A Metabase alternative with AI, permissions that hold everywhere and dashboards anyone can build.
Metabase is a popular way for technical teams to put charts on a database. Klayara is the Metabase alternative for companies that want the whole business building and reading: drag and drop with spreadsheet-style formulas, Klayara AI that answers questions and drafts charts, row and column security applied everywhere, and self-hosting with support on Enterprise.
Simple per-user pricingKlayara AI built inCloud or your own serversArabic and English
What teams gain moving from Metabase.
Permissions that hold everywhere
Row rules and column masking come with the Growth plan, and once set they hold in every dashboard, download, scheduled report, embed and AI answer.
Anyone can build, analysts can go deeper
Dashboards are drag and drop with formulas that read like a spreadsheet. Analysts who write SQL get a query assistant that writes, fixes, speeds up and explains their queries.
Klayara AI for every role
Ask a question and get a real chart, summarise a dashboard, ask why a number changed, or describe an automation like "WhatsApp me when stock falls below 50" and get a draft to save.
Self-hosting with support
With Enterprise, Klayara runs on your own servers with our support — the same product as the hosted cloud, AI included, with no licence server and no call-home.
Metabase and Klayara, in general terms.
Written October 2026 from public documentation, describing each product in general terms; features and plans change, so check the current position with each vendor.
| Aspect | Metabase | Klayara |
|---|---|---|
| Editions | Open-source edition plus paid tiers | One product with published per-user prices |
| AI | AI features vary by edition | Klayara AI built in on Growth and Enterprise: ask your data, AI chart and dashboard builder, dashboard summaries and "why did this change", formula and query assistants, automations from a sentence — runs only when you click, within each person's permissions |
| Row-level permissions | Available in paid tiers | Included from Growth; set once per person or team, applied to every dashboard, download, scheduled report, embed and AI answer |
| Who builds | Popular with technical, SQL-first teams | The whole business: drag and drop, spreadsheet-style formulas and AI; SQL with an AI query assistant for analysts |
| Speed on big tables | Depends on the connected database | Built-in acceleration on every plan; dashboards stay fast on tables with more than 100 million rows |
| Where it runs | Self-hosted or vendor cloud | Our hosted cloud, or your own servers with Enterprise (even offline) |
| Scheduled delivery | Email and Slack | Email, WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram and webhooks, rendered per recipient with their own rows |
| Arabic, right to left | Varies by screen and language pack | Full right-to-left Arabic interface and English, chosen per user |
| Done-for-you dashboards | Community and partners | Our own BI developers build the dashboards and hand them over |
Who should stay on Metabase.
Some teams are well served where they are, usually because their work is built around Metabase and its wider ecosystem.
- Teams whose analysts are deeply invested in Metabase and whose reports are finished and working well.
- Engineering teams that specifically want an open-source charting layer they run and maintain themselves.
Who chooses Klayara instead.
The teams that get the most from Klayara from the first week.
- Teams that want AI to answer questions and draft charts, dashboards and formulas — inside their own permissions
- Companies sharing dashboards widely that want a lower-priced Viewer seat for everyone who reads
- Groups that need one dashboard across several companies or branches, with each reader limited to their own rows
- Companies that want the data to stay on their own servers, in their own country
- Teams with no analyst that want the first dashboards built for them and handed over
- Businesses that read in Arabic and English on the same day
Metabase alternative questions, answered.
Something else on your mind? Ask us directly — a person answers.
Can we self-host Klayara the way we self-host Metabase?
Yes, with Enterprise. Run Klayara in your cloud account, your data centre or a closed network, with our support. It is the same product as the hosted cloud, with no licence server, no usage tracking and no call-home.
Is Klayara a cheaper Metabase alternative for row-level security?
Row and column security come with the Growth plan, Viewers have a lower-priced seat, and speed on big tables is included on every plan. Plans start at $10 per Viewer and $20 per Builder a month, billed yearly; Enterprise and self-hosted plans are quoted. Prefer it built for you? Our done-for-you service has our developers build the dashboards. See the plans.
Is Klayara a Metabase alternative with AI?
Yes. Klayara AI is built into the product on Growth and Enterprise: ask a question and get a real chart, describe a chart or a whole dashboard and get a draft, summarise a dashboard or ask why a number changed, write and fix formulas and queries, and set up automations from a sentence. It runs only when someone clicks, stays within each person's row and column permissions, and Growth includes 150 AI credits a month for the workspace. On Enterprise it can also run on your own AI provider or a private model. See Klayara AI.
Does Klayara need SQL?
No. Dashboards are built by drag and drop, measures with formulas that read like a spreadsheet, and questions can be asked in plain language. Analysts who like SQL can write it for derived tables, with an AI query assistant beside them.
How are permissions handled?
Row and column rules are set once per person or team and apply to every dashboard, download, scheduled report, embedded view and AI answer. Row rules and column masking come with Growth.
Other comparisons
Power BI alternative · Looker Studio alternative · Tableau alternative · Why teams choose Klayara
See Klayara next to your Metabase reports.
Bring one dashboard you rely on today. We'll rebuild it live on your data, with your permissions, and you can judge the difference yourself.
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