Our take
Pick Metabase if ops / data teams who will self-host OSS at $0 (unlimited internal users, no embed SKU) while they ask a first Orders question, or start the Cloud Starter 14-day trial and land on $100/month (5 users included, then $6/user) when they do not want to run the stack. Pick MotherDuck if solo analysts who will stay on Lite $0 (10 GB + 10 Pulse hours), then buy Business at $250/org/month plus usage when
Best for
Metabase Charts you start at $100 Cloud or OSS $0
MotherDuck Cloud DuckDB metered in CU-hours and GB
Free plan
Metabase $0 · aGPL. Unlimited internal users. No embed SKU. You run it
MotherDuck $0 · no card. Up to 3 internal users and 2 service accounts. 10 GB storage and 10 Pulse hours / month included. Pulse instances only. Preset RBAC. Community support. 1-day snapshots. Lite without a card includes 30 minutes/day of F4 Flights
Lowest paid
Metabase Transforms $0.01
MotherDuck Storage $0.04/mo
Next step up
Metabase AI add-on $3.75
MotherDuck Flights $0.15/hour
Coding agent
Metabase
MotherDuck Flights
Runs where
Metabase Local; you host it
MotherDuck
Watch out
Metabase Starter’s $100 includes 5 users
MotherDuck Lite is Pulse-only
Last checked
Metabase 2026-10-22 · metabase.com/pricing
MotherDuck 2026-10-22 · motherduck.com/pricing
ops / data teams who will self-host OSS at $0 (unlimited internal users, no embed SKU) while they ask a first Orders question, or start the Cloud Starter 14-day trial and land on $100/month (5 users included, then $6/user) when they do not want to run the stack.
Read the Metabase pagesolo analysts who will stay on Lite $0 (10 GB + 10 Pulse hours), then buy Business at $250/org/month plus usage when they need Standard+ instances, Flights at scale, and a 99.9% SLA.
Read the MotherDuck page
