head to head · open source
Metabase vs matplotplusplus
Metabase has 49,323 GitHub stars, 6,824 forks, 4,346 open issues and last shipped today. matplotplusplus has 4,930 stars, 388 forks, 82 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. Metabase leads on adoption by 900% (49,323 vs 4,930 stars). Metabase is written in Clojure under a custom or non-standard licence; matplotplusplus is written in C++ under MIT. Metabase has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, matplotplusplus 8%. Metabase was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (data-analysis, 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 | matplotplusplus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 49K | ★ 4.9K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Clojure | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-04-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.8K | ⑂ 388 |
| 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 matplotplusplus if
- You want the matplotplusplus feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and matplotplusplus 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 matplotplusplus
Matplot++ is an MIT licensed C++ graphics library for data visualization, built for programmers and scientists who need to plot data from inside a C++ program rather than hand it off to another environment.
read the full matplotplusplus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Metabase or matplotplusplus more popular?
Metabase has 49,323 GitHub stars and matplotplusplus has 4,930. Metabase has the larger community by that measure.
Are Metabase and matplotplusplus free?
Both are open source. Metabase has no licence declared in this registry, and matplotplusplus is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Metabase and matplotplusplus?
Metabase is written in Clojure and matplotplusplus in C++. 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 matplotplusplus?
Choose Metabase if you want the larger community (49,323 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose matplotplusplus if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.