Metabase

Metabase is open source business intelligence with a query builder for people who do not write SQL, an SQL editor for those who do, dashboards, permissions, embedded analytics and a white-labelling option, available self-hosted or as a cloud service.

Being genuinely usable without SQL is the claim Metabase has always been built around and it is the distinction that matters in this category. Most business intelligence tools promise self-service and deliver a modelling layer that requires an analyst to configure before anyone can ask anything, so the questions still go through a queue. A click-based query builder over the raw tables lets someone answer their own question badly and quickly, which is usually better than not answering it.

Open source with self-hosting is the other half and it matters for two different buyers. A startup can run Metabase for the cost of a small server rather than a per-seat licence, and a company with data it cannot send to a third party can keep everything inside its own infrastructure. Setting up in two minutes with migration to cloud available later is a sensible on-ramp.

The embedded analytics SDK and white-label capability address a different purchase entirely, where a software company wants dashboards inside its own product rather than a tool for its staff, and building that from charting libraries is a project most teams underestimate. Starter is 100 dollars a month, or 90 dollars monthly billed annually at 1,080 dollars a year, plus 6 dollars per user, with three-day support by email, form, Slack or Teams.