Metabase

Metabase's open-source edition is completely free to download, self-host, and use with unlimited users and questions. You host it on your own infrastructure (a $5/month DigitalOcean droplet can run Metabase for small teams). The free edition includes the full query builder, SQL editor, dashboards, and basic email alerts. Metabase Starter (Cloud) is $85/month for up to 5 users. Pro (Cloud or self-hosted) starts at $500/month and adds SSO, advanced permissions, caching, white-labeling, and priority support. Enterprise is custom. For most early-stage startups, the free self-hosted version delivers excellent value before requiring an upgrade.

Metabase is better for small teams on a budget or with limited BI resources — it's free to self-host, has a low-friction setup (15-minute install), and the visual query builder empowers non-technical users without SQL training. Metabase handles common reporting needs well. Tableau is better when you need advanced visualization types (complex charts, geographic maps, statistical overlays), large data volume performance, or enterprise governance features. Tableau Creator licenses start at $75/user/month — significantly more expensive than Metabase's free tier. Most teams under 50 people start with Metabase and graduate to Tableau as data complexity grows.

Yes — Metabase's core design goal is enabling non-technical users to explore data. The 'Ask a question' interface lets users select a database table, apply filters, group by dimensions, and see charts without any SQL knowledge. Business users can build their own dashboards by combining saved questions. Metabase also supports a 'Data sandboxing' feature in Pro so different user groups only see their relevant data. The SQL editor is available for power users who need it. The main limitation for non-technical users is that data still needs to be in a well-structured database — Metabase doesn't handle data transformation or cleaning, so a data engineer must model the underlying data first.