Metabase
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if someone on your team can host it, patch it fast, and write SQL . the free open-source core is genuinely capable BI.
Comparison
Metabase vs Power BI
Metabase and Power BI both land on Depends.
Power BI
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you're a Microsoft shop with someone to own data modeling . Pro is $9.99/user/month.
| Compare | Metabase | Power BI |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Startups wanting free BI on existing databases | Microsoft 365 shops |
| Who it's not for | Teams with nobody to own hosting and patching | Small teams wanting a couple of charts . spreadsheet wins |
| Privacy | Active 2026 vulnerability stream . four critical CVEs including an unauthenticated SQL injection; prompt patching is non-optional.¹ | Mature enterprise controls, but recent CVEs and documented data-exposure risks mean you must govern public sharing. |
| Support quality | No support-quality evidence in sources | No support evidence in reviewed sources |
| Public sentiment | Users like the query builder and SQL access; recurring gripes are exports, dashboard customization, and slow queries on big datasets.⁸ | Users like the price and depth for serious analytics; complaints cluster around licensing confusion and enterprise cost jumps.13 |
| Biggest gotcha | Self-hosting means you own patching; 2026 fixes spanned 55.13, 56.3, 57.1 and later | Premium capacity jumps to roughly $5,000/month; small teams can't justify it14 |
Pick Metabase when
- Startups wanting free BI on existing databases
- Product teams embedding analytics in their app
- SQL-comfortable data teams
- Self-hosters with patching discipline
When Metabase is not a fit
- Teams with nobody to own hosting and patching
- Security-sensitive orgs handling regulated data
- Non-technical teams needing polished exports and dashboards
- Analysts on huge datasets where query speed matters
Pick Power BI when
- Microsoft 365 shops
- Analyst-led mid-size and large orgs
- Embedded analytics in SaaS products
- Teams already living in Excel and Azure
When Power BI is not a fit
- Small teams wanting a couple of charts . spreadsheet wins
- Non-Microsoft companies avoiding ecosystem lock-in
- Orgs with no admin to govern report sharing
- Anyone without budget or staff for training and licensing admin
Sources
- Horizon3 . CVE-2026-72898 SQL injectionhorizon3.aisecurity
- OpenCVE . CVE-2026-50148app.opencve.iosecurity
- Tenable . CVE-2026-59826tenable.comsecurity
- SentinelOne . CVE-2026-33725 Enterprise RCEsentinelone.comsecurity
- GitHub . metabase/metabasegithub.comofficial
- Metabase product security pagemetabase.comofficial
- Metabase Discourse . free version CVE questiondiscourse.metabase.comofficial
- Product Hunt . Metabaseproducthunt.comreview
review
- Work-management.org . Metabase Review 2026work-management.orgreview
- Bouncewatch . Metabase funding and foundingbouncewatch.comnews
- Newbie here: is PowerBI good enough?reddit.comreview
- Confusion about PowerBI pricingreddit.comreview
- Power BI Premium for $5k/month?reddit.comreview
review
- Power BI License Cost Calculatorapp.powerbi.comofficial