Metabase vs Apache Superset
Metabase
Business intelligence anyone can use
Apache Superset
Data exploration and visualization platform
| Feature | Metabase | Apache Superset |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Low-Code | Analytics |
| Sub-category | BI / Dashboard | BI / Dashboard |
| Maturity | stable | stable |
| Complexity | beginner | intermediate |
| Performance tier | medium | medium |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| License type | copyleft | permissive |
| Pricing | fully free | fully free |
| GitHub stars | 40.0K | 65.0K |
| Contributors | 0 | 0 |
| Commit frequency | weekly | weekly |
| Plugin ecosystem | none | none |
| Docs quality | good | good |
| Backing org | Metabase | Apache Foundation |
| Funding model | open_core | foundation |
| Min RAM | 1 GB | 2 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 | Clojure, TypeScript | Python |
| API type | REST | REST |
| Protocols | HTTP | HTTP |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| SDK languages | — | — |
| Team size fit | solo, small, medium | solo, small, medium, enterprise |
| First release | 2020 | 2020 |
| Latest version | — | — |
When to use Metabase
- ✓ Primary: self-serve-analytics
- ✓ Primary: dashboard-building
- ✓ Primary: data-exploration
When to use Apache Superset
- ✓ Primary: business-intelligence
- ✓ Primary: data-exploration
- ✓ Primary: sql-analytics
Metabase anti-patterns
- ✕ Clojure codebase limits contributors
- ✕ Complex queries need SQL knowledge
- ✕ Embedding requires paid plan