head to head · open source
Metabase vs diagram-design
Metabase has 49,312 GitHub stars, 6,824 forks, 4,346 open issues and last shipped yesterday. diagram-design has 40,762 stars, 2,602 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Metabase leads on adoption by 21% (49,312 vs 40,762 stars). Metabase is written in Clojure under a custom or non-standard licence; diagram-design is written in HTML under MIT. Metabase has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, diagram-design 6%. 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 | diagram-design | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 49K | ★ 41K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Clojure | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.8K | ⑂ 2.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Metabase if
- You weight community size — 49K 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 diagram-design if
- You want the diagram-design feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and diagram-design fits your workflow better
About Metabase
Metabase is an open source business intelligence and embedded analytics tool, written in Clojure, that lets everyone in a company ask questions of their data and build dashboards without needing to know SQL.
read the full Metabase overview →
About diagram-design
Diagram Design is a skill for Claude Code, Codex, Factory Droid, Pi, and other Agent Skills compatible hosts that generates editorial quality diagrams as self contained HTML and SVG, aimed at writers, engineers, and designers who need brand consistent visuals without opening Figma.
read the full diagram-design overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Metabase or diagram-design more popular?
Metabase has 49,312 GitHub stars and diagram-design has 40,762. Metabase has the larger community by that measure.
Are Metabase and diagram-design free?
Both are open source. Metabase has no licence declared in this registry, and diagram-design is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Metabase and diagram-design?
Metabase is written in Clojure and diagram-design in HTML. 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 diagram-design?
Choose Metabase if you want the larger community (49,312 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose diagram-design if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.