metabase
by metabase
Metabase is a business intelligence tool that connects to your databases so people can build charts and dashboards and ask questions about their data. It is meant for teams who want to explore and share figures without needing to write SQL.
- Stars
- 49.9k +14 a day
- Licence
- Unclear
- Runs on
- A small server
- Setup
- Moderate
- Language
- Clojure
- Age
- 4284 days
What you can do with it
- Build interactive dashboards with filters from your database data
- Ask questions of your data through a point-and-click interface or the SQL editor
- Schedule dashboard emails or Slack updates and set alerts on key figures
Could replace
- Tableau
- Power BI
- Looker
Our suggestion based on what it does, not a feature-by-feature comparison.
Make money with it
A freelancer could set up Metabase and build custom dashboards and reports for small businesses as a paid service.
An idea, not financial advice. Check the licence before charging for anything built on it.
Ways a business could use it
- Replace paid reporting software by building sales, stock and customer dashboards straight from your existing database
- Embed charts and dashboards in your own product so customers can see their own data
Can you use it commercially?
No standard licence detected. Read the licence before using it commercially.
Not legal advice. Read the project's licence file before building a product on it.
Getting it running
You can self-host it by following the installation guides (for example with Docker or a Java JAR file), or sign up for the paid Metabase Cloud instead.
Follow the official instructions in the project README.
Things to check
- The repository mixes AGPL open-source code with commercial editions under a separate licence, so check which features are free
- Some features such as advanced embedding and permissions may need a paid plan
- AI features may depend on paid services
Checked 27 Oct 2026. Summary drafted by AI from the project's README.
