The Best Metabase Alternative for Startups

Both Definite and Metabase help offer business intelligence insights, but only one is a complete data platform with built-in data ingestion, modeling, AI-driven analysis and dashboards.

Connect everything, instantly

500+ pre-built connectors bring your product, ops, and SaaS data into Definite for analysis—no engineering needed.

One unified view

Combine data across all business functions for consistent insight. Everyone stays on the same page with governed, trustworthy metrics.

Millisecond-fast answers at any scale

Sub-second queries out of the box, from megabytes to terabytes, with zero knobs to turn and no data warehouse to manage.

When Metabase Doesn't Scale

Many startups adopt Metabase because it offers open-source flexibility, and supports quick dashboard prototyping. However, as BI needs grow, these businesses encounter challenges scaling their data stack.

Incomplete stack

Metabase sits on top of your data but does not manage ingestion, transformation, or storage.

Modeling and governance

Metric definitions are often inconsistent across dashboards, and transformations must be built in SQL.

Maintenance and scalability

Self-hosting requires ops work, and Pro/Enterprise features (including AI) introduce new costs.

Definite is a Complete Data Platform.

Unlike Metabase’s BI‑only layer, Definite includes ingestion, storage, a governed semantic layer, and a high‑performance query engine — zero admin required. Enjoy sub‑second performance from megabytes to terabytes without tuning.

Built‑in ingestion & storage

500+ connectors with managed syncs. Data lands in a lakehouse automatically — no ETL or warehouse to set up.

Governed metrics without SQL

Central semantic layer enforces consistent KPIs and transformations so everyone reports the same numbers.

Sub‑second at any scale

Columnar engine and smart caching keep dashboards fast from MBs to TBs — no knobs to turn.

Connect to everything

Python scripts, REST/GraphQL APIs, and embedded charts—integrate Definite into any workflow without custom engineering.

And you won't need to hire a data engineer to manage it.

How Metabase and Definite Stack Up

Metabase

BI dashboards and a chatbot for generating natural-language queries. Requires an external warehouse and ETL stack.

Key Features:

Dashboards

Query Builder

Basic AI

Open Source

Pricing:

Open Source$0 /month

For devs and small teams that want to manage their own infrastructure.

Community support forum and self-hosted deployment. Deploy the core Metabase BI experience on your own servers with unlimited queries, charts, and dashboards. Embed basic dashboards and charts with a ‘Powered by Metabase’ badge and connect to any supported data sources.

Pro$575+ /month

Governance features for managing lots of users and compliance.

Cloud or self-hosted with 3-day email support. Adds row/column-level permissions, SSO/SCIM, caching, environments, and usage analytics. Includes white-label multi-tenant embedded analytics and Metabot AI on Metabase Cloud (limited-time free).

Not Included:

Data ingestion, storage/warehouse, governed semantic layer, and automated pipelines

Definite

An entire data platform and AI insights across your entire business in under 30 minutes, no engineering required.

Key Features:

Complete Data Platform

AI Analyst (Fi)

500+ Connectors

Zero Engineering

Pricing:

Startup$0 /month

Access to Growth features for qualifying startups.

Data Storage: Up to 2 million rows

Data Sources: 2

Sync Frequency: Daily

Extras: All Growth features; Contact us for details

Growth$1,000 /month

Comprehensive tools to enable your business to make data driven decisions.

Data Storage: Up to 5 million rows

Data Sources: 5

Sync Frequency: Daily

Extras: Fully integrated AI Assistant; Managed data warehouse & BI; 500+ Data Sources

See What’s Included:

View Plans →

The Full Comparison

Teams that already have a data warehouse and want only visualization.

Category	Definite	Metabase
Setup & Time-to-Value	Dashboards live in under 30 minutes. No ETL setup, no warehouse required.	Quick connection to a DB, but you must manage ingestion, transformation, and storage yourself.
Stack Coverage	Full stack: ingestion → modeling → AI → dashboards.	BI layer only. Needs Fivetran/dbt/Snowflake or equivalents to function at scale.
Data Ingestion	Built-in connectors to 500+ SaaS and GTM tools (Postgres, MySQL, HubSpot, Stripe, Salesforce, PostHog, etc.) with managed syncs.	No ingestion. Requires external pipelines.
Storage & Query Engine	Embedded DuckDB + DuckLake lakehouse with columnar performance and local caching.	No storage layer. Queries run live against external DBs.
Modeling & Metrics	Governed semantic layer (Cube.js) that enforces consistent KPI definitions and transformations — no SQL required.	SQL-based queries or "Saved Questions"; no governance or version control.
AI & Insights	Built-in AI Analyst (Fi) summarizes trends, finds anomalies, explains metrics, and automates reports.	Metabot AI (Pro+ only) can generate SQL or charts, but lacks context or automation.
Automation & Alerts	Slack and email alerts, live Google Sheet updates, Python automation	Manual scheduling; limited alerts; no data automation.
Governance & Access	Fine-grained RBAC + metric-level permissions ensure KPI consistency.	Basic role tiers (Admin, Editor, Viewer). No per-metric rules.
APIs & Extensibility	Full REST + GraphQL APIs for embedding, activation, and integrations.	Basic REST API for queries and dashboards.
Ideal For	Startups that need a complete analytics stack with zero engineering overhead.	Teams that already have a data warehouse and want only visualization.

One Choice: One Platform

Definite pulls in all your data, stores it in a fast, reliable data warehouse, applies consistent models, turns it into interactive dashboards, and lets you query it with AI — all in one managed platform. (Skip the three-month build, five different vendors, and full-time data engineer.)

Meet Fi. Your AI Analyst

Fi can work with any part of Definite’s Ecosystem to get you results faster.

Bring your own data

Sync data in near‑realtime latency from over 500 sources. Need a custom connection? We’ll build it for you.

Salesforce

HubSpot

Postgres

Snowflake

Stripe

500+ Data Sources

Definite's AI‑Integrated Data Platform

Sync Engine

Continuously updates data from connected sources.

Data Warehouse

Stores all your synced data securely in one place.

Data Transformation

Turns raw data into usable formats with governed models.

Semantic Layer

Standardizes querying and analyzing data from any source format.

Dashboards

Visualizes processed data for exploration and reporting.

APIs & Embedded Analytics

Integrates insights into your tools and workflows.

Connect to everything

Send scheduled or triggered alerts, sync data to Google Sheets or your CRM, or export it as downloads or from the API.

Slack

Google Sheets

CRMs

Webhooks

Flat Files

Make Every Decision Definite.

If you want consistent and reliable analytics with helpful AI your whole business will use, choose Definite. If you want to build your own data stack and just need a BI front end with limited AI, Metabase is a good option.

Metabase puts your data in dashboards. Definite puts your data to work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers.

Common questions about Definite vs Metabase