A recent survey of product leaders in the Fintech Guild shows that Metabase is the most popular BI tool for Fintechs in 2024, followed by Looker, Tableau, Sigma, Omni and Mode Analytics.
Metabase: Open-source and Budget-friendly
With an open source code base, Metabase has been able to reach feature-parity with more established players like Looker and Tableau quickly. In my role as Head of Data at Martrust, I love that all users can have full access for the same price, making it easy to give everyone the data they need.
The ability to both use the query editor and native SQL to create charts makes Metabase great for regular users and power users alike. The Metabase admin side comes with a detailed user permissions model, single sign-on and the ability to add table metadata like foreign keys and descriptions.
How much does BI tools cost?
A price comparison I did shows another reason why Metabase is a popular choice. 100 users cost $1400 per month with Metabase. The second-most popular BI tool Looker is five times more expensive, and requires the buyer to make an annual commitment.
Omni comes closest to Metabase in cost, and brings more features, such as DBT integration, modelling layer and AI powered querying.
| Tool | Votes | Cost per month | Notes |
| Metabase | 8 | $1,400 | Monthly commitment. 100 licenses with full access. |
| Looker | 7 | $7,325 | Annual commitment. 75 viewer licenses, 20 creator licenses and 5 developer licenses. |
| Tableau | 3 | $4,860 | Annual commitment. 80 explorer licenses and 20 creator licenses. |
| Sigma | 1 | $10,833 | |
| Omni | 1 | $2,750 | Annual commitment. 80 explorer licenses and 20 creator licenses. |
| Mode analytics | 1 | N/A |
When making the comparison, I assumed that the contract would include at least 5 developer licenses, 20 creator licenses, and 75 viewer licenses. The Metabase price includes developer access for all users, meaning full data access can be provided to all users across the organisation.
Another consideration is renewal fees. I have heard that Looker has a tendency to ramp up costs in the second year. Some vendors offer a cap on fee hikes, which might be worth asking for.
Looking ahead
To get a sense of the future, I chatted to Mark Trevail, another ex-Wiser and director of Swift Data. “I was surprised not to see Lightdash there” Mark comments. “I guess it’s still early days for them.” Lightdash provides a full stack BI platform on top of a DBT project, and has been growing quickly. Maybe they will show up in the BI Tool leaderboard next year.
About the Fintech guild
The Fintech Guild brings together innovators from Fintech startups as well as established leaders such as Wise, N26, Revolut, Checkout.com and Monzo. Follow us on LinkedIn to get the latest news from the guild.
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