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Open-source alternative to Tableau

Metabase is a free, open-source Tableau alternative for business dashboards, charts and scheduled reports. Tableau charges a licence for every creator and viewer; self-hosted Metabase lets the whole team see the numbers.

1 alternative Free app Our pick: Metabase

At a glance

App Good for Code Import from Tableau Ease of use
Metabase Teams that want shared dashboards without hiring a data analyst Code Open source Import from Tableau No Some setup

Why look for an alternative to Tableau?

Tableau, owned by Salesforce, is a data visualisation tool used to build detailed, interactive dashboards. It reads databases, spreadsheets and many other sources, and is popular with analysts who design visual reports.

Teams look for an alternative mainly because of licence costs: Tableau is sold per user, with different prices for people who build, explore or only view dashboards, so sharing numbers across a company gets expensive. It also takes training to use well. A self-hosted tool such as Metabase lets everyone see and explore dashboards with no price per viewer, and keeps your business data on your own server.

How Metabase compares

Metabase

Turn your business data into charts your whole team can use.

Covers everyday dashboards and reports at no licence cost, with no price per viewer. Anyone can build a chart from menus. Tableau gives designers more chart types and pixel-level control, and works with spreadsheets and extracts that Metabase cannot read directly.

What you gain
  • No price per viewer, so the whole team can look at the numbers
  • Your business data stays on your own server
  • Most questions are answered by choosing from menus, without code
What is different
  • Your data needs to be in a database Metabase can read
  • Fewer chart styles and less design control than Tableau
  • Some features, such as SAML single sign-on and white-labelling, are only in Metabase's paid editions
Some setup Open source · AGPL-3.0-only
Deploy Metabase About Metabase

Moving from Tableau

Workbooks cannot be imported. Put the data your Tableau workbooks use into a database Metabase can read, such as PostgreSQL or your warehouse, then rebuild the dashboards people use most. Spreadsheet-based workbooks need the data loaded into a database first, since Metabase reads databases rather than Excel files.

Questions

What is the best open-source alternative to Tableau?

Metabase is the free, open-source alternative to Tableau for business dashboards in the catalogue today. Covers everyday dashboards and reports at no licence cost, with no price per viewer. Anyone can build a chart from menus. Tableau gives designers more chart types and pixel-level control, and works with spreadsheets and extracts that Metabase cannot read directly.

Can Metabase read Excel or CSV files?

Metabase can upload CSV files into a connected database, but it mainly reads data that already sits in a database or warehouse.

Is Metabase as powerful as Tableau?

For dashboards, filters and scheduled reports, yes for most teams. For highly designed visual analysis, Tableau has more chart types and design control.

Is it really free?

Yes, the app is free. To run them you need Cloudgate and a server. Use hosted Cloudgate, which can also provide the server, or install Cloudgate on a server of your own for free. Cloudgate's plans and prices are at cloudgate.octabyte.io/pricing. One server can run several apps.

Do I need a developer?

No. Cloudgate installs the app on your server and gives it a secure web address. You use it in your browser.