What Metabase is
Metabase is an open-source business intelligence tool. People ask questions of a database without writing SQL, analysts use its SQL editor, and both build dashboards, alerts and scheduled subscriptions by email or Slack.
The open-source edition is licensed under the AGPL and runs in your own infrastructure; the company behind it also offers Metabase Cloud and commercial editions with more features. It is built so anyone in a company can ask questions of data, which is why it is one of the analytics tools our admin backoffice connects to.
What it does in your platform
Admin backoffice
Turns platform data into dashboards and answers for support, compliance, finance and operations. It reads the data the platform sends to your reporting database or warehouse, and alerts teams when a result needs attention.
How the connection works
Metabase connects to the reporting database or warehouse your platform data flows to, such as BigQuery or Snowflake. It reads through a dedicated read-only database user, as Metabase recommends.
Data flows out
Transactions, accounts and other platform data flow to your reporting database or warehouse.
Metabase connects
Metabase reads that data through a read-only user limited to the schemas and tables your teams analyse.
Teams ask questions
Anyone can build a question in the query builder; analysts write SQL in the editor.
Dashboards take shape
Questions become dashboards with filters, such as daily volumes, onboarding funnels or open cases.
Alerts go out
Alerts and dashboard subscriptions send results by email or Slack, on a schedule or when a result needs attention.
Access stays scoped
Groups and permissions decide who sees which collections and data, and staff sign in with Google Sign-In or LDAP.
Next to other providers
Metabase sits next to BigQuery and Snowflake among the backoffice's analytics connectors: the warehouse stores the data, and Metabase is where teams look at it.
The backoffice stays where staff act on customers, with permissions and an audit log; Metabase is where they read trends. Replacing Metabase with another tool later changes nothing in your apps or the backoffice.
When Metabase fits best
A strong fit when
- You want dashboards and alerts on platform data without building reports by hand.
- Your teams include people who do not write SQL, next to analysts who do.
- You want an open-source tool you can run in your own infrastructure.
Also worth a look
- A business intelligence tool your company already uses, connected to the same warehouse.
- Direct SQL access to BigQuery or Snowflake, for analysts who need no shared dashboards.
How we get you live
The deployment
We deploy Metabase's open-source edition in your platform and keep it updated. If you prefer Metabase Cloud or need a commercial edition, we help you get the contract in place.
The data
We connect Metabase to your reporting database or warehouse with a read-only user, and set up the collections and groups each team works in.
The keys
Database credentials go into your platform's secrets, and staff sign in with Google Sign-In or LDAP rather than shared accounts.
A full test run
Dashboards and alerts are checked against a staging copy of the data before your teams rely on them.
