head to head · open source
Metabase vs jxls
Metabase has 49,323 GitHub stars, 6,824 forks, 4,346 open issues and last shipped today. jxls has 531 stars, 103 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. Metabase leads on adoption by 9,189% (49,323 vs 531 stars). Metabase is written in Clojure under a custom or non-standard licence; jxls is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Metabase has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, jxls 19%. 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Metabase | jxls | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 49K | ★ 531 |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Clojure | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.8K | ⑂ 103 |
| 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 jxls if
- You want the jxls feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and jxls 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 jxls
Jxls Overview Jxls is a small and simple to use Java library for Excel report generation using Excel template files. Jxls abstracts Excel generation from underlying Java to Excel low level processing library. Jxls uses a special markup in Excel templates to define output formatting and data layout. How to use Maven Gradle See Getting started guide. Contributing See Contributing guide.
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 jxls more popular?
Metabase has 49,323 GitHub stars and jxls has 531. Metabase has the larger community by that measure.
Are Metabase and jxls free?
Both are open source. Metabase has no licence declared in this registry, and jxls is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Metabase and jxls?
Metabase is written in Clojure and jxls 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 jxls?
Choose Metabase if you want the larger community (49,323 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose jxls if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.