Metabase implemented on your data, with dashboards you can trust
Metabase is a BI tool whose open-source edition needs no per-user licence. The tool itself doesn't tidy up your data, though. We start with metric definitions and sources, and only then build the dashboards.
What Metabase is
Based on the vendor's materials (metabase.com). We don't add features the vendor doesn't claim.
- The vendor describes Metabase as an open-source business intelligence platform.
- The Open Source edition is available under the AGPL, and the Pro and Enterprise editions under the vendor's commercial licence.
- Metabase can run on your own server or in the vendor's cloud, and you can later switch from one to the other.
- It connects directly to databases, including PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, BigQuery and Snowflake.
- Questions about the data are built in a visual editor or in SQL, and the results are combined into dashboards.
- Dashboard subscriptions send results by email or to Slack, including to people without a Metabase account.
What we do
This is the part we're responsible for. It isn't taken from the vendor's materials.
- We start with a metrics workshop: which decisions the dashboard should support and how each number is calculated.
- We choose the setup: your own server when the data must stay with you, or the vendor's cloud when you don't want to maintain a server.
- We prepare a reporting database. Data from the ERP, CRM and spreadsheets usually needs to be collected in one place first, often using Airbyte.
- We build questions and dashboards for each role: management, sales, finance and operations.
- We set up user groups and collection access so everyone sees the data they should.
- We configure scheduled email reports and check that they arrive.
- For a self-hosted installation, we set up backups of the application database, updates and monitoring.
- We hand over the model documentation and train the people who will develop reports themselves.
Metabase or Power BI?
There is no single answer. This is how we decide.
- We usually choose Power BI when the company works in Microsoft 365, already has licences and has people who know Excel and Power Query.
- Looker Studio makes sense when the data and the team are in the Google ecosystem.
- We suggest Metabase when many people need to view reports and a per-user fee would be a noticeable cost, or when the data cannot leave your infrastructure.
- In every case the data model and metric definitions remain yours, so changing tools in the future doesn't start from scratch.
What it costs with us
Net prices for our work. Server hosting and any paid Metabase edition are separate items, paid directly to the provider. We agree the exact scope after a free consultation.
- Automating a simple report
- from PLN 2,500 net
- Consolidating data from several sources
- from PLN 7,500 net
- BI dashboard with up to six views
- from PLN 15,000 net
- Specialist administration and configuration
- PLN 280 net per hour
What we won't claim
Vendor and reseller websites are full of promises. We won't make these:
- We are not a Metabase partner. We implement the tool because it works well in our projects.
- We won't say the open-source edition means a free implementation. The server, maintenance and work on the model all cost money.
- We won't promise paid-edition features if you plan to use the open-source edition. We check the scope before quoting.
- We won't build a dashboard on data that nobody can define.
- We don't interpret the AGPL in place of your lawyer. We explain how we work with it during implementation.
Questions about Metabase.
Is Metabase free?
The Open Source edition has no licence fees, but someone has to deploy, secure and update it. So you pay for the server and the work. The vendor's cloud and the Pro or Enterprise editions are paid according to the vendor's price list.
Does our data have to go to the cloud?
No. Metabase can run on your own server or in your own cloud. The data and reports then stay in infrastructure you control.
Will Metabase connect to our ERP?
Metabase connects to databases, not directly to every application. If your ERP system exposes a database or an export, we make the data available in a reporting database. With several sources, we collect them in one place, for example using Airbyte.
Can our staff build reports themselves?
Simple ones, yes, because the visual editor doesn't require SQL. The condition is a well-prepared data model. Without it, everyone calculates a metric slightly differently.
How long does implementation take?
It depends on the number of sources and the state of the data, so we give a timeline after the consultation. Most of the time goes into agreeing definitions and cleaning data, not the installation itself.
Related
Free · 60 minutes online · no obligation
First, a conversation about the process, then the tool.
- You tell us about the processOnline, by video call. What takes up time today, which systems hold the data and what you want to achieve.
- We tell you whether it's worth itSometimes a change to a spreadsheet or a process is enough. If so, we'll say that instead of proposing a project.
- You get the next stepBy email after the meeting: what to map, what data to prepare and what the price depends on.
We don't use a contact form. We answer the phone and reply to emails.