Lightdash vs Metabase
| Feature | Lightdash | Metabase |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Analytics | Low-Code |
| Sub-category | BI / Dashboard | BI / Dashboard |
| Maturity | stable | stable |
| Complexity | intermediate | beginner |
| Performance tier | medium | medium |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| License type | permissive | copyleft |
| Pricing | fully free | fully free |
| GitHub stars | 4.0K | 40.0K |
| Contributors | 0 | 0 |
| Commit frequency | weekly | weekly |
| Plugin ecosystem | none | none |
| Docs quality | good | good |
| Backing org | Lightdash | Metabase |
| Funding model | vc_backed | open_core |
| Min RAM | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| Min CPU cores | 1 | 1 |
| Scaling pattern | single_node | single_node |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| K8s native | No | No |
| Offline capable | No | No |
| Vendor lock-in | none | none |
| Languages | TypeScript | Clojure, TypeScript |
| API type | REST | REST |
| Protocols | HTTP | HTTP |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| SDK languages | — | — |
| Team size fit | small, medium | solo, small, medium |
| First release | 2020 | 2020 |
| Latest version | — | — |
When to use Lightdash
- ✓ Self-serve analytics on top of dbt models
- ✓ Slack-integrated metric alerts
- ✓ No-code dashboard building for data teams
When to use Metabase
- ✓ Primary: self-serve-analytics
- ✓ Primary: dashboard-building
- ✓ Primary: data-exploration
Lightdash anti-patterns
- ✕ Requires dbt — not standalone
- ✕ Smaller community than Metabase
- ✕ Enterprise features need paid plan
Metabase anti-patterns
- ✕ Clojure codebase limits contributors
- ✕ Complex queries need SQL knowledge
- ✕ Embedding requires paid plan