring, CI on GitHub / GitLab.
• Starter — $100 / user / month. Five developer seats. 15,000 successful models / month. 5,000 queried metrics / month. 1 project. Everything in Developer, plus lineage with dbt Catalog and Semantic Layer API access. Trial on the tile.
• Enterprise — Custom. Custom seat count. 100,000 successful models / month. 20,000 queried metrics / month. 30 projects. Column-level lineage. Do not invent an Enterprise dollar.
• dbt Core (self-host) — $0 for the open-source CLI. You run the warehouse and the scheduler.

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Limitations / costs

• Developer Free is 1 seat, 1 project, 3,000 models / month. A second human or a second project is Starter at $100 / user / month.
• Explorer lineage prints on Starter, not Developer. The IDE still runs; the Catalog graph is the paid desk.
• A transform desk, not a notebook. For Deepnote’s $0 / $39 notebooks see Deepnote. For Hex see Hex.

Alternatives

• Deepnote — SQL-plus-Python notebooks when you want a cell, not a dbt model graph.
• Hex — agentic analytics notebooks on Hex’s $0 / $36 / $75 editor tiles.
• Lightdash — self-serve explore when the job is a metrics UI on top of dbt, not Cloud jobs.

Official tutorial

Official dbt Labs channel video: The latest enhancements in dbt Cloud Explorer (oEmbed author: dbt Labs). First-party Explorer clip; the Jaffle Shop lineage still is the cover. Catalog on the video is ops of Explorer, not a second listing.

Written path: getdbt.com/pricing plus the Explorer still.

Website

https://www.getdbt.com

Repository

https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-core

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is the official dbt Explorer lineage from the docs still. Dollars checked on getdbt.com/pricing (Developer Free; Starter $100/user/mo; Enterprise custom). Tutorial oEmbed author: dbt Labs.

Last verified

2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.