Open-Source Metabase Alternatives: Self-Hosted BI and Dashboard Tools for Startup Teams
Metabase is itself open source, and for many startups it is the first BI tool they install: connect a database, click together a question, share a dashboard. People look for an alternative when they hit its limits: row-level permissions, SSO and white-label embedding sit on paid plans, the AGPL licence worries teams that want to embed charts in their own product, or the data team wants metrics defined in code instead of in a GUI. This guide lists open-source BI and dashboard tools you can run on your own server instead. We checked every project on its official website and GitHub in October 2026: the exact licence, the latest release, how you self-host it and whether it is still maintained. Projects that were archived, sold or went quiet are listed separately at the end.
Quick answer: for the closest open-source replacement with a no-code chart builder, use Apache Superset (Apache 2.0); if your team uses dbt and wants one set of metric definitions, use Lightdash; for SQL dashboards, schedules and alerts, use Redash; for live product and infrastructure metrics, use Grafana; if you prefer BI as code that AI coding agents can write, use Evidence or Rill; and if you need SSO, row-level security and embedding without a paid tier, look at Helical Insight.
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What Metabase Gives You for Free, and What It Costs in 2027
To know what you are replacing: the Metabase pricing page (checked October 2026) lists the Open Source edition as free with unlimited users, unlimited questions and dashboards, more than 20 data sources, AI on the model of your choice and an MCP server. Its licence file says the code is AGPL outside the enterprise folder, which is under the Metabase Commercial License. Cloud Starter costs $100 a month with 5 users included and $6 for each extra user. Row- and column-level permissions, SSO, required two-factor login, usage auditing, multi-tenant embedded analytics and white-labelling start on Pro, at $575 a month with 10 users included and $12 per extra user, and Enterprise starts at $20,000 a year. Metabase is very much alive: version 64.3 came out on 27 October 2026, and Metabase 64 added required two-factor login, a better MCP server and its Metabot AI assistant on almost any model. So switching only makes sense if one of the tools below fits your team better, not because Metabase is going away.
Open-Source Metabase Alternatives Compared
Sources: each project's GitHub repository (licence file and releases) and official website or pricing page, checked 29 October 2026. Self-hosting is free, but you pay for the server and your own time.
The Best Open-Source Metabase Alternatives in 2027
1. Apache Superset: the closest open-source replacement
Apache Superset describes itself as an open-source modern data exploration and visualization platform. It is an Apache Software Foundation project under the Apache 2.0 licence, which is more permissive than Metabase's AGPL: you can embed it or build on it commercially without sharing your changes. It has a no-code chart builder, a SQL editor and a large library of chart types, and it is built for big warehouses. The latest stable release is 6.1.0 (May 2026), and version 7.0 was in release-candidate testing in October 2026. Self-hosting takes more engineering than Metabase; if you would rather not run it, Preset, a managed Superset service, has a Starter plan that is free forever for up to 5 users, and Professional costs $20 per user per month billed annually.
2. Lightdash: open-source BI on top of dbt
Lightdash turns the models and metrics in your dbt project into a self-service BI tool, so everyone in the company uses the same definition of revenue or active users. This is the main thing Metabase's GUI-defined models cannot give a data team that already works in dbt. The code is MIT-licensed outside its enterprise folder, and development is fast: version 3.93.0 came out on 28 October 2026. The open-source edition is self-hosted with community support on Slack; the hosted Cloud Pro plan is $3,000 a month with unlimited users, so for a startup the realistic route is self-hosting.
3. Redash: SQL dashboards, schedules and alerts
Redash combines a browser SQL editor with visualisations, dashboards, scheduled refreshes, alerts and a REST API, and its GitHub README lists more than 35 SQL and NoSQL data sources. It is BSD-2 licensed, the most permissive licence in this list after MIT, and it is still maintained: version 26.9.0 came out in September 2026. There is no hosted plan, so you run it yourself. It suits a team where one person writes SQL and everyone else reads the dashboards; non-technical users get less help than in Metabase's click-based question builder.
4. Grafana: dashboards for live metrics and monitoring
Grafana is the open-source (AGPL-3.0) standard for operational dashboards: product usage, servers, sign-ups per minute and anything stored as time series. It is less suited to classic business reporting such as monthly revenue by customer segment, where Metabase is stronger. Version 13.3.0 came out on 27 October 2026. If you do not want to host it, the Grafana Cloud free tier costs $0 with 3 active visualization users, 10,000 active metric series, 50 GB of logs and 14 days of retention; Pro starts at $19 a month plus usage.
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5. Evidence: BI as code in SQL and Markdown
Evidence calls itself an open-source, code-based alternative to drag-and-drop BI tools. You write reports in SQL and Markdown, keep them in Git, and self-host the result or publish it on Evidence's own platform. Because everything is text, AI coding agents can write and edit reports for you. The framework is MIT-licensed; the repository was updated in October 2026, while its last tagged release dates from February 2026. The hosted Team plan on Evidence's pricing page costs $2,500 a month with unlimited users and a 30-day trial.
6. Rill: fast BI as code on ClickHouse or DuckDB
Rill is an Apache-2.0 project (GitHub) that you install with one command and run locally as Rill Developer. You define dashboards, a semantic layer of dimensions and measures, and security policies in YAML and SQL, and Rill queries ClickHouse for very large data or DuckDB for smaller sets. It also ships an MCP server so AI agents can query your metrics. Version 0.90.8 came out in October 2026. Sharing dashboards with a team is built around Rill Cloud, which starts at $20 per seat a month for up to 20 seats, with a $250 usage credit on every plan.
7. Helical Insight: enterprise features in the free edition
Helical Insight is a Java-based BI platform whose community edition is on GitHub under AGPL-3.0. Its website promises every feature free, with no enterprise tier needed: AI-powered conversational analytics, drag-and-drop reports and dashboards, embedding with SSO, pixel-perfect canned reports, multi-tenancy and row-level security. Those are exactly the features Metabase reserves for Pro, so Helical Insight is worth testing if you need them on a startup budget. Version 7.0.0 was released in July 2026. Setup is heavier than Metabase, and the paid Enterprise edition is sold through sales.
8. DataEase: drag-and-drop dashboards with many templates
DataEase is an open-source data visualisation tool from FIT2CLOUD, a Chinese company. You build charts and dashboards by drag and drop, connect databases, data warehouses, files and APIs, and start from ready-made dashboard templates. Version 3.2.1 came out in October 2026. Read the licence: it is GPLv3 with extra conditions, so you may not remove the DataEase logo or copyright from the console. The official website is in Chinese, and the Professional, Embedded and Enterprise editions are sold through sales.
9. Blazer: a SQL dashboard inside your Rails app
Blazer is a small MIT-licensed Ruby gem that you mount inside a Ruby on Rails application. You write SQL with variables, Blazer draws charts from the results, and you group queries into dashboards. Checks run on a schedule and email you or post to Slack when a query returns bad rows, and it supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, Snowflake, BigQuery, ClickHouse and more. Version 3.5.2 came out in September 2026. If your product is already a Rails app, it is the lightest way to give the team internal dashboards without another server.
10. Eclipse BIRT: pixel-perfect reports for Java applications
Eclipse BIRT is a reporting tool from the Eclipse ecosystem for data visualisations, dashboards and reports that you embed in web applications and rich clients. It is EPL-2.0 licensed and still released regularly: version 4.25.0 came out in September 2026. It is a developer tool, not a self-service BI app, so pick it when you need formatted reports inside a Java product rather than ad-hoc questions.
Metabase Alternatives That Are Archived, Sold or Not Like-for-Like
The 2025 version of this article and other lists still recommend tools that no longer belong on an open-source Metabase shortlist:
- SQLPad: its GitHub README now says "This Project is Archived", the repository is read-only, and the last release (7.5.7) came out in August 2025. Use Redash or Blazer for SQL dashboards instead.
- Briefer: the notebook and dashboard tool says in its README that it has been acquired by Resend, and its last release was in April 2025.
- Datart: the open-source visualisation platform has had no release since a 1.0 release candidate in 2023.
- Matomo, Plausible and Umami: open-source website analytics, not BI tools: they count visits on your site but do not query your database. We compare them in our open-source Google Analytics 4 alternatives.
- PostHog: open-source product analytics for events, funnels and session replays, not a dashboard layer on your own database. See our open-source Mixpanel alternatives.
- KNIME Analytics Platform: free and open source, but it is a visual tool for data-science workflows rather than shared dashboards.
Which Open-Source Metabase Alternative Should You Choose?
- You want the same click-to-chart experience with a more permissive licence: Apache Superset, self-hosted or free on Preset for up to 5 users.
- Your data team already uses dbt: Lightdash.
- Someone on the team writes SQL and everyone else reads dashboards: Redash, or Blazer if your app runs on Rails.
- Your dashboards are about live product or server metrics: Grafana, with a free cloud tier if you do not want to host it.
- You want reports in Git that AI coding agents can write: Evidence or Rill.
- You need SSO, row-level security and embedding without paying for Metabase Pro: Helical Insight.
- You need formatted, printable reports inside a Java product: Eclipse BIRT.
- You are happy with Metabase but just need fewer costs: stay on the free Open Source edition and self-host it.
Not set on open source? Our list of free Looker alternatives covers free hosted options such as Data Studio, Power BI Desktop and Zoho Analytics, and we also compare free Metabase alternatives and paid Metabase alternatives. If you are leaving a different BI tool, see our open-source alternatives to Looker, Tableau, Power BI and Zoho Analytics.
How Founders Use Open-Source BI Tools
For an early-stage startup, a dashboard is only useful if it answers a question you act on every week. Start with three to five numbers that show whether your business model works; our list of key metrics in the business model canvas helps you pick them. Connect one database, build one dashboard, share it with the team and review it in the same meeting each week before you add more charts. Self-host on the smallest server that works, and move to a managed plan only when the time you spend on upgrades costs more than the subscription.
A BI tool is one part of an open-source stack. Build internal admin panels with our open-source Retool alternatives, simple data apps with the open-source AppSheet alternatives, automations that feed your database with the open-source Zapier alternatives, and an AI workspace for notes and docs with the open-source Notion AI alternatives. Before you build anything, validate your startup idea with real customers, and once your data tells a story, turn it into articles with the F/MS AI SEO Tool so customers find you in Google and AI assistants.
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FAQ About Open-Source Metabase Alternatives
Is Metabase open source?
Yes. The Metabase Open Source edition is free with unlimited users, and its code is AGPL-licensed outside the enterprise folder. Features such as row-level permissions, SSO and white-label embedding are on the paid Pro plan, from $575 a month.
What is the best open-source alternative to Metabase?
Apache Superset is the closest: a no-code chart builder plus a SQL editor, under the permissive Apache 2.0 licence. If your team uses dbt, Lightdash is a better fit, and for SQL dashboards Redash is simpler.
Is Apache Superset harder to set up than Metabase?
Usually yes. Metabase runs as a single application, while Superset needs more components and configuration. If you want Superset without running it, Preset hosts it and is free for up to 5 users.
Which Metabase alternative has a more permissive licence?
Superset and Rill use Apache 2.0, Redash uses BSD-2, and Evidence, Blazer and Lightdash's core use MIT. These let you embed or modify the tool commercially without the AGPL's share-alike terms.
Is there a free open-source BI tool with SSO and row-level security?
Helical Insight says its free community edition includes SSO, row-level security, embedding and multi-tenancy, with no enterprise tier needed. Check that its Java-based setup suits your team before you commit.
Can AI write my dashboards in an open-source BI tool?
Yes, if the tool stores dashboards as code. Evidence (SQL and Markdown) and Rill (YAML and SQL) are designed for coding agents, and Rill and Metabase both offer an MCP server so AI assistants can query your metrics.
Is Redash still maintained?
Yes. Redash is a BSD-2 licensed community project on GitHub, and version 26.9.0 came out in September 2026. There is no hosted version, so you run it yourself.
Is SQLPad still a good Metabase alternative?
No. Its GitHub README says the project is archived, and the last release came out in August 2025. Redash and Blazer are maintained alternatives for SQL dashboards.
Is Grafana a replacement for Metabase?
Only for some uses. Grafana is excellent for live metrics, logs and monitoring dashboards, but Metabase or Superset are better for business questions such as revenue by customer segment. Many startups run both.
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You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools. Get a quality backlink.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
