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Data & Analytics
Metabase
Open-source business intelligence tool for querying databases and building dashboards, self-host or cloud.
✓ Source-checked profile2 sources cited
FindThatSoftware verdictEditorial ruling
A great fit for technical-leaning teams that want free, self-hosted BI directly on their database without per-seat SaaS costs. Self-hosting means you own upkeep, and it's lighter on advanced modelling than enterprise BI. Verify cloud pricing if you don't self-host.
FindThatSoftware has source-checked this listing and keeps 2 public sources visible for buyer verification.
Should you use Metabase?
Use it if teams wanting free self-hosted BI. Avoid it if regulated Indian companies needing SSO and row-level security on a self-hosted install, because that combination starts at Pro and $6,210 a year.
Spec sheet
- Starting price
- ₹8,931/mo$90/mo sticker
- Free plan
- Available
- Free trial
- Available
- Status
- Source checked 29 Jul 2026
- Source trail
- 2 public sources
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Claim this listing →In short
Metabase is a developer & data / data & analytics for Indian buyers. All-in it runs about ₹8,931/mo for a GST-registered business ($90/mo sticker plus about 3.5% card forex). It does not issue an India GST invoice, so a registered business reclaims the GST via reverse charge. FindThatSoftware rates it best for teams wanting free self-hosted BI, and a poor fit if regulated Indian companies needing SSO and row-level security on a self-hosted install, because that combination starts at Pro and $6,210 a year.
The trade-off, weighed
What you gain, and what you give up.
The case for
- The open source edition is free for unlimited users and runs on your own servers, which makes it viable for teams with an engineer
- Starter at $90 a month billed yearly covers 5 users, with extra users at $65 a year each, so growth is priced predictably
- Starter and Pro rates including per additional user costs are published, so you can model a 30 person rollout without a sales call
The catch
- The Starter plan runs on Metabase Cloud only, so hosting on your own infrastructure requires Pro at $517.50 a month billed yearly
- Row and column security, SSO beyond Google, white labelling and interactive embedding are all Pro features, and Pro costs over five times Starter
- Enterprise starts around $20,000 a year, and the step up from Pro mostly buys faster support response and deployment options
- The free edition has no support beyond community forums, and a production deployment runs $100 to $200 a month in cloud infrastructure
True India price
Registered business, per month
₹8,931
Metabase advertises $90/mo. A GST-registered business in India pays about ₹8,931 a month (₹1,07,175/yr) once the roughly 3.5% card forex markup is added, with GST reclaimed as input credit. If you cannot reclaim GST, it is about ₹10,539 a month.
- Sticker price
- $90/mo
- Card forex markup
- about 3.5% over mid-market
- GST
- 18%, reclaimable if registered
- Registered per month
- ₹8,931
- Registered per year
- ₹1,07,175
- If you can't reclaim GST
- ₹10,539
- Try first
- Has a free plan, so you can start without a card.
- Watch for
- Open-source self-hosted is free forever. Cloud plans start at $90/mo (Starter includes 5 users, then a per-user overage); Pro is higher, and Enterprise is custom-quoted. USD-billed, so add forex and GST for India.
Indicative, not a bill. The exchange rate is a single mid-market reference, not a live feed, and GST-registered businesses may reclaim input credit. Confirm current pricing on the vendor site.
Full India pricing breakdownIndia readiness
How well Metabase fits an Indian business operationally, from the verified pricing and company facts we hold.
- ✗GST invoice
No Indian GST invoice, so a registered business cannot claim input tax credit on the bill.
- ✗Bills in INR
Priced in a foreign currency, so your card or bank adds forex conversion on top.
- ✗India HQ
Headquartered outside India, so check support hours and India-specific features.
Paying for more than Metabase? See your whole stack's real India cost and where you could switch to save.
Audit my stackOverview
What is Metabase?
Metabase is an open-source BI tool that lets teams query databases with a visual interface or SQL and build dashboards, with no per-seat cost when self-hosted. It targets teams that want quick, accessible analytics on their own data warehouse or app database.
Best for
- Teams wanting free self-hosted BI
- Startups querying their app database
- Data teams avoiding per-seat costs
Who should avoid it
- Regulated Indian companies needing SSO and row-level security on a self-hosted install, because that combination starts at Pro and $6,210 a year
- Small teams without a data engineer, because the free edition shifts hosting, upgrades and backups onto someone who has to own them
What we verified about Metabase
Read from Metabase’s own pages. Each line is a finding and what it was based on, so you can check any of it yourself.
Features we confirmed23
- White label
- Pro is whitelabel ready and fully customisable to brand
- Sso
- SSO beyond Google requires the Pro plan
- Sql editor
- SQL editor is a named feature across all editions
- Self hosted
- Self-hosted deployment toggle offered on the pricing page
- Granular permissions
- Permissions is a first-class feature area with data segregation
- Dashboards
- Unlimited questions and dashboards on every plan
- Bring your own llm key
- Most folks bring their own AI provider API key
- AI question answering
- Ask questions with AI included even in Open Source
- Air gapped deployment
- Enterprise plan offers an air gap deployment option
- AI sql generation
- SQL generation listed on every plan including free
- AI usage auditing
- Pro adds AI usage auditing and controls
- Caching controls
- Caching controls listed as a Pro feature
- Csv upload
- CSV upload is a named feature in the product nav
- Data transforms
- Transforms run with 1,000 included runs then per-run billing
- Drill through
- Drill-through listed among core product features
- Embedded analytics sdk
- Embedded analytics SDK listed as a product feature
- Multi tenant embedding
- Pro adds multi-tenant embedded analytics with data segregation
- Row level security
- Row and column level permissions start at Pro
- Scheduled reporting
- Dashboards and reporting is a named feature area
- Semantic layer
- Semantic layer appears in the product feature menu
- Spreadsheet storage
- Optional storage lets you upload spreadsheets to analyse
- Usage analytics auditing
- Usage analytics and auditing included from Pro
- Visual query builder
- Query builder lets people explore data just by clicking
What people use it for1
- Query your app database directly
- Connects to production relational databases, not just warehouses
Works with22
- Snowflake
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Slack
- Starter support is offered via Slack channel
- Postgresql
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Mysql
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Mongodb
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Microsoft teams
- Starter support is offered via Teams channel
- Mariadb
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Databricks
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Amazon redshift
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Amazon athena
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Apache druid
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Apache spark
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Clickhouse
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Duckdb
- Community connector, self-host only and unsupported
- Google bigquery
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Microsoft sql server
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Oracle database
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Presto
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Sqlite
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Starburst
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
- Teradata
- Community connector, self-host only and unsupported
- Vertica
- Official connector listed on the data sources page
Terms, compliance and how you buy25
- Soc2 certified
- Metabase upholds SOC 2 Type II and SOC 1 certifications
- Partner and expert network
- Site lists Professional Services and Metabase Experts
- Open source
- Open Source edition is free with a public GitHub repo
- Gdpr compliant
- Pricing page states full GDPR and CCPA compliance
- Community support only on free
- Free edition has no support beyond community forums
- Annual discount
- Yearly billing saves 10 percent on plan price
- 14 day trial
- Starter and Pro both offer a 14 day free trial
- 3 day support sla
- Starter offers 3-day support via email, Slack or Teams
- Big jump starter to pro
- Pro is $575 a month against Starter at $100
- Community connectors self host only
- Community connectors work only when self-hosting and are unsupported
- Embed viewers count as users
- Users of your embeds count toward billable users
- Enterprise adds no features
- FAQ says Pro and Enterprise differ feature-wise by zero
- Enterprise minimum 20k
- Enterprise price starts at $20,000 per year
- Free self host tier
- Open Source is free forever with unlimited users
- Needs a data engineer to self host
- Free edition shifts hosting, upgrades and backups onto you
- No INR billing
- USD-billed so Indian buyers add forex and GST
- Non transferable licences
- Licences are for individuals and non-transferrable
- Per user pricing above included seats
- Starter includes 5 users then $6 per extra user monthly
- Prorated seat billing
- Adding or deactivating users automatically prorates billing
- Published pricing
- Starter and Pro rates and per-user costs are public
- Self hosting requires pro
- Self-hosted licence key is a Pro-tier entitlement
- Starter is cloud only
- Starter runs on Metabase Cloud only, self-hosting needs Pro
- Unlimited queries and dashboards
- FAQ says cost is the same no matter how much you create
- Usage based add ons
- AI tokens and transform runs bill on usage after credits
- Usd billed
- All plan prices are quoted in US dollars
Compare Metabase
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Pricing caveat and source trail
Pricing and free-plan claims can change. FindThatSoftware keeps source URLs visible so users can verify before buying.
Open-source self-hosted is free forever. Cloud plans start at $90/mo (Starter includes 5 users, then a per-user overage); Pro is higher, and Enterprise is custom-quoted. USD-billed, so add forex and GST for India.
Verified against the sources above. How we research & rate software →
In practice
Where Metabase fits in a workflow
These stacks show when to use this tool, what comes before it, and what should be handled manually first.
Does Metabase give a GST invoice in India?
Metabase does not issue an India GST invoice. A GST-registered business can still reclaim the 18% through the reverse-charge route by raising a self-invoice, but there is no vendor GST invoice to claim against directly.
Is Metabase good for Indian small businesses?
Metabase can work for Indian buyers, but check currency, tax, billing, support, and whether the workflow justifies foreign-currency pricing.
Does Metabase have a free plan?
Metabase lists a free plan, but check the official pricing page for current usage limits before choosing it.
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