Apache Superset vs Metabase pricing: which costs more to run for your user count
Budget by user count only when a feature you need sits behind a Metabase paid plan. Apache Superset has no paid edition, and Metabase Open Source is free with unlimited users, so a team that needs neither SSO nor row-level security starts with no license fee on either side. Metabase's published pricing lists Starter at $90 per month billed yearly with 5 users included and $6 per extra user per month, and Pro at $517.50 per month billed yearly with 10 users included and $12 per extra user per month. Those prices become relevant when you need SSO, row-level security, interactive embedding or white-labeling, which the pricing page places on Pro and Enterprise.
The license line is only part of the bill, because both platforms are self-hosted and the operating effort is paid elsewhere. For Superset, plan for a metadata database on PostgreSQL or MySQL, since the SQLite default is not recommended for production. If you want alerts, reports, async queries and dashboard thumbnails, you also need a caching layer and Celery worker and beat processes, which most installations run on Redis and Celery. Metabase needs its own application database, with PostgreSQL recommended for production and the embedded H2 database intended for demos. Infrastructure, backups, upgrades and the staff who maintain these services are costs neither license covers, so the real comparison depends on which of these services your team already runs.
How the pricing parts compare for Superset and Metabase
This table sets Apache Superset's no-fee license against Metabase's published plans, row by row, so you can price each option for your user count. Read the Metabase cells as list prices from its pricing page and the Superset cells as infrastructure you run and staff yourself. The main takeaway is that Metabase's cost scales with users and paid features, while Superset's cost scales with the services and people you operate.
| Cost factor | Apache Superset | Metabase |
|---|---|---|
| License and paid editions | Apache-2.0 with no paid edition | Open Source (AGPL) free; Starter, Pro and Enterprise are paid |
| Published price and included users | No Superset license fee; no user charge in the project | Starter $100/month ($90/month billed yearly), 5 users included; Pro $575/month ($517.50/month billed yearly), 10 users included |
| Cost per extra user | None from the license; confirm any staff or hosting cost per user in your own sizing | $6 per extra user per month on Starter; $12 per extra user per month on Pro |
| SSO and row-level security | Configured in the Superset configuration documentation (OAuth2, LDAP, AUTH_ROLES_MAPPING) at no license charge; your team does the setup | SSO and row-level security (data sandboxing) require Pro or Enterprise on the pricing page |
| Features that need a paid Metabase plan | None gated by a license tier | SSO, row and column permissions, multi-tenant segregation, usage analytics and auditing, interactive embedding and white-labeling |
| Enterprise pricing | Not applicable; no paid edition | Custom quote starting at $20,000 per year, with air-gapped deployment for an additional fee; no features beyond Pro |
| Metadata database | Required; PostgreSQL or MySQL for production, which you provision and back up | H2 by default for demos; PostgreSQL recommended for production, which you provision and back up |
| Caching and background workers | Caching layer and Redis with Celery worker and beat processes for alerts, reports, async queries and thumbnails | Not listed as a separate service in the supplied pricing facts; confirm with Metabase for your deployment |
| Recurring versus one-time cost | Recurring: infrastructure, staff time for upgrades and patching, and any support you buy; one-time: initial setup and configuration | Recurring: plan subscription and any extra users; one-time: initial setup and H2 to PostgreSQL migration if you start on H2 |
Where Metabase features force a paid plan
The Metabase features most likely to force a paid plan are SSO, row and column level permissions, multi-tenant data segregation, usage analytics and auditing, interactive embedding and white-labeling. Metabase's pricing page marks these for Pro and Enterprise, and Pro costs $575 per month, or $517.50 per month billed yearly, with 10 users included. Identity is the most granular gate. Open Source and Starter support Google sign-in and LDAP, but JWT, OIDC, SAML (with documented setups for Auth0, Entra ID, Google, Keycloak and Okta), advanced LDAP group and attribute sync and SCIM provisioning all require Pro or Enterprise. If your directory is LDAP and you only need basic sign-in, Starter may cover you. Confirm your identity provider and group requirements before you choose a plan.
Each gate matters under a specific condition. Group-based access mapped from an identity provider matters when access reviews depend on directory groups. Row-level restrictions matter when different customers, regions or departments must see different rows from the same tables. Interactive embedding matters when dashboards appear inside your product. Apache Superset is Apache-2.0 with no paid edition, but it has its own gaps to close. It supports OAuth2 providers such as Google and Azure, custom OAuth2 servers using the code flow, and LDAP, and it maps groups to roles with AUTH_ROLES_MAPPING in the configuration file. Your team pays in engineering time to write, test and maintain that mapping, manage SECRET_KEY and plan upgrades. Confirm in the Superset configuration documentation which data-scoping and embedding controls your version provides for each requirement.
Metabase's Enterprise edition is not a feature tier. Metabase says Enterprise has no software features beyond Pro, is priced by quote starting at $20,000 per year, and offers air-gapped deployment for an additional fee. For most teams, the real decision is Pro against Superset plus the internal effort to configure and operate it, unless air-gapped deployment is required. Ask Metabase for a written quote that states the user count, the embedding terms and any air-gapped fee. Then ask your own team who will own role mappings, backups and upgrades for the life of the tool, because that cost recurs in both options.
What changes the cost result in practice
Metabase's list price depends on how many users need paid-only features, and Superset's cost depends on the infrastructure and people you assign to it. The cards below cover the factors that most often change the result, and each one names which side it tends to favor.
Users who need paid-only features
Metabase prices by plan and by seat, so the number of people who need SSO, row-level security or usage auditing sets the tier. The Starter plan includes 5 users and the Pro plan includes 10, with additional users charged per month on top. If only a few people need those features, the Pro plan price is spread across a small group. If most of the organization needs them, the per-user total grows quickly. Superset has no paid edition, so those same features are configured in the open-source product at no license fee, although you pay for the work to set them up.
Viewers versus dashboard builders
Metabase's per-user prices apply to everyone with a login, including people who only read dashboards. Superset's SQL Lab and no-code chart builder are aimed at people who create content, while many read-only consumers can be served from shared dashboards. Count builders and viewers separately before modeling cost. Favor Metabase when non-technical staff build their own questions and need a guided interface. Favor Superset when a small analytics team builds and most users only view.
Embedding in a customer-facing product
Metabase's interactive embedding and white-labeling are listed for Pro and Enterprise plans, so a product that serves external customers can push the cost into a higher tier. Superset provides an Embedded SDK with guest tokens and row-level security, which is a different licensing and engineering path. Confirm the embedding model, expected viewer volume and tenant isolation requirements with each vendor before treating either price as final.
Required sign-in standard
Metabase's open-source and Starter plans support Google sign-in and LDAP, while JWT, OIDC, SAML and SCIM provisioning require Pro or Enterprise. If your identity provider only offers SAML or SCIM, the Pro plan becomes a requirement regardless of user count. Superset supports OAuth2 providers, including Google and Azure, plus LDAP, and maps groups to roles with AUTH_ROLES_MAPPING. Confirm which protocol your identity platform uses and whether group mapping must be automated.
Air-gapped deployment
Metabase offers air-gapped deployment for an additional fee on its Enterprise plan, which is priced by quote starting at a published minimum. Air-gapped requirements therefore move Metabase out of the public price list and into a negotiated contract. Superset is Apache-2.0 licensed with no paid edition, so an air-gapped install carries no license fee, but you must mirror images, packages and updates yourself. Ask Metabase for a written quote covering the air-gapped fee and what support is included.
Self-hosting infrastructure effort
Both tools are self-hosted, so infrastructure is a recurring cost either way. Superset expects a metadata database, and alerts, async queries and thumbnails need a caching layer and Celery workers, which adds services to run, monitor and size. Metabase defaults to an embedded H2 database for demos and recommends PostgreSQL for production. Estimate the staff time to operate, back up and upgrade each stack, and compare it against the license difference, because labor often outweighs software fees at larger scale.
What Superset needs instead of a paid plan
Superset has no paid edition, so the controls that Metabase sells as Pro features are instead configured in your own deployment. For sign-in, Superset is built on Flask-AppBuilder and supports OAuth2 providers such as Google and Azure, custom OAuth2 servers using the code flow, and LDAP. Group membership from LDAP or OAuth can be mapped to Superset roles with AUTH_ROLES_MAPPING in the configuration file, so access follows your directory rather than manual user setup. Your identity team should confirm which provider and group attributes they will map, and test that each group lands in the intended role before go-live, since the mapping is only as accurate as the claims your provider sends.
Alerts, reports, async queries and dashboard thumbnails are not single-process features. The architecture documentation says they require the caching layer and Celery worker and beat processes, and most installations use Redis and Celery for them. Before you budget for Superset against a Metabase plan, count these services as part of the deployment: the metadata database (tested with PostgreSQL and MySQL, not the SQLite default), Redis, Celery workers and beat, plus the monitoring to keep them running. These costs are paid to your own staff or to an implementation partner in staff time and infrastructure, not to a software vendor, and they recur as long as the platform runs.
Operating Superset also means owning upgrades. The upgrade documentation tells you to back up the metadata database, run superset db upgrade and superset init, test in staging first, and check UPDATING.md for breaking changes between versions. Confirm row-level security and embedding needs against the current Superset documentation before assuming parity with Metabase Pro, because the facts supplied for this section do not establish that Superset covers every use case those Metabase features address. If you rely on embedding for customers, verify the guest token and row-level security options in the Superset docs and test them with your own data model.
How to build a cost model for your own user count
This sequence turns a vague pricing question into a written cost model for your own user counts, required controls and upgrade load, so you can compare a Metabase plan and a self-hosted Superset on the same terms.
List users by role and count
Start by counting people in three roles: viewers who only open dashboards, builders who create charts and dashboards, and admins who manage connections, users and groups. Metabase's plans are priced on included users and extra users, so the split between viewers and builders determines which tier you need. Ask the BI owner to confirm the numbers with real account lists from your current tool or directory, not estimates from the org chart. The step is done when you have one table with a count per role and a note on which people will sign in through your identity provider.
Mark the controls you must have
Write down which controls are mandatory rather than nice to have: single sign-on, row-level security for restricting data by user or group, interactive embedding of dashboards in another product, and auditing of usage and admin actions. Have your security and compliance leads sign off on this list, since it will decide the Metabase plan. The step is done when each control is marked required or optional, with the owner who approved it. Anything marked required is a candidate for the paid tier cost line in the next steps.
Price the Metabase tier for your count
Apply the published figures to your user table. Metabase's pricing page lists Open Source as free with unlimited users, Starter at $100 per month or $90 per month billed yearly with 5 users included and $6 per extra user per month, and Pro at $575 per month or $517.50 per month billed yearly with 10 users included and $12 per extra user per month. Multiply the monthly figure by 12 for yearly billing and add the extra-user charge. Check whether your required controls from the previous step are available on the tier you priced. The step is done when you have an annual Metabase figure for each plan that meets your controls, and a note confirming the figures on the pricing page on the day you collect them.
Estimate Superset infrastructure for the same controls
Superset has no paid edition, so its license line is zero, but the infrastructure is not. List the components you would run: the web application, a PostgreSQL or MySQL metadata database, and, if you need alerts, reports, async queries or dashboard thumbnails, a caching layer and Celery worker and beat processes, which the architecture documentation says most installations run on Redis and Celery. Ask your platform team to price these in your own cloud accounts or data centers, including backups, monitoring and high availability if you need them. The step is done when you have a monthly infrastructure line with each component listed and a note on which controls drove the extra services.
Estimate staff time for both platforms
Price the people who will run each option. For Superset, include deployment, SECRET_KEY management, identity mapping through OAuth2, LDAP or AUTH_ROLES_MAPPING, row-level security configuration, monitoring of workers, and ongoing administration. For Metabase, include setup, application database management, and the SSO and permission work that the paid plan simplifies. Estimate hours per month with your own engineers or a partner's written scope, and label the figures as your estimates. The step is done when you have a recurring staff line for each option, with the skills each role requires named so the estimate can be checked.
Add upgrade and backup effort
Both platforms need recurring upgrade work. Superset's upgrade documentation calls for backing up the metadata database, running superset db upgrade and superset init, testing in staging first, and reviewing UPDATING.md for breaking changes. Metabase runs application database migrations automatically, recommends backing up the application database first, and, for major upgrades, asks you to reduce a cluster to a single node because of a migration lock. Record how often you expect to upgrade on each platform, who performs it, and how long a staging test cycle takes in your environment. The step is done when upgrade and backup effort appears as a recurring line for each option, with the upgrade cadence you plan to follow.
Measure the pilot before you commit
Run a time-boxed pilot on both platforms with a small group of real builders and viewers and your required controls turned on. Measure what you can observe: hours spent on setup and identity configuration, number of permission issues found, time to complete a representative dashboard task, and any worker or migration problems. Do not treat pilot results as benchmarks for the whole company, but use them to replace your estimates from the earlier steps with observed figures. The step is done when the pilot log shows measured values for each metric, with the sample size and scenarios written down.
Request written quotes for Enterprise or air-gapped needs
If your required controls point toward Enterprise, or you need air-gapped deployment, ask Metabase for a written quote. Its pricing page lists Enterprise at custom pricing starting at $20,000 per year, says Enterprise has no software features beyond Pro, and offers air-gapped deployment for an additional fee. Ask the vendor to state what the quote covers, the term, support scope and how the fee for air-gapped deployment is calculated. If you want outside help to implement either platform, request a written, fixed scope from DeployOpen or another provider with deliverables and timelines agreed before work starts. The step is done when you hold written quotes for each option you still consider, placed side by side against the cost model.
Questions buyers ask about BI pricing before hiring help
Does Apache Superset have a license fee?
No. Apache Superset is released under the Apache License 2.0 and the project has no paid edition, so the software itself carries no license fee. What you pay for is the infrastructure you run it on, the people who operate it, and any outside help you buy. Superset's Apache-2.0 terms apply to the code, so your costs are for hosting, staff time and support rather than per-user seats. Confirm the license text and any third-party components with your own legal and security review before rollout.
When does Metabase Pro cost less than running Superset yourself?
The answer depends on which features you need and how many users you have, so compare totals rather than license lines. Metabase's pricing page lists Starter at $90 per month billed yearly with 5 users included and Pro at $517.50 per month billed yearly with 10 users included, with extra users at $6 (Starter) or $12 (Pro) per month. Pro is where SSO, row-level security and interactive embedding are included. Model both options with the same team size, then add the staff time to build the controls Superset would need, such as SSO through its OAuth2 or LDAP settings and role mapping. The break-even point is specific to your headcount and engineering rates, so calculate it from your own inputs.
What recurring costs does each option carry?
Both sides carry recurring costs even when the software is free. For Superset, recurring costs include servers or cloud accounts for the web application, the metadata database, and the caching and worker components that alerts, reports and async queries depend on. For Metabase's paid plans, recurring costs include the subscription itself, which scales with included users, plus the same hosting and database costs for the application database. Superset's metadata database is documented as PostgreSQL or MySQL, and Metabase recommends PostgreSQL for production. Ask each vendor or your own platform team to list every service that must stay running and who patches it each month.
How much effort does a Superset setup take?
The effort is mostly in running the supporting services, not in the core install. The Superset architecture documentation lists four components: the Flask and React application, a metadata database, an optional caching layer, and optional Celery worker and beat processes. Alerts and reports, async queries and dashboard thumbnails need the caching layer and workers, and most installations use Redis and Celery for them. The documentation says SQLite and the Docker Compose PostgreSQL container are not recommended for production. Upgrades also require a metadata database backup, running superset db upgrade and superset init, staged testing, and a check of UPDATING.md for breaking changes. Budget staff time for each of these steps and for monitoring the extra services.
Can an internal team run Superset without outside help?
A team with Linux, database and identity skills can run Superset without outside help, but it has to own the extra services and the upgrade process. Your team will need to set up the metadata database, Redis, Celery workers and beat, role mapping from LDAP or OAuth groups, and secret key handling, since Superset requires a user-specified SECRET_KEY to start. The official Helm chart is marked deprecated in current development docs, so confirm which deployment method your team will support. If nobody on the team has run a production web application with background workers before, a fixed-scope implementation or a retainer for upgrades may cost less than learning those skills on a live system. DeployOpen plans, implements, hardens, backs up, upgrades and documents self-hosted platforms in your own infrastructure, and a written scope sets what is covered.
What should I ask for in a BI implementation quote?
Ask for a written scope that lists each component, environment and deliverable, so you can compare quotes on the same basis. Request the following: the list of services to be deployed (metadata database, cache, workers, scheduler), the authentication setup and which identity provider it connects to, backup and restore testing, upgrade procedure and staging environment, documentation handover, and the support window after go-live. For Metabase, ask which plan covers the features you need and what the per-user cost will be at your expected headcount, using the published Starter and Pro figures as a baseline. Quotes are fixed-scope when possible, so the scope, deliverables and timeline should be agreed in writing before work starts. DeployOpen does not publish a price list, so a quote follows from that written scope.
Which Metabase features force a paid plan?
On Metabase's pricing page, SSO, row-level security (data sandboxing), interactive embedding and white-labeling are marked for Pro and Enterprise and not for Open Source or Starter. Metabase's open source and Starter plans support Google sign-in and LDAP, while JWT, OIDC, SAML and SCIM provisioning require Pro or Enterprise. If you need these features, price Pro against the Superset option that delivers them, which means configuring OAuth2 or LDAP role mapping, row-level security through Superset's own settings, and staff time to test them. Confirm each requirement against the current Metabase and Superset documentation before you decide, because plan contents change.
When pricing should decide the choice
Pricing should decide the choice when the user count is small and the requirements stay basic. Metabase's Open Source edition is free with unlimited users, but SSO, row-level security, interactive embedding and white-labeling are marked for Pro and Enterprise on its pricing page. A team of a few analysts who need dashboards, a SQL editor and no SSO can run Superset at no license cost, and its cost is then the servers, the metadata database and the people who run them. Before deciding, list every feature you need and check it against the Metabase plan table on the Metabase pricing page, because a feature gap is what turns a free comparison into a paid one.
Per-user cost is the second place where pricing should decide. Metabase's Starter plan is listed at $100 per month or $90 per month billed yearly with 5 users included and $6 per extra user per month, and Pro is listed at $575 per month or $517.50 per month billed yearly with 10 users included and $12 per extra user per month. Multiply the extra users by the listed rate over the number of months you plan to run the tool. Superset has no paid edition, so its recurring cost is infrastructure and staff time. The break-even point depends on how many paid seats you need, and you should confirm the current prices directly with Metabase before you budget. Pricing should not decide when security or embedding requirements dominate. If you must sign in through SAML, enforce row-level access for customer-facing data, or embed dashboards in a product, the cost of the required Metabase plan may be a fixed requirement rather than a variable one, and the Superset side then needs its own build and operating effort, including the Embedded SDK and guest tokens. Run the security requirements first, then compare costs for the options that survive. The full Apache Superset vs Metabase comparison covers those trade-offs in detail.
How DeployOpen helps you evaluate and implement self-hosted BI
DeployOpen plans, implements and supports self-hosted open-source platforms inside your own cloud accounts, data centers or air-gapped networks. For a Superset or Metabase decision, we start from the licensing, the paid features you actually need and the services each option would run in your environment.
How we scope
- Confirm which users build dashboards, which only view them, and how many of each you expect
- List the sign-in, row-level permission and embedding requirements that could force a paid Metabase plan
- Agree the written scope, deliverables and timeline before any work starts, since most engagements are fixed-scope
How we build
- Deploy Superset or Metabase with a production metadata database, not the bundled demo database
- Configure identity integration, role mapping and data access rules against your existing directory
- Size and document the caching and worker services Superset needs for alerts, reports and async queries
How we hand over
- Deliver architecture notes, runbooks and a backup procedure for the metadata database
- Document the upgrade path, including the migration steps and staging tests your team will repeat
- Provide a cost worksheet listing licenses, infrastructure and staff time for the chosen option
How we support
- Offer ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing as a retainer after handover
- Review each new release for breaking changes before your team applies it in staging
- Reassess the licensing and plan decision if user counts or required features change over time
