The first question you should be asking, is, "Why do you need an alternative to Metabase?" Metabase is a tried and tested software; a feature-rich product with decent pricing. Then why do you need an alternative to Metabase? This question is to identify your fundamental need—a need unique to your situation that will guide you in selecting the best Metabase alternative.
Metabase features:
- Easy-to-use no-code query builder
- Unlimited charts
- Unlimited dashboards
- Ability to Save queries / Query Snippets
- Multiple Database Connections
- Multiple Visualizations
- Data change notifications in email and Slack
- Analytics embedding
- Interactive dashboards
- Export analytics
- Manage Users and Permissions
Metabase Pricing: $85—$500, and Custom quote for Enterprise Plan
7 best alternatives to Metabase
1. Draxlr —Simplifying business analytics and monitoring
Draxlr is a business intelligence platform where anyone can analyze their data without writing a single line of code. Draxlr has a streamlined interface that leads you to your data analysis right away! The platform provides a visual query builder that’s easy to learn, and instant—data visualization options, dashboard-building, metrics monitoring & insight sharing options.
Draxlr features
Easy-to-learn query builder: On Draxlr you will build queries without writing codes. The visual query builder is extremely easy to learn with a familiar interface and menu-based point-and-click operation. The query builder stacks five data query tools--filter, sort, join, summarize, and group by—that when combined can establish complex data relations.
- Saved queries: Any query you build on Draxlr can be saved; you can save unlimited queries. You can load the saved queries and build on top. You can also directly build dashboards from your saved queries.
- Instant data Export: Every analysis you build on Draxlr can be instantly exported into CSV files and to your local device. You can use these CSV data files on other analytical platforms for further drilling down. Draxlr can let you export up to 100k data files per month.
- Data Visualization: You can turn your tabular data into engaging graphic representations. Represent your analyses with bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts, and percentage distributors to reflect clearer insights.
- Monitor with multiple dashboards: Build data queries that summarize your business, visualize them, and put them up on the dashboards. Draxlr lets you build unlimited dashboards, which makes organizing and categorizing your data visuals extremely flexible.
- Alerts & Notifications: You can automate your dashboard elements to periodically refresh and sync with your database. You can also set up data change alerts—where every time the system spots a data change it will send a notification via email and in your Slack channel.
- Data sharing: With Draxlr’s versatility in data sharing, share your data with anyone across various platforms and devices. You can download your data visualizations as graphic images in PNG, JPEG, and SVG formats. You can share your dashboard element URL or embed it to your website/app. You can even make API requests for integrations.
- Unlimited user invites: On Draxlr you can get unlimited user invites. Collaborating on Draxlr with large teams is really cost-efficient. Draxlr not only lets you send out unlimited invites, but it also gives you the flexibility to edit the permission of the invited users. You can invite users and give them permission to only specific data set in your database; end of the day you retain complete control.
Pricing: Draxlr has a trial version that has minimalist features, but the base plans tarts at $29 per month (for 10 users,) and $99 per month (for unlimited users.)
2. Tableau
Tableau is one of the most advanced and industrial BI platforms out in the market. Tableau is feature intensive, providing functionalities like data modeling, granular analyzing, dashboard building, collaboration & sharing, advanced data visualization, map integration, predictive analysis, monitoring & notifications, API, third-party integrations, user management, and more.
Tableau also has a desktop version that works in offline mode. Finally, Tableau Public is a free version of Tableau that has all the basic features, including visualizations, analyzing, and dashboards—but, the only drawback being your insights are open to all for viewing. Tableau Public is a good way to learn the software for free.
As far as features and functionalities are concerned, Tableau can not only replace Metabase—but, provide much more. The price, however, is hugely different. Tableau, being an industry leader—is also one of the costliest in the market.
Pricing: Starts from $42 per user per month—$70 per user per month. You can also add resources and features for an additional cost.
3. Power BI
Microsoft Power BI is a pioneer in the Business Intelligence industry. It supports many Global corporations and has a rich user base. Power BI like Tableau is feature-intensive and provides many complex functionalities. Power BI is probably unparalleled when it comes to data visualization—the visuals and dashboards are heavily interactive with multiple drill-down options. It has a uniquely diverse range of visualization options—suitable to deal with any volume and type of data.
Power BI also has features like data modeling, feature-rich dashboards, multiple data connections, data filtration, in-built analysis functions, content packs (for data models, data sets, and queries,) Collaboration & sharing, third-party integrations, APIs, and more. Power BI too has a desktop version and surpasses Metabase comfortably in terms of functionality. Power BI, however, is in a different league altogether—when comparing the pricing.
Pricing: Starts from $9.99 per user per month and goes up to $4,995 per month. They have different schemes and different price plans, but, the bottom line is more features you avail and more users you include—your pricing will increase.
4. Looker
Looker is a Google-owned cloud-based business intelligence platform. Looker is a 360-degree data platform that provides solutions related to data modeling, analytics, visualization, and monitoring. Looker is also a part of Google cloud. Looker also supports hosting on public clouds like AWS and GCP.
Looker is a feature-rich platform with features like real-time interactive dashboards, a developers platform (with the marketplace, components, API explorer and community,) to build custom applications, diverse data visualization options, embedded analytics, and Looker blocks (pre-built pieces of codes for data analysts to optimize data modeling and analysis.)
Pricing: Request quote
5. Holistics
Holistics promote themselves as a self-service BI platform, so rest assured, you can expect this platform to have a gentle learning curve. Holistics is in fact considered a direct competitor of Metabase by many popular SEO tools like ahrefs. Holistics can support different SQL and Non-SQL data sources. Holistics provides no-code data query tools, data modeling, data delivery with push reports, analytics embedding, complex data visuals, interactive dashboards, data alerts, mobile compatibility, report exporting, user permission, client reporting, and more.
Pricing: $100-$500, and Request Quote for Enterprise Plan
6. Reveal
Reveal is a cloud BI software that focuses heavily on data sharing and delivery. Reveal has multiple options for analytics embedding and integration. The Reveal analytics can be easily deployed to the cloud, web, desktop, and mobile. Reveal can connect with Big data storage, SQL-Non SQL databases, social media data sources, data on cloud marketing platforms, and on-premise data files. Reveal allows all modern and complex data visualization options, and provides a highly customizable, interactive, and drill-down friendly dashboard building.
Pricing: Request quote
7. Datapine
Datapine is a mainstream cloud BI platform, that provides all the necessary features. Datapine features are focused on the following functionalities—data connecting, exploring, visualizing, sharing, predicting, and monitoring. Datapine is compatible with over 50 data sources. On Datapine you can switch between SQL-based data query and no-code data query. You can use an easy drag & drop operation for data visualization, and make cross-database queries. Datapine has a unique forecasting engine that provides tools to establish predictive analysis.
The datapine dashboards are quite powerful as well. Their interactive nature allows drilling down on the metrics with ease. Additionally, your database will remain synced with the dashboard in real-time. Finally, dashboard building is made easy with 80+ dashboard templates. Data is delivered on Datapine via URL sharing, dashboard embedding, and external client reporting. And data monitoring features include real-time monitoring, data change alerts, and AI-based alerts.
Pricing: €219-€999
How to choose the right alternative?
Every business has its own specific need, and thus when choosing the alternative, you will obviously choose a platform that fits best with your business-specific needs. However, an ideal Metabase alternative should give you all the features you find on Metabase, if not more, at more competitive pricing. Features that an ideal Metabase alternative should not miss out on are—No-code query builder, easy data visualizations, multiple interactive dashboards, data exporting, data change monitoring and alerts, data sharing and embedding, and managing user invites.
- Anubhav