Workshop vs Hex

At a Glance

Choose Workshop if you want:

• You want to ship a full product (website + app) — not just an analysis workspace.
• You need portable projects you can export and deploy on your own infrastructure.
• You want product-grade UX (routing, roles, custom UI), plus AI features that live inside your app.
• You expect to extend beyond the browser (desktop/mobile/offline) over time.

Choose Hex if you want:

• You want a collaborative notebook for SQL/Python analytics with shareable data apps.
• Your workflows start with querying a warehouse and iterating on analysis.
• You want an AI-assisted analytics workspace built for data teams.
• You’re primarily publishing internal dashboards, reports, and data stories.

Where Workshop and Hex Differ

Deployment & Ownership

Workshop: Workshop is built for shipping real software: develop locally, deploy where you want, and keep control of your infrastructure, security posture, and lifecycle.

Hex: Hex is built around a managed analytics workspace. You publish and share inside the Hex environment, which is great for analytics collaboration but less oriented around owning a standalone product.

Working With Real Data

Workshop: Workshop is optimized for product experiences on top of real data—operational databases, APIs, warehouses, and files—without requiring your team to live in a notebook mental model.

Hex: Hex shines when your work begins as analysis: query data, explore in SQL/Python, then package insights into shareable data apps for stakeholders.

Flexibility & Tech Stack

Workshop: Use the UI patterns, frameworks, and AI providers you prefer. Workshop is designed to stay flexible as your stack evolves.

Hex: Hex gives you a curated analytics stack (notebooks, charts, publishing). That focus is a strength for data work, but it’s not designed for arbitrary product surfaces.

Ideal Team Profile

Workshop: Product teams, founders, and engineers building customer-facing software (and iterating fast) — where ownership and extensibility matter.

Hex: Analytics, BI, and data science teams who want notebooks + dashboards + sharing in one place.

Best for Different Use Cases

Building a Website

Workshop: When Workshop makes sense: You want a marketing site that can share the same data, auth, and deployment model as your app.

Hex: When Hex makes sense: You want to share an analysis page, report, or internal narrative — not a full website.

Building an AI App

Workshop: When Workshop makes sense: You’re building AI features for users—chat, workflows, copilots, retrieval—connected to your product and data.

Hex: When Hex makes sense: You want AI-assisted exploration and analysis for business data inside an analytics workspace.

Building a Dashboard

Workshop: When Workshop makes sense: You need dashboards that behave like product UI (custom interactions, roles, embedded experiences).

Hex: When Hex makes sense: You want dashboards that are an extension of notebook analysis with strong analytics storytelling.

Building an Internal Tool

Workshop: When Workshop makes sense: You need an internal tool that must run in your environment or evolve into desktop/mobile over time.

Hex: When Hex makes sense: The tool is primarily analytics-centric workflows for data teams.

Why Teams Choose Workshop Long-Term

• Build beyond the browser with desktop and mobile apps when you need them.
• Choose cloud models or local models based on privacy, latency, and cost.
• Keep your stack flexible — swap databases, APIs, or UI frameworks without rebuilding everything.
• Avoid platform lock-in with exportable, portable projects.