Best Dust Alternative (2026) | Onyx vs Dust
The Self-Hosted Dust Alternative
Onyx gives your team enterprise search with permission-aware results, shared agents, and true self-hosting across 40+ connectors. No cloud lock-in, no permission gaps.
| Feature | Onyx | Dust |
|---|---|---|
| Permission-aware search | Syncs per-user permissions from source systems | Workspace-level Spaces only |
| Flexible deployment | Cloud, self-hosted, on-prem, or air-gapped | Cloud only |
| Integrated company knowledge | +33 more | |
| 40+ indexed enterprise connectors | 52 integrations + MCP | |
| Model-agnostic (100+ LLMs) | Yes | GPT, Claude, Gemini, Mistral |
| Open-source (MIT) | Yes | Code on GitHub, but cloud-only product |
| Enterprise search | Hybrid search (semantic + keyword) with knowledge graphs | Vector search |
| Team collaboration | Shared agents, user groups, Slack/Teams bots | Shared agents, Slack integration |
Pricing Comparison
Onyx
$20/user/month
Dust
~$31/user/month (Pro), custom (Enterprise)
Total Cost of Ownership
Estimated annual cost comparison based on per-user pricing.
| Team size | 100 users | 10 | 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onyx | $24,000 | $20/user/month | |
| Dust | $37,200 | ~$31/user/month | |
| Annual Savings | $13,200 | 35% less with Onyx |
Detailed Comparison
Enterprise Search & Permissions
Onyx was built from day one as an enterprise search platform. 40+ native connectors continuously index data from Slack, Google Drive, Confluence, Jira, GitHub, Salesforce, and more. Permission syncing ensures users only see what they have access to in the source system. Hybrid search combines semantic and keyword retrieval with LLM-based knowledge graphs for reliable, precisely grounded answers.
Dust connects to 52 apps and syncs data into its platform. However, it does not enforce per-user permissions from source systems. Instead, admins create a service account and manage access through workspace-level Spaces (open or restricted). Anyone with access to a Space sees all data in it. For organizations where not everyone should see every document, this creates a governance gap that requires manual workarounds.
Ideal Use Cases
Onyx is best for
- Teams that need permission-aware search across all company tools
- Security-conscious organizations requiring self-hosted, on-premise, or air-gapped deployment
- Companies wanting 100+ LLM options including local models for data sovereignty
- Cost-conscious teams. Onyx is $20/user/month vs Dust's ~$31/user/month
- Education institutions and other regulated industries (defense, healthcare, finance) with strict data residency requirements
Dust is best for
- Teams that prioritize workflow automation with sequential agent tasks over enterprise search
- Slack-heavy organizations wanting agents embedded directly in channels
- European companies that prefer a Paris-based vendor with EU data hosting
- Non-technical teams who want a simple no-code agent builder with easy sharing
Frequently Asked Questions
- How is Onyx different from Dust?
- Is Onyx good for team collaboration, or is it more individual-focused?
- Does Dust support per-user permissions like Onyx?
- Can I self-host Dust?
- How does Onyx pricing compare to Dust?
- Is Dust or Onyx better for building AI agents?
- Is Onyx's open-source model secure enough for enterprise use?