5 best Metabase Alternatives for Embedded Analytics in 2024

You might be looking for Metabase alternatives because:

• You don’t want to embed an iFrame and want a native JS component.
• You have already tried Metabase and are not satisfied.
• You need more control over design and end-user experience.
• You want to embed Custom Reporting into your product for end-users.

The majority of known embedded solutions today are simply repackaging existing business intelligence into an iFrame. They were never meant to exist inside an application. Some do give additional customizing options but at the expense of functionalities and with high enterprise plan costs, it becomes a burden for modern SaaS applications who have end user experience in mind for their customer-facing analytics.

Lets delve into the industry leading Metabase alternatives for embedded analytics in 2024:

Metabase for Embedded Analytics

Although Metabase is traditionally used as a BI tool for internal analysis, it can be used for customer-facing analytics as a secondary use case. For user-facing apps, it has a query builder which lets people build and analyze data on their own.

Metabase - The good

• A limited, Metabase-branded version is available for free if you self-host it.
• It is open source and therefore has a big community support which is why many SaaS companies prefer it.
• High quantity of database and warehouse integrations.
• One of its great strengths is its intuitive and user friendly interface and comes with a simple implementation process.
• Your non-tech staff can quickly get the answers to their queries about data with Metabase's removal of the SQL barrier.

Metabase Limitations:

• Even though Metabase is open source, there are heavy limitations in customization. For example, developers can’t override CSS objects or inject custom components.
• Limited APIs, unable to build, manage or delete dashboards programmatically.
• It’s blackbox from a product analytics pov - you cannot track events or user activity.
• It has a complex set-up process: While a product manager can set up the dashboard, Metabase requires technical knowledge for integrating into multi-tenant SaaS apps.
• Developers need to setup backend queries, non-technical stakeholders can’t engage at this level.

Metabase pricing:

• As it is open-source, it comes with a free option which you will need to self-host. It is Metabase branded and comes with limited functionality. There is no customer support for the self-host free version other than a help forum.
• Paid subscriptions include Growth and Enterprise, which include a limited number of users and email support questions.
• The enterprise  version can be quite expensive and there might be more affordable solutions for your SaaS application.

1. Vizzly

Vizzly provides customer facing analytics and is designed with modern SaaS application in mind. Unlike traditional BI tools in this list, Vizzly’s primary use case is embedded analytics for the end user, and therefore has features specific to needs of B2B SaaS apps looking to build best-in-class reporting experiences.

What it offers:

• Embedding is done through native javascript components of your choice such as React, Vue, Angular and more. This gives developers more freedom to choose what they are comfortable with.
• Vizzly has a great balance of no code and pro-code options. Whether you need a quick set up with no-code or want to utilize APIs to build additional functionalities programmatically.
• High Control over UX/UI through its Theme API which allows the user to pass through CSS objects from their design system.
• Extensible with code which works with your existing codebase and app logic.
• Offers a more advanced Custom Reporting feature.

Vizzly Pricing

• Unlike other embedded analytics tools, Vizzly offers a fixed-fee that does not scale with dashboards created or end-user accounts.
• Pricing varies based on feature adoption, such as Custom Reporting, direct API access, programmatic PDFs and other high-value reporting features.

How Vizzly is better than Metabase:

• Metabase is built for internal BI. Vizzly is purpose-built for customer-facing analytics.
• Vizzly also offers a far greater degree of end-user configuration with Custom Reporting.
• Although Metabase is open-source, Vizzly is significantly more developer-friendly.
• Vizzly offers a JS services package and direct API access for programmatic builds.
• Vizzly has lower latency, no need to load iFrames in your frontend app.
• Vizzly offers significantly more control over UI with its Theme API.
• Metabase is iFrame-based which can pose security concerns.

What users say about Vizzly:

“Vizzly allowed us to build a highly customised analytics experience without the time and complexity of building from scratch. Its code-driven approach streamlined our analytics deployments and enhanced dashboard maintainability.”

James Baird, Data Product Manager, Tendable

Pro tip:

With Vizzly, you can deliver different customer accounts and analytics experiences. For example, one customer or user group could have a fixed-state dashboard, and the other could have a highly configurable dashboard for self-serve analytics.

2. Tableau embedded analytics

Tableau is an enterprise BI solution for internal analytics. Tableau also has an embedded analytics for user-facing analytics - however, similar to Metabase, it is a secondary use case.

What it offers:

• It’s great for self service BI and internal reporting, especially for complex data visualizations.
• The implementation of the dashboard for embedded analytics is done through iFrame or a web component.
• The web component option lacks row-level security (i.e., no permissions or user authentication).
• Extensive list of database, data warehouse and SaaS integrations.
• Tableau also offers ETL in addition to a query engine and frontend visualization layer.
• Design and overall look and feel of a dashboard is a major drawback for Tableau embedded analytics as is render performance.

Tableau Pricing

• Tableau has 3 levels; Creator $75/month, Explorer $42, and viewer runs $12/license, but requires a minimum of 100 users.
• Enterprise plan is expensive and does not scale well for companies with large user volumes.

How Tableau is better than Metabase:

• Tableau is more suited for complex data visualization needs as it comes with more customizations than Metabase.
• ETL in addition to a query engine and frontend visualization layer by Tableau are for advanced customization.
• Tableau comes in with more advanced integrations with R and Python analytics where Metabase has more basic analytics and SQL querying.
• Tableau and Metabse both are tools that are primarily built for internal reporting, the process of embedding the dashboard in your app remains as a secondary use case.

Pro tip:

Tableau is more suited to enterprise organisations looking to build and scale their internal BI function and offers more comprehensive dashboarding and visualization capabilities, whereas Metabase leans towards smaller organizations with basic to moderate needs.

3. Preset (Apache Superset)

Preset is an embedded analytics offering on top of popular open-source tool, Apache Superset. The product is targeted at SQL-savvy data analysts.

What it offers:

• Steep learning curve: It requires an advanced level of SQL knowledge to use well. It can do basic stuff without it, but you really need SQL skills to be efficient.
• It has a drag-and-drop user interface for simple dashboard building.
• The implementation of your dashboards is done via an iFrame and it has a Preset API.
• Preset has one of the biggest visualization libraries with various chart types.
• It has support for Databricks SQL endpoints.
• A significant drawback of incumbent solutions, such as Preset, is product extensibility.
• Customers report high latency and long wait times for dashboards to render.

Preset Pricing

• Preset pricing has no vendor lock-in.
• Paid plans start at $25 per user, per month billed monthly.
• Enterprise plans are available on request including database integrations and API access.
• Although, you would have to buy add-ons on top, like the Embedded Dashboard Viewer license which starts from $500 per month for 50 licenses.

How Preset is better than Metabase:

• Preset has better customizability in terms of design and visualizations owing to the fact that it has one of the biggest visualization library.
• Preset has better filtering and data exploration capabilities but Metabase has the simplicity.
• Both have a steep learning curve.
• Even though both are built on top of open source, they come with less flexibility over customizability than other counterparts in this list such as Vizzly.
• Both use iFrames to embed the dashboards.

Pro tip:

Preset has better customizability and product extensibility, but if you want to go with the simplicity then Metabase might be for you.

4. Power BI Embedded

Power BI is a business intelligence solution from Microsoft that can used for both internal reporting aswell as user facing dashboards. This is better suited for those within the microsoft ecosystem.

What it offers:

• It offers implementation via iFrame. Although it’s easy to implement, your dashboard doesn’t feel as a part of your app and affects user experience and performance.
• Facilitates easy integration with practically all databases—both SQL and NoSQL—and data sources available today.
• Proprietary language: It has a Non-SQL-based language which makes it difficult to use, which is one of the major drawbacks for Power BI.
• Good for complex data visualization and has unified interfaces which optimizes user experience.

Power BI embedded pricing

• Power BI is costly to scale with.
• Paid plans are usage and user based with a starting price from $735.9/month for 3 GB RAM. Additionally, you have to pay for the Power BI Pro license which is $10 per user per month.
• The developer tier starts upwards of $5000/month.

How Power BI is better than Metabase:

• Power BI caters better to data analysts and professionals as it suited for complex visualization needs with AI-powered feauters aswell.
• Integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft products and services, creating a robust ecosystem for users who have already invested in the Microsoft stack.
• Metabase is for those who prefer simplicity and its community support as it is open source.

Pro tip:

If your company is dependent on microsoft ecosystem and you have no budget constraints(as it's expensive) regarding scalability then Power BI can be the solution for your needs.

5. GoodData embedded analytics platform

GoodData embedded is a secondary embedded analytics offering on top of Self-Service BI tool, GoodData.

What it offers:

• Implementation is done via HTML web component and iFrames.
• They position themselves with strong AI capabilities for conversational analytics.
• It offers both self-hosted and cloud options.
• Offers white label solutions for teams who don’t need or want much control.
• Learning curve is steep as the product is targeted towards data analysts.

GoodData embedded Pricing

• The base fee is $1500/Month with annual billing - does not include workspaces, fee does scale quickly based on customer or user adoption.
• Enterprise Plan is available on request.
• One thing to note is that Self-hosted deployment is only available on the Enterprise Plan.
• The pricing structure is not suited for small businesses.

How GoodData embedded is better than Metabase:

• Better for more complex visualization needs that are suited for data professionals.
• Offer more implementation methods like HTML components as opposed to iFrames from Metabase.
• Positions itself with a conversational analytics capability.

Pro tip:

GoodData offers both internal BI and a white-labeled embedded analytics solution. There’s a clear AI focus in their positioning for those looking for NLP-based querying.

Conclusion

If you are a SaaS company in 2024 and are still embedding internal BI tools, especially with iFrames— then you are going in the wrong direction and will be left behind.

Check out how Embedded Analytics can boost customer engagement in 2024.

Thank you for reading this.