How to migrate from Explo before the Omni sunset: a step by step plan
Explo is sunsetting after the Omni acquisition. What you can export, what you cannot, how to map customer_id security to a new tool, and how to cut over safely.
Namanyay Goel · Updated · 9 min read
The situation in one paragraph
Explo was acquired by Omni on October 22, 2025. Omni's FAQ says it intends to migrate the majority of Explo customers over the next 12 months, and that existing contract pricing holds only "through the end of existing agreements." The Explo pricing page at https://www.explo.co/pricing returns a 404 as of September 2026 and the homepage has no pricing link. So the question is not whether to move but where, and how to do it without your customers noticing. This is how to migrate from Explo in six steps, written for the product manager or engineer who owns the customer dashboards and has other things to ship.
I want to be upfront about one thing before the steps. Explo has no documented export of dashboard definitions. There is no JSON, no YAML, no "download this dashboard as a file." Version control inside Explo is a linear history with preview and revert. Whatever tool you choose, you are rebuilding every dashboard by hand or with that tool's own migration help. Plan the time for it.
Step 1: Inventory dashboards and customer groups
Open Explo and write down, in a spreadsheet, every dashboard and every Report Builder configuration. For each one record: the datasets it uses, the SQL behind those datasets, the variables it expects, the theme profile passed in the theme embed parameter, and which embed method it uses (web component, iframe, or the hosted Customer Portal with magic-link login).
Then list your customer groups. Explo's tiers were priced "based on customer groups," so you probably already have this list from your invoice. Note the Customer object hierarchy you use (Customer and User levels) and any custom properties you pass. Explo's Resource API lists resources and their attributes, which is faster than clicking through if you have many dashboards.
Ask your customer success team one more question: which dashboards do customers actually open? A product manager at HomeLane told us the fallback in his company was to "go to the Metabase or like just create a SQL Query report, but that's not good enough that it takes some time also." If some of your Explo dashboards were built to stop that exact request and nobody opens them, do not migrate them.
Step 2: Export what can be exported
Explo end users can export CSV, PDF, PNG and XLSX. Those files land in Explo's S3 bucket and are deleted after 7 days, unless you have asked support to point exports at your own bucket. Programmatically, the Export Dashboard API returns PDF or image screenshots of a dashboard. Scheduled email reports are switched on by emailing [email protected], and Data Share can deliver datasets to email, S3 or SFTP.
Use this for two things. First, take a PDF or PNG screenshot of every dashboard in its current state. That is your visual spec for the rebuild and your evidence in the parallel run later. Second, pull a CSV or XLSX of the key numbers for two or three representative customers. You will compare the new tool's output against these.
What you cannot export: dashboard layouts, chart configuration, filter logic, or the Report Builder AI settings. Those live only in the Explo UI. Copy the dataset SQL out by hand now, before access questions come up later in the migration.
Step 3: Map your row-level security to the new tenant model
Explo's tenant security is a SQL pattern. You define a Customer with a provided_id, it becomes {{ customer_id }}, and you append AND customer_id = {{ customer_id }} to each dataset query. Every alternative does this differently, and getting it wrong means one customer sees another's data.
- Luzmo: you mint an embed token server-side with an
accessscope and passparameter_overridesfor a shared dataset, oraccount_overridesto switch the database credentials per tenant. Tokens default to 24 hours and max out at one year. - Metabase Pro: row and column security filters a table by user attributes per group, or via a SQL question. Public links bypass it, groups with native SQL access bypass it, and it cannot be applied to SQL questions.
- Embeddable: security filters travel in the Tokens API and the query fails closed if the filter cannot apply. SQL-based security in the data model and separate connections per tenant database are also supported.
- Sisense: data security rules restrict rows per signed-in user per dashboard.
- Gigacatalyst: there is no separate security layer to configure. The dashboard calls your product's own APIs with the customer's own permissions, so it can only see what that customer already sees in your product.
Write the mapping down per dataset. If a dataset relied on custom properties beyond customer_id, check that the new tool can pass more than one attribute in the token or filter.
Step 4: Rebuild
Rebuild in priority order from your inventory: the dashboards customers open most, then the ones tied to contracts, then everything else. Keep the Explo screenshots open in a second window and match numbers, not pixels. Nobody will churn over a slightly different bar color. They will churn over a total that no longer matches their invoice.
If you are moving to Omni, use its "step-by-step migration guides" and "migration tools" from the FAQ, but still do your own inventory. If you are moving elsewhere, our Explo alternatives page has the connector and pricing details for each option, and the customer-facing dashboard tools for SaaS shortlist groups them by who should buy.
Step 5: Run in parallel
Embed the new dashboards behind a feature flag for two or three friendly customers while Explo keeps serving everyone else. Compare the exported CSVs from Step 2 against the new tool's output for the same customer and date range. Check the exports too: your customers download CSVs and PDFs, and each tool has different limits. Metabase, for instance, caps downloads at 1,048,575 rows by default, and Luzmo emails a link valid 7 days for tables over 700k cells.
A product leader at Sardine told us he had "3,000 unworked tickets right now." Do not let the migration add to that pile. Two weeks of parallel running with three customers catches almost everything.
Step 6: Cut over before the sunset date
Flip the flag for all customers, keep Explo read-only for a month as a reference, then let the contract lapse. Omni's 12-month window from October 2025 means a target date of October 2026 at the latest. Work backwards: a month of read-only, two weeks parallel, and however long the rebuild takes based on your inventory count. If you are reading this in September 2026, the rebuild starts now.
What Explo gives you at the door
| Explo export path (as of September 2026) | Format | Where it goes | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| End-user download | CSV, PDF, PNG, XLSX | Explo S3 bucket | Deleted after 7 days |
| Export Dashboard API | PDF or image screenshot | Your call | Screenshots only |
| Scheduled email reports | Emailed report | Recipient inbox | Enabled via support |
| Data Share | Dataset | Email, S3, SFTP | Per changelog |
| Resource API | Resource list and attributes | Your call | Metadata only |
| Dashboard definitions | None | Not exportable | Rebuild required |
The Gigacatalyst path, honestly
Most Explo replacements ask you to reconnect the same warehouse and rebuild the same dashboards in a new editor. Gigacatalyst takes a different route. It builds the customer dashboard and a report builder on your product's own APIs and permissions. You start from what you already have (the Explo screenshot, the customer's spreadsheet, or the call transcript) and the result is a working dashboard inside your product that only calls approved endpoints.
Why teams consider it during an Explo migration: there is no warehouse or database credential to hand a third party, the customer keeps the dashboard when they go live because it is the real product, and the same setup handles the "can you add one more column" requests that a solutions consultant at Forsta said make up the "majority of the asks." An analytics lead at Vividly summed up the pattern of one-off requests as "it's never enough. It feels like."
Where it does not fit: if you want a self-hosted BI warehouse tool, or your dashboards are built on data that is not reachable through your product APIs, Explo-style tools remain the right category. It is also a young company and a new subprocessor, so budget a security review (see /trust). Pricing is quoted per deployment with a pilot as of September 2026, not a public per-seat card.
If you want to test it, pick one Explo dashboard from your Step 1 inventory and one customer, and see it on your own APIs. We build that one dashboard in the pilot and you compare it against your Step 2 exports the same way you would any other option. If you are also weighing Metabase, our guide on exporting dashboards from Metabase covers the reverse direction, and how to add customer-facing dashboards to a SaaS product covers the general build-or-buy question.
Questions people ask
Can I export my dashboards from Explo? Only as CSV, PDF, PNG or XLSX files for end users, or PDF and image screenshots via the Export Dashboard API. There is no JSON or YAML export of dashboard definitions, so you rebuild on the new tool.
How long do Explo exports stay available? Exported files land in Explo's S3 bucket and are deleted after 7 days, unless you have arranged your own S3 bucket through support.
Do I have to move to Omni? No. Omni is the vendor's path and provides migration guides and tools, but your Explo contract simply runs to the end of its term. You can migrate to any tool in that window.
How does Explo's customer_id security map to other tools? Luzmo uses token parameter or account overrides, Metabase Pro uses row and column security by user attribute, Embeddable passes security filters in tokens that fail closed, and Gigacatalyst uses your product's own permissions with no separate layer.
When does the Explo sunset take effect? Omni said in October 2025 it intends to migrate the majority of customers over the next 12 months, so plan for October 2026 at the latest and confirm your own contract end date.
What does Gigacatalyst cost compared to Explo? Gigacatalyst is quoted per deployment with a pilot as of September 2026. Explo's public pricing page is gone and current list prices are not published, so compare against your actual Explo invoice.