Adea vs Metabase
Adea is the Metabase alternative for teams that want answers, dashboards and reports without building them first. It sets itself up on your database, answers anyone in plain words, and tells you each morning what moved and why.
Free planNo cardRead-only access
“Metabase is free and open source.”
The licence is free. The work isn't. Someone has to build every question, lay out every dashboard and keep them working as the data changes, and only people who know the query builder or SQL can ask something new. Between looks, nobody watches the numbers. Adea does that work itself, and you can start free too.
The Metabase alternative that sets itself up.
Choose Adea when:
- 1
You want answers in plain words, in seconds, without building a question first
- 2
You'd rather it set itself up: Adea learns what your tables mean and suggests the numbers to watch on day one
- 3
You still want dashboards and reports, built from a question or rebuilt from a screenshot of the ones you have
- 4
You want every number watched each night, and the likely reason when one moves
- 5
Everyone should be able to ask, in Adea, Slack, Teams or mail, not only whoever knows SQL
Adea vs Metabase side by side
| Question | Metabase | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Answering questions, building reports and dashboards, and watching every number of the business | Dashboards and reports that a team builds on top of a database |
| Asking a question | Ask in plain words and get the answer in seconds, with the query and its sources shown | Build a question with the visual query builder, or write SQL |
| Reports and dashboards | Dashboards from a question in plain words. Bring a report you already have as a PDF, screenshot or Excel file, and Adea rebuilds it from your live data. Send any of it on a schedule | Dashboards your team builds and arranges, question by question |
| Who can build them | Anyone who can ask a question | Mostly analysts, and people at home in the query builder |
| Getting started | Connect a read-only database. Adea learns what the tables mean, works out what's normal and suggests the numbers to watch, the same day | Connect a database, then build the questions and dashboards you need |
| When a number moves | Checks every number each night against what is normal for it, tells you in the morning, and tests the likely causes | An alert fires when a question passes a limit you chose |
| Where answers arrive | In Adea, Slack, Teams, mail and the AI assistant you already use | In Metabase, and by mail or Slack for subscriptions and alerts |
| Personal data | Guardian checks every query before it runs and flags large pulls of personal data. On Business it can hold them until an admin says yes | Permissions on data and collections decide who sees what |
About Metabase
An open-source tool for dashboards and reports. A team builds questions with a visual query builder or SQL and arranges them on dashboards, on its own servers or in Metabase's cloud.
Written from how each tool describes itself, in October 2026. Tools change, so check theirs for today's details. Found something wrong? Write to us and we'll correct it.
Choose Metabase when
- You need open-source software running on your own servers
- Your analysts want full SQL control over every question
- You embed charts in your own product
Switching from Metabase takes three steps
Start on the same database. Nothing in Metabase has to change until you're ready.
- 1
Connect the same database, read-only
The one Metabase already reads from. Adea only reads, and refuses a user that can write.
- 2
Adea sets itself up
It learns what your tables mean, works out what's normal and suggests the numbers to watch. You check the first ones.
- 3
Recreate the reports you rely on
Bring a screenshot or PDF of a Metabase report, or its Excel export. Adea rebuilds it from your live data, ready to send on a schedule.
Not ready to switch everything? Run both while you move. Adea only reads the database, so Metabase keeps working as it does today.
Questions
What is the best alternative to Metabase?
For most teams, Adea. It does what teams use Metabase for, questions, dashboards, reports and scheduled sends, but sets itself up: it learns what your tables mean, so anyone can ask in plain words on the first day. It also watches every number each night and tells you why one moved.
How is Adea different from Metabase?
In Metabase, someone builds each question and dashboard before anyone can read it. Adea sets itself up from your database, answers questions in plain words, builds the dashboards from a question, and watches every number between looks.
Is Adea a replacement for Metabase?
Yes, for most teams. Adea answers questions, builds dashboards and reports and sends them on a schedule, without anyone building them first. If you embed Metabase charts in your own product, keep it for that and move the rest.
Can I use Adea with Metabase?
Yes. Adea connects to your database, not to Metabase, so Metabase keeps working exactly as it does today.
Is my data safe with Adea?
Adea connects with a database user that can only read, and refuses one that can write. Guardian checks every query before it runs and flags large pulls of personal data. Everything travels over HTTPS, the passwords you give Adea are encrypted with a key that belongs to your company alone, and no other company can see your numbers.
How long does it take to set up?
A couple of minutes to connect a database. Then Adea sets itself up: it learns what your tables mean and suggests the numbers to watch, and you check the first one. You can start free, with no card.
