head to head · open source
Metabase vs AVA
Metabase has 50,114 GitHub stars, 6,968 forks, 4,346 open issues and last shipped yesterday. AVA has 1,593 stars, 166 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Metabase leads on adoption by 3,046% (50,114 vs 1,593 stars). Metabase is written in Clojure under a custom or non-standard licence; AVA is written in TypeScript under MIT. Metabase has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, AVA 10%. Metabase was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (data-visualization), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| Metabase | AVA | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Clojure | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.0K | ⑂ 166 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Metabase if
- You weight community size — 50K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Clojure
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick AVA if
- You want the AVA feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and AVA fits your workflow better
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 →
About AVA
AVA, AI native Visual Analytics AVA ( Visual Analytics) is a technology framework designed for more convenient visual analytics. The first A has multiple meanings: AI native, Automated, Augmented, and VA stands for Visual Analytics. It can assist users in unstructured data loading, data processing and analysis, as well as visualization code generation. 🚀 Features AVA is a fundamental shift from rule based analytics to AI native capabilities: Natural Language Queries : Ask questions about your data in plain English Query Suggestions : Get AI recommended analysis queries based on your data characteristics LLM…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Metabase or AVA more popular?
Metabase has 50,114 GitHub stars and AVA has 1,593. Metabase has the larger community by that measure.
Are Metabase and AVA free?
Both are open source. Metabase has no licence declared in this registry, and AVA is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Metabase and AVA?
Metabase is written in Clojure and AVA in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Metabase or AVA?
Choose Metabase if you want the larger community (50,114 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose AVA if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.