Alternatives

The best LightweightMMM alternatives.

LightweightMMM, Google's open-source Bayesian MMM library, was archived in January 2026 and is no longer supported. Google points users to Meridian. If you would rather not rebuild the model in-house, the strongest alternative is Odins: one managed Bayesian model per market, run for you. Odins is ours, so we say it up front. Four more options follow, sorted by who they fit.

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Reviewed October 2026 · sources cited on this page

The alternatives

Five alternatives, sorted by fit.

LightweightMMM is an open-source Bayesian MMM library in NumPyro and JAX, archived by Google on 19 January 2026 in favour of Meridian. These five take a different route. The best-for lines say which one suits you.

Odins
Managed Bayesian platform That's us

Best LightweightMMM alternative for teams that want the model run for them instead of rebuilt.

Odins is a managed marketing investment platform. Leaving LightweightMMM usually means a rebuild. With Odins it means handing the model over: we connect the data, set priors with your team in 2 to 3 working sessions, and build one Bayesian model per market, with TV, radio, OOH and print next to digital and pricing and promotions in the same model. Data flows in daily and scenarios and forecasts are yours to run any time; the model is retrained monthly, and a person reviews each recommendation. Disclosure: this is our platform.

Bayesian MMM · Fully managed · Daily data, monthly retrain Odins vs LightweightMMM
Google Meridian
Open-source framework

Best open-source option for teams with data scientists and geo-level data.

Google's Bayesian framework, the most packaged of the open three, with the strongest budget optimizer and native geo-level modeling. You build and maintain everything yourself, and a 2026 academic review flags the default uniform priors as a misuse risk. Free license, paid for in staff and time.

Bayesian framework · Self-hosted · Your team runs it Odins vs Meridian
PyMC-Marketing
Open-source framework

Best open-source option for maximum flexibility, if you have the Bayesian skills.

The most customizable of the open frameworks and the closest to our own stack: custom priors, full hierarchies, user-defined everything. The same review estimates up to two weeks for a novice's first full run, and budget optimization requires custom code. Excellent for capable teams, demanding for everyone else.

Bayesian framework · Self-hosted · Steepest learning curve Odins vs PyMC-Marketing
Recast
Advanced specialist

Best for large, mostly US advertisers with analytics teams and daily data.

A Bayesian MMM with time-varying parameters, weekly automated refreshes and out-of-sample backtesting. Built for Fortune 500 and large DTC budgets, with enterprise pricing that is not published.

Bayesian MMM · Managed platform · Weekly refresh Odins vs Recast
Mutinex
Enterprise platform

Best for multi-brand enterprises that need one MMM hierarchy across markets.

GrowthOS packages enterprise MMM as cleanly as anyone, with real scale: more than 100 global brands and over 13 billion dollars in commercial decisions, by Mutinex's count. Run from Sydney, Melbourne and New York.

MMM platform · Managed · Always-on Odins vs Mutinex

LightweightMMM facts come from github.com/google/lightweight_mmm and pypi.org, read October 2026. Other provider facts come from each vendor's public documentation, read September 2026: developers.google.com/meridian, pymc-marketing docs, getrecast.com and mutinex.co. Odins is our platform.

At a glance

Which alternative for which need.

Start from who should maintain the model from here: your own team, or a vendor.

Best fit

Why

A Bayesian budget model run for you, offline media included

Best fitOdins

WhyOne Bayesian model per market, built, maintained and reviewed by our team

Rebuilding in-house on Google's successor

Best fitGoogle Meridian

WhyGoogle's official Bayesian MMM, free, with geo-level modeling and a strong optimizer

Rebuilding in-house with maximum flexibility

Best fitPyMC-Marketing

WhyThe most customizable open framework, for teams with Bayesian skills

Large US budgets with daily data and an analytics team

Best fitRecast

WhyBayesian MMM with time-varying parameters, weekly refreshes and backtesting

One MMM hierarchy across many brands and markets

Best fitMutinex

WhyEnterprise MMM platform with campaign-varying modeling and an always-on cadence

Sources as listed above. Where a vendor does not state something publicly, we left it out.

When to look elsewhere

Four reasons to look for a LightweightMMM alternative.

LightweightMMM made Bayesian MMM free and readable, and the code is still there to use. These are the reasons teams move anyway.

The repository is archived and read-only, so no fixes or new releases will come
Google's own README recommends Meridian, so staying means maintaining a frozen library yourself
Your data scientists would rather work on new questions than maintain the old model
The budget decision needs offline media, business drivers and a reviewed recommendation, not only a fitted model

Why Odins

Hand over the model, keep what you learned.

What your team learned from LightweightMMM does not go to waste. It goes into the priors.

Priors set in 2 to 3 working sessions, from your spend history, digital saturation signals, structured interviews and what your old model showed
Offline media, pricing and promotions in the same model as digital
Results from lift and geo tests you have run are taken into the model, and a structured test is proposed when the model is uncertain about a channel
Data in daily, scenarios and forecasts any time in the platform or from Claude via the Odins MCP, and a monthly retrain with a reviewed recommendation
Forecasts stored before actuals arrive, so the model's record is there to inspect

Channel contribution, 80% ranges

from the posterior

Search 14 to 16% optimize

Social 9 to 13% optimize

Display 2 to 9% test first

A tight range is a decision. A wide range is a test plan, with cost boundaries.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

What is the best alternative to LightweightMMM?

It depends on who will run the model. If you want it run for you, with offline media in the model and every recommendation reviewed, Odins is the alternative we would point to, and yes, it is ours. To rebuild in-house, Google Meridian is Google's own successor, and PyMC-Marketing is the most flexible open framework. For large US budgets with daily data, Recast. For one MMM hierarchy across many brands, Mutinex.

Is LightweightMMM deprecated?

Yes. Google archived the repository on 19 January 2026. The README says LightweightMMM is no longer supported and recommends switching to Meridian, Google's official Bayesian MMM, released in January 2025.

Should we move from LightweightMMM to Meridian?

If you have data scientists with time to rebuild and maintain it, Meridian is the natural next step. The work is in everything around the model: the data foundation, the monthly update and a tool the team uses. See Google Meridian: build vs buy and Odins vs Google Meridian.

How is Odins different from LightweightMMM?

LightweightMMM is a library your team runs. Odins is a managed platform: we connect the data, build and maintain one Bayesian model per market, and a person reviews each recommendation. The full comparison, with sources, is on Odins vs LightweightMMM.

What does a LightweightMMM alternative cost?

Meridian and PyMC-Marketing are free to license and paid for in staff time, as LightweightMMM was. Recast does not publish pricing. Odins is a subscription priced for the budget it optimizes, for companies with a marketing budget from EUR 1M to several hundred million a year, with the team included and no data science hires needed.

The best LightweightMMM alternatives.

Odins

Google Meridian

PyMC-Marketing

Recast

Mutinex

Which alternative for which need.

Four reasons to look for a LightweightMMM alternative.

Hand over the model, keep what you learned.

Frequently asked questions.

Marketing spend, modeled like an investment.