Quick Answer
Last verified:
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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.

Forever Free

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
embedding With Metabase branding

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

Free vs Starter Plan Comparison

Open Source $0
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.

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