Looker vs Metabase: Which BI Tool Fits Your Team?

Pick Looker if you want every metric defined once in LookML code, reviewed in git, and you have people to maintain that model, especially on Google Cloud. Pick Metabase if you want BI for free or for a low published price, need to self-host, or want basic customer-facing embeds on a budget. Looker is model first and quote only. Metabase is open source with prices on its website.

Not sure which kind of tool you need? The BI tool quiz asks a few questions about your team and data and suggests a fit. If you are on Snowflake, Sigma is a third option, covered below.

Disclosure. Greyfield Data sells Sigma and custom warehouse work, so read this knowing that. Every product claim below links to the vendor page it came from, and pricing was checked on November 3, 2026.

Key takeaways

• Looker is Google Cloud's enterprise BI platform, built on LookML, a code-based semantic layer that generates SQL against your warehouse at query time.
• Metabase is open-source BI with a visual query builder and SQL editor. The open-source edition is free to self-host with unlimited users.
• Looker does not publish prices. Metabase Starter is $100 a month with 5 users included, and Pro is $575 a month with 10 users included, as of November 3, 2026.
• Neither has a spreadsheet grid, and neither writes back to Snowflake out of the box. Looker needs custom code for write-back, and Metabase editable tables support only PostgreSQL and MySQL.
• Both query the warehouse live, so add warehouse compute to either budget.

Quick answers

• Looker is best for: data teams with LookML developers who want centrally governed metrics, and companies on Google Cloud and BigQuery.
• Metabase is best for: startups and small teams, companies that must self-host, and SaaS products embedding basic dashboards on a tight budget.
• Cheapest to start: Metabase, whose open-source edition is free.
• Strongest governance: Looker, because metric logic lives in version-controlled LookML.

How do Looker and Metabase compare?

Looker centers on a model the data team owns, and Metabase centers on simple questions anyone can ask. The table below compares them feature by feature.

How much do Looker and Metabase cost?

Metabase publishes its prices and Looker does not. Both figures below were checked on November 3, 2026.

Looker's pricing page lists three editions: Standard (under 50 users), Enterprise, and Embed. Each includes one production instance, 10 Standard Users, and 2 Developer Users, and cost depends on edition, user mix, and a 1 to 3 year term. You get a number from sales.

Metabase's pricing page lists Starter at $100 a month ($1,080 a year) with 5 users, then $6 per user per month. Pro is $575 a month with 10 users, then $12 per user per month, and Enterprise starts at $20,000 a year. Every signed-in user counts, including embedded users, and AI, transforms, and storage are billed on usage as add-ons.

Both tools run queries on your warehouse, so your Snowflake or BigQuery compute comes on top of either license.

Choose Looker if

Looker fits when consistent, centrally owned metrics matter more than speed of self-service.

• You want all metric logic in LookML, reviewed in git, and served the same way to every dashboard and AI answer.
• You are on Google Cloud and BigQuery and want Gemini and Connected Sheets built in.
• You have analytics engineers to maintain LookML. Without one, new data generally needs modeling before business users can explore it.
• You need broad scheduled delivery, such as webhooks, S3, or SFTP.
• You are willing to buy on a quote and an annual commitment.

Watch for recent changes. Looker reports were deprecated in July 2026, and several 2026 AI features, including dashboard agents and the managed MCP server, are still in preview.

Choose Metabase if

Metabase fits when cost, hosting control, or simple embedding decides the purchase.

• You want BI for free or for a low, published monthly price.
• You need to self-host inside your own infrastructure. Both the free and paid editions can be self-hosted.
• You are embedding basic customer-facing dashboards on a tight budget, since guest embeds work in the free edition.
• Your users mostly need simple charts and SQL, not spreadsheet modeling.

Watch for plan limits. Row and column security, SSO, and git sync need Pro or Enterprise, and exports carry Metabase branding on lower plans, per its export docs.

What about Sigma on Snowflake?

Sigma is a third option if your data is in Snowflake and your business users want a spreadsheet, not a model or a query builder. Sigma users work in a formula grid on warehouse tables, and its input tables write data back to Snowflake, which neither Looker nor Metabase does natively.

It is not the cheap option. Sigma is SaaS only, has no free tier, and is sold on annual contracts. Our side-by-side pages cover the tradeoffs in detail: Sigma vs Looker and Sigma vs Metabase. As noted above, we sell Sigma work, so weigh those pages with that in mind.

For the wider picture of where BI sits in a stack, see the data stack, mapped and what a semantic layer is.

What to do next

Take the BI tool quiz for a suggested fit, or read the compare pages for other tool pairs. If you are weighing Sigma on Snowflake and want a second opinion, book a call.

Frequently asked questions