Metabase vs Streamlit: Which is right for your team?

What Metabase does

Metabase is a business intelligence (BI) tool for non-technical users. You connect a database, drag columns onto a canvas, and you have a dashboard. No SQL required. You can set up row-level and column-level permissions so different teams see different data. You can share dashboards via email or Slack alerts.

Target audience: finance teams, product managers, business analysts, C-suite executives who need to answer ad-hoc questions about data.

What Streamlit does

Streamlit is a Python framework that turns data scripts into interactive web apps. You write Python code. Streamlit renders buttons, charts, and forms based on your code. No HTML or JavaScript required. On every user interaction, your code re-runs from top to bottom.

Target audience: data engineers, ML engineers, researchers building internal tools, prototypes, and one-off analyses that need custom Python logic.

The core difference

Metabase is point-and-click. Streamlit is code-first. Metabase reaches non-technical stakeholders. Streamlit reaches technical teams. Use Metabase if you want fast, easy dashboards for business users. Use Streamlit if you need custom Python logic or want to share scripts with other engineers.

Feature snapshot

Metabase Cloud pricing

Metabase Cloud is a managed version hosted by Metabase Inc.

• Starter: $100/month; includes 5 users; $6/month per additional user
• Pro: $575/month; includes 10 users; $12/month per additional user
• Enterprise: Custom pricing (typically $20,000+/year)

For a team of 10 users, Starter plan costs $100 + (5 x $6) = $130/month, or $1,560/year. For 15 users, Pro costs $575 + (5 x $12) = $635/month, or $7,620/year. Cost scales directly with headcount.

Streamlit pricing

Streamlit Community Cloud is free for public apps. Private app pricing is not published on Streamlit's website. Streamlit in Snowflake is an enterprise offering with custom pricing.

The catch with cloud pricing

Both Metabase and Streamlit are free, open-source projects you can self-host. When you self-host, there are no per-user or per-app fees. You pay only for your server.

Most teams pay cloud fees for years instead of running the app on a $20-50/month server. For a team of 10, self-hosted Metabase saves $1,560/year compared to Metabase Cloud Starter.

Why self-host Metabase or Streamlit

Both tools are open-source and free to self-host. Self-hosting means:

• No per-user or per-app fees. A 50-person company pays the same as a 5-person company.
• Full data residency control. Your database stays on your infrastructure. No data leaves your country.
• GDPR compliance by default. You control where data is processed and who accesses it.
• No vendor lock-in. You can switch hosting providers or replace the tool without losing your data.

For regulated industries (healthcare, finance, EU enterprises), self-hosting is not optional. It is a requirement.

The operational cost of self-hosting

Self-hosting is cheap but requires DevOps effort. You must:

• Deploy Metabase or Streamlit on a server (Docker, Kubernetes, or bare metal)
• Manage PostgreSQL (Metabase requires it for storing dashboard definitions)
• Handle SSL certificates, backups, upgrades, and monitoring
• Scale infrastructure as usage grows

For small teams, this DIY overhead often costs more than the subscription fees in lost engineering time.

The managed alternative

Opsily offers production-ready Metabase hosting on EU servers. We handle deployment, backups, SSL, monitoring, and upgrades. You keep full data sovereignty. You pay flat monthly pricing with no per-user fees. It is cloud simplicity with self-hosted economics.