head to head · open source
Metabase vs semiotic
Metabase has 49,323 GitHub stars, 6,824 forks, 4,346 open issues and last shipped yesterday. semiotic has 2,707 stars, 139 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Metabase leads on adoption by 1,722% (49,323 vs 2,707 stars). Metabase is written in Clojure under a custom or non-standard licence; semiotic is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Metabase has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, semiotic 5%. semiotic 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 | semiotic | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 49K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Clojure | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.8K | ⑂ 139 |
| 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 semiotic if
- You want the semiotic feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and semiotic 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 semiotic
Semiotic is an Apache 2.0 TypeScript data visualization library for React, maintained by the nteract project, that pairs broad chart coverage — network graphs, streaming data, statistical distributions, and coordinated views — with schemas, diagnostics, and rendering evidence intended for AI assisted development.
read the full semiotic overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Metabase or semiotic more popular?
Metabase has 49,323 GitHub stars and semiotic has 2,707. Metabase has the larger community by that measure.
Are Metabase and semiotic free?
Both are open source. Metabase has no licence declared in this registry, and semiotic is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Metabase and semiotic?
Metabase is written in Clojure and semiotic in TypeScript. 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 semiotic?
Choose Metabase if you want the larger community (49,323 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose semiotic if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.