Metabase vs Looker
Detailed comparison to help you choose the right tool for your needs
Quick Comparison
Rating
4.5
vs4.4
Starting Price
Free
vs$null
Pricing Model
freemium
vsenterprise
Feature
Metabase
Looker
Visual query builder
SQL editor
Dashboards
Alerts
Embedding
Open source
LookML modeling
Embedded analytics
Custom dashboards
API access
Git integration
Data governance
Metabase Pros
- Free and open source for self-hosting
- Non-technical users can query without SQL
- Beautiful default visualizations
- Easy to deploy as single JAR file
- Active open-source community
- Embeddable dashboards for customers
Metabase Cons
- Self-hosting requires maintenance
- Performance degrades with complex queries
- Limited data modeling capabilities
- No LookML-style semantic layer
- Fewer enterprise features than Looker or Tableau
- Cloud pricing is per-instance not per-user
Looker Pros
- Best-in-class semantic layer with LookML
- Excellent embedded analytics capabilities
- Strong governance and version control
- Deep BigQuery and Google Cloud integration
- Powerful for data teams that think in SQL
- Git-based workflow for model management
Looker Cons
- No free tier with enterprise pricing only
- Steep learning curve for LookML
- Requires data engineering resources
- Slow dashboard load times reported
- Being merged into Looker Studio creates confusion
- Overkill for small teams