How is it different from SQL support in Jupyter notebook?
For existing SQL tools there's currently basically two approaches: where either the full application is hosted, or where the full application is local.
Jupyter and Zeppelin generally fall into the second category— you have to set up Docker (or the myriad of dependencies), and edit a bunch of configuration files to launch a local server before getting started. If someone sends you a notebook, and you just want to read its contents and see the interactive charts, you still have to go through this ordeal.
On the other hand, there's Mode, Redash, and PopSQL, which are hosted solutions. Editing configuration files is replaced with a one-time setup and registration, but you have to entrust these startups with access to all your data.
Franchise takes a hybrid approach— it's a hosted static web page that contains all of the display logic, so if you save a notebook and share it with a friend, you can open it and it just works. To connect to a database, you start a local bridge which tunnels data from Franchise directly to your database through your computer.
We spent a lot of time thinking about the interface and trying to make it easy to use, but still powerful. We built a new notebook layout engine that allows you to run two queries and see the results side-by-side. Deleting a cell sends it to an archive, so you don't have to worry about losing data. Data visualizations are accessible with one click. And if you're just trying to query data on a CSV or JSON file, you can just drag and drop it onto the page.
One correction about Redash: Redash is open source and you can host it yourself too, in case you have an issue trusting a 3rd party with your data.
The proxy approach is something I thought about several times, but I am aiming at providing a collaborative tool, where it's easy to share the results and work with others. Depending on a proxy running on a user machine breaks this.
But having said that, I'm sure there are many whose needs Franchise will fit very well. So kudos on launching a great tool! :)
I'd like to confirm, we are hosting redash 2.0 (recently updated from 1.0) to our own server and use it as a query portal and collaboration tool to a number of databases (including mysql, postgres and oracle). Query sharing is really important there are users that don't know SQL but know how to run "peter-21" or "jim-32" with redash.
Everything is smooth till now thank you for the great product!