head to head · open source
Mermaid vs Metabase
Mermaid has 90,981 GitHub stars, 9,444 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Metabase has 50,114 stars, 6,968 forks, 4,346 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mermaid leads on adoption by 82% (90,981 vs 50,114 stars). Mermaid is written in TypeScript under MIT; Metabase is written in Clojure under a custom or non-standard licence. Mermaid has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Metabase 14%. Metabase was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Mermaid | Metabase | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 91K | ★ 50K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Clojure |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.4K | ⑂ 7.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mermaid if
- You weight community size — 91K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Metabase if
- You want the Metabase feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Clojure
- You evaluated both and Metabase fits your workflow better
About Mermaid
Mermaid Generate diagrams from Markdown like text. Live Editor! 📖 Documentation 🚀 Getting Started 🌐 CDN 🙌 Join Us 简体中文 Try Live Editor previews of future releases: Develop Next :trophy: Mermaid was nominated and won the JS Open Source Awards (2019) in the category "The most exciting use of technology"!!! Thanks to all involved, people committing pull requests, people answering questions! 🙏 Table of content Expand contents About Examples Release Related projects Contributors Security and safe diagrams Reporting vulnerabilities Appreciation About Mermaid is a JavaScript based diagramming and charting tool…
read the full Mermaid overview →
About Metabase
Metabase Metabase is the easy, open source way for everyone in your company to ask questions and learn from data. Get started The easiest way to get started with Metabase is to sign up for a free trial of Metabase Cloud. You get expert support, backups, upgrades, an SMTP server, SSL certificate, SoC2 Type 2 security auditing, and more (plus your money goes toward improving a major open source project). Check out our quick overview of cloud vs self hosting. If you need to, you can always switch to self hosting Metabase at any time (or vice versa). Key Features Set up in five minutes (we're not kidding), or have…
read the full Metabase overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mermaid or Metabase more popular?
Mermaid has 90,981 GitHub stars and Metabase has 50,114. Mermaid has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mermaid and Metabase free?
Both are open source. Mermaid is licensed under MIT, and Metabase has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Mermaid and Metabase?
Mermaid is written in TypeScript and Metabase in Clojure. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Mermaid or Metabase?
Choose Mermaid if you want the larger community (90,981 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Metabase if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.