head to head · open source
Metabase vs jfreechart
Metabase has 50,114 GitHub stars, 6,968 forks, 4,346 open issues and last shipped yesterday. jfreechart has 1,393 stars, 674 forks, 164 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. Metabase leads on adoption by 3,498% (50,114 vs 1,393 stars). Metabase is written in Clojure under a custom or non-standard licence; jfreechart is written in Java under LGPL-2.1. Metabase has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, jfreechart 48%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Metabase | jfreechart | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Custom / other | LGPL-2.1 |
| Written in | Clojure | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2025-11-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.0K | ⑂ 674 |
| 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 jfreechart if
- You want the jfreechart feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-2.1 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and jfreechart 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 jfreechart
JFreeChart ========== Version 2.0.0, not yet released. Overview JFreeChart is a comprehensive free chart library for the Java& 8482; platform that can be used on the client side (JavaFX and Swing) or the server side, with export to multiple formats including SVG, PNG and PDF. The home page for the project is: JFreeChart requires JDK 11 or later. For Java 8 support, check the v1.5.x branch. The library is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1 or later. JavaFX JFreeChart can be used with JavaFX via the JFreeChart FX extensions: Demos A small set of demo applications…
read the full jfreechart overview →
More in Data & Analytics
Related comparisons
More Business Intelligence & Reporting projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Business Intelligence & Reporting field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Metabase or jfreechart more popular?
Metabase has 50,114 GitHub stars and jfreechart has 1,393. Metabase has the larger community by that measure.
Are Metabase and jfreechart free?
Both are open source. Metabase has no licence declared in this registry, and jfreechart is licensed under LGPL-2.1. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Metabase and jfreechart?
Metabase is written in Clojure and jfreechart in Java. 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 jfreechart?
Choose Metabase if you want the larger community (50,114 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose jfreechart if its feature set, stack or LGPL-2.1 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.