Metabase Free Plan 2026: What's Included & What's Not
Honest breakdown of the free tier limits and features
Metabase costs Free to $1.7K per month as of November 2026, with 4 plans available including a free tier. Plans: Open Source (free), Starter at $100/month, Pro at $575/month, and Enterprise at $20K/year. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.
Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.
- Free tier: Yes
Metabase offers 4 pricing tiers: Open Source, Starter, Pro, Enterprise. A free plan is available. Paid plans include Starter at $100/month, Pro at $575/month, Enterprise at $20K/year. The Starter plan is small teams wanting managed cloud without infrastructure overhead.
Yes, Metabase offers a forever free plan as of November 2026. The free tier includes 5 features with limits on support and embedding. Paid plans start at $100/month (Starter). Pricing verified from 7 sources by CostBench.
Metabase's free plan is available indefinitely with no time limit.
What's Included in the Free Plan
- Free forever, self-hosted
- Unlimited queries, charts, and dashboards
- Basic embedding (with 'Powered by Metabase' branding)
- Community support only
- All core BI features included
What's NOT Included (Paid Only)
- Managed cloud hosting
- First 5 users included
- $6/month per additional user
- Ask questions with AI (SQL generation)
- 20+ supported data sources
- Unlimited questions & dashboards
- 3-day support via email, support form, Slack, or Teams
- 14-day free trial
- Managed AI service ($3.75/1M tokens; first 1M tokens/month free)
Free Plan Limits
| Limit | Free Plan | Paid Plans |
|---|---|---|
| support | Community only | Unlimited/Higher |
| embedding | With Metabase branding | Unlimited/Higher |
You'll Need to Upgrade When...
- You exceed the user limit
- You need features like Managed cloud hosting or First 5 users included
- You require premium support or SLA guarantees
- You need to remove branding or watermarks
- You need advanced integrations or API access
Hidden Restrictions on Free Plan
- Metabase branding may appear on your content or communications
- Support is limited to community forums or email with longer response times
- Export options may be restricted or include watermarks
- API access is typically limited or not available
- Advanced reporting and analytics require paid plans
Free vs Paid: Which Do You Need?
Free Plan is Enough If...
- You're an individual or very small team
- You need only basic features
- You don't mind usage limits
- Branding on output is acceptable
- Community support is sufficient
You Need Paid If...
- Your team is growing beyond limits
- You need advanced features
- Professional branding is required
- You need priority support
- Integrations/API access is critical
Free vs Starter Plan Comparison
| Open Source $0 | Starter $100/month | |
|---|---|---|
| Features | 5 included | 9+ included |
| Support | Community/Email | Priority Support |
| Branding | Metabase branding | Your branding |
| Best For | Developers and data teams who can self-host and maintain the instance | Small teams wanting managed cloud without infrastructure overhead |
Frequently Asked Questions
01 Is Metabase free?
Yes, Metabase offers a forever free plan with 5 core features included. However, there are limits on support, embedding that may require upgrading.
02 What's included in Metabase's free plan?
Metabase's free plan includes: Free forever, self-hosted, Unlimited queries, charts, and dashboards, Basic embedding (with 'Powered by Metabase' branding), Community support only, All core BI features included. Key limits include support: Community only, embedding: With Metabase branding.
03 What's NOT included in Metabase's free plan?
The free plan excludes: Managed cloud hosting, First 5 users included, $6/month per additional user, Ask questions with AI (SQL generation), 20+ supported data sources. You'll also have Metabase branding and limited support options.
04 When should I upgrade from Metabase's free plan?
Consider upgrading when: you hit user or storage limits, need features like Managed cloud hosting or First 5 users included, require premium support, or want to remove branding. The cheapest paid plan starts at $100/month.
05 Is Metabase's free plan really free forever?
Yes, Metabase's free plan is available indefinitely with no time limit. However, feature and usage limits may restrict what you can do without upgrading to a paid plan.
Track Metabase pricing
Get an email when Metabase's pricing changes — plus the weekly SaaS Price Watch: verified price changes and deals across 3,000+ products. One-click unsubscribe.
You're on the list — first digest lands Tuesday.