head to head · open source
diagram-design vs Metabase
diagram-design has 64,318 GitHub stars, 4,247 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Metabase has 50,114 stars, 6,968 forks, 4,346 open issues and last shipped yesterday. diagram-design leads on adoption by 28% (64,318 vs 50,114 stars). diagram-design is written in HTML under MIT; Metabase is written in Clojure under a custom or non-standard licence. diagram-design has attracted 7% 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. 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
| diagram-design | Metabase | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 64K | ★ 50K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | HTML | Clojure |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 7.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick diagram-design if
- You weight community size — 64K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- 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 diagram-design
Diagram Design Editorial diagrams your designer won't hate. New in 2.0 — the Loop: flywheels with a shared memory hub. The dashed lines are the write backs. New in 2.3: semantic system patterns and optional accessible motion, while static output stays the default. New in 2.5.10: ten more layout grammars — Sankey, fishbone, Wardley map, kanban, user journey, deployment, dependency graph, UML class, story map, and database schema. 39 editorial diagram types for Claude Code, Codex, Factory Droid, Pi, and Agent Skills compatible hosts. Self contained HTML + SVG. No shadows. No Mermaid slop. Semantic patterns…
read the full diagram-design 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 diagram-design or Metabase more popular?
diagram-design has 64,318 GitHub stars and Metabase has 50,114. diagram-design has the larger community by that measure.
Are diagram-design and Metabase free?
Both are open source. diagram-design is licensed under MIT, and Metabase has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between diagram-design and Metabase?
diagram-design is written in HTML 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, diagram-design or Metabase?
Choose diagram-design if you want the larger community (64,318 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Metabase if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.