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Metabase

by Metabase, Inc. · Application

Self-hostable BI tool with a no-code question builder, SQL editor, dashboards and embedding; AGPL open-source edition plus commercial Pro and Enterprise

AGPL-3.0 licenseOpen sourceFreePaidEnterpriseSelf-hostedCloudSelf-hostable
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Link verified Nov 2, 2026

Overview

Metabase is a business-intelligence application from Metabase, Inc. that connects to PostgreSQL, MySQL, ClickHouse, BigQuery, Snowflake, SQLite, MongoDB and about twenty other sources and lets users ask questions through a graphical query builder or a native SQL editor, then assemble the results into dashboards with filters, alerts and scheduled email or Slack delivery. Models and metrics provide a light semantic layer, and public links or signed embedding put charts into other applications. It ships as a single JAR or Docker image, which makes it one of the easiest BI servers to self-host on a small machine.

Code outside the enterprise directory is licensed under the AGPL; the enterprise directory is under the Metabase Commercial License and powers the Pro and Enterprise plans (SSO, row-level sandboxing, white-labeling, advanced permissions), available self-hosted or on Metabase Cloud. The open-source edition covers most small-team needs. Limitations include modest modeling compared with dbt-centric semantic layers, performance that depends entirely on the connected database, and the AGPL obligations for teams modifying and redistributing it.

Capabilities

  • Graphical question builder and native SQL editor
  • Dashboards with filters, drill-through and alerts
  • Scheduled delivery to email and Slack
  • Models and metrics as a light semantic layer
  • Public sharing and signed embedding
  • Connectors for twenty-plus databases

Typical workflows

  1. Team dashboards over a PostgreSQL application database
  2. Ad-hoc SQL exploration shared with non-technical users
  3. Embedding charts in a customer-facing product

Strengths

  • Simple single-container self-hosting
  • Approachable for non-SQL users
  • Open-source edition is fully functional for small teams

Limitations

  • Advanced permissions and SSO are commercial
  • Performance depends on the source database
  • AGPL obligations when redistributing modifications

Prerequisites

  • Java runtime or Docker, plus an application database (PostgreSQL recommended for production)

Who it is for

  • Small data teams
  • Product and operations analysts

Alternatives & comparison

  • Apache Superset

    Apache-licensed BI web application with SQL Lab, a no-code chart builder, dashboards and connectors to any SQLAlchemy-compatible database

    Open sourceOpen source
  • Grafana

    Dashboarding and alerting platform that visualizes metrics, logs and traces from Prometheus, SQL databases and dozens of other data sources

    MixedOpen source
  • Microsoft Power BI

    Microsoft's business-intelligence suite: free Windows Power BI Desktop for modeling and reports, and the Power BI service in Microsoft Fabric for sharing

    ProprietaryFreemium
  • Tableau

    Salesforce's visual analytics platform: Tableau Desktop authoring (now with a free edition), Tableau Cloud and Server for sharing, and Tableau Next for CRM analytics

    ProprietaryFreemium
Compare Metabase with its alternatives →

Sources & verification

Primary sources consulted for this record. Claims are tied to the fields each source supports; the automated link checker re-verifies every URL on a schedule.

  • License
    Metabase LICENSE.txt

    https://github.com/metabase/metabase/blob/master/LICENSE.txt

    Supports: license_spdx, source_model

    AGPL outside the enterprise directory; Metabase Commercial License inside it

    checked Nov 1, 2026
  • Official documentation
    Metabase documentation

    https://www.metabase.com/docs/latest

    Supports: capabilities, integrations

    checked Nov 1, 2026
  • Official site
    Metabase

    https://www.metabase.com/

    Supports: name, summary

    checked Nov 1, 2026
  • Pricing page
    Metabase pricing

    https://www.metabase.com/pricing

    Supports: pricing_model

    checked Nov 1, 2026
  • Repository
    metabase/metabase

    https://github.com/metabase/metabase

    Supports: repo_url

    checked Nov 1, 2026
Confidence
High
Reviewed
Nov 1, 2026
Links
Verified · Nov 2, 2026

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