Comparison
Emban vs Metabase
Metabase is a strong internal BI tool that grew an embedded analytics offering. Emban is built specifically for customer-facing dashboards on ClickHouse. Both are credible options — this page is the honest version of where each one wins.
Side by side
Where each one fits
Verified against Metabase's public pricing and product docs. We will update this page when their offering changes — we'd rather be accurate than dramatic.
| Feature | Emban | Metabase |
|---|---|---|
Primary use case | Customer-facing analytics | Internal BI, with embedding added on top |
ClickHouse-native query planner Metabase ships a generic SQL adapter; Emban planner uses materialized rollups, HLL paths, and percentile metrics specific to ClickHouse. | ||
Tenant scoping enforced at storage layer Metabase has sandboxing on Pro+; Emban injects org_id and tenant_id via additional_table_filters at the engine level — no SQL can bypass it. | ||
Pricing model | Tenants + events | Per user (with embedded add-on) |
Per-viewer / per-seat fees Metabase Pro/Enterprise costs grow with each customer; Emban does not count viewers. | ||
Embedded React SDK Metabase added an Embedded SDK for React on paid tiers in 2024. Emban ships @emban/react and @emban/embed-helper as the default integration path. | ||
Signed iframe embed | ||
Single binary deploy Metabase runs on the JVM and packages PostgreSQL/H2 internally; Emban is a single ~30 MB Go binary plus your existing ClickHouse + Postgres. | ||
Self-hosted | ||
Hosted offering Metabase Cloud exists. Emban is self-host-only by design — your event data never leaves your infrastructure. | ||
Source available Both source-available; Metabase is AGPL with commercial Pro/Enterprise terms. Emban is licensed for self-hosted commercial use. |
supported partial / via paid tier not supported
Decision guide
When to pick which
Stay on Metabase if…
- • Your team already runs it for internal BI and you're happy.
- • Your data isn't on ClickHouse and you don't want to migrate.
- • You need pre-built question/dashboard authoring for non-technical users in-house.
- • A managed cloud offering is more important than full self-host control.
Switch to Emban if…
- • Analytics is going to your customers, not just your team, and you don't want to pay per viewer.
- • Your event data already lives in ClickHouse — Emban's planner uses rollups, HLL, and percentiles natively.
- • You'd rather deploy a single Go binary alongside your existing infra than run a JVM service.
- • You want tenant scoping enforced at the storage engine, not bolted on at the application layer.
Try it
See the embed flow yourself
The live demo is a real signed embed session against a live-updating dashboard. The free tier includes one published dashboard, signed embeds, and tenant isolation — enough to validate before you buy.