Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Metabase VS Blazer Rails Engine

Compare Metabase VS Blazer Rails Engine and see what are their differences

Metabase logo Metabase

Metabase is the easy, open source way for everyone in your company to ask questions and learn from...

Blazer Rails Engine logo Blazer Rails Engine

Open source business intelligence tool.
  • Metabase Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-10-22
  • Blazer Rails Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-03

Metabase features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Metabase offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface, which makes it easy for non-technical users to generate and analyze reports without requiring SQL knowledge.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, Metabase allows organizations to customize and extend the tool according to their needs, and it can be self-hosted to retain full control over data.
  • Quick Setup
    Deploying Metabase is straightforward and can be accomplished quickly, enabling teams to start analyzing data almost immediately.
  • Integrations
    Metabase integrates with a wide array of databases and data sources, making it versatile for organizations with diverse data environments.
  • Visualization Options
    It provides a variety of visualization options, from simple charts to complex dashboards, to help users better understand their data.
  • Community Support
    As an open-source project, Metabase has a strong community that contributes to its development and offers support through forums and documentation.
  • Embedded Analytics
    Metabase offers an embedded analytics feature which allows organizations to integrate dashboards and reports into their own applications.

Possible disadvantages of Metabase

  • Limited Advanced Analytics
    While great for basic reporting, Metabase lacks some of the advanced analytics capabilities offered by more specialized BI tools.
  • Scaling Issues
    Metabase might face performance issues as data volume and user base grow, making it less suitable for very large-scale deployments without significant optimization.
  • Customization Limitations
    Even though Metabase is open-source, some users find its customization options limited compared to other BI tools, especially regarding dashboard design.
  • Security Features
    The platform's security features are not as robust as those of some enterprise-level BI tools, potentially requiring additional measures for highly sensitive data.
  • Dependency on Third-Party Services
    For certain features, Metabase may rely on third-party services, which could introduce additional points of failure and dependency.
  • Limited Collaboration Tools
    Collaboration features are somewhat basic compared to those offered by more comprehensive BI platforms, possibly making teamwork less efficient.
  • No Mobile App
    Metabase does not offer a dedicated mobile app, which could be a limitation for users who need to access dashboards and reports on the go.

Blazer Rails Engine features and specs

  • Data Exploration
    Blazer provides a user-friendly interface for querying databases, which makes it easier for non-technical users to explore data and generate insights without needing to write complex SQL queries from scratch.
  • Easy Integration
    As a Rails engine, Blazer can be easily integrated into existing Rails applications, allowing developers to quickly add data analytics capabilities to their apps.
  • Support for Multiple Databases
    Blazer supports various databases, including PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQLite, which provides flexibility for applications that may use different database systems.
  • Data Security
    Blazer includes features for managing permissions and access control, allowing admin users to restrict which queries can be run by which users, enhancing data security.

Possible disadvantages of Blazer Rails Engine

  • Limited Customization
    While Blazer offers basic data exploration capabilities, it may not provide the extensive customization or visualization options that some advanced analytics tools offer.
  • Performance Overhead
    Running complex or poorly-optimized queries directly in Blazer can lead to performance issues, potentially affecting the database and application performance.
  • Dependence on Rails
    As a Rails engine, Blazer is dependent on the Ruby on Rails framework, which may not be suitable for non-Rails based applications or teams working in different tech stacks.
  • Learning Curve for Non-technical Users
    Although Blazer aims to make data exploration easier, there can still be a learning curve for non-technical users to understand how to effectively write and manipulate queries.

Metabase videos

What is Metabase?

More videos:

  • Demo - See Metabase in action in 5 mins
  • Review - Metabase vs Apache Superset: Which is best for your team?
  • Review - Metabase vs Tableau: Which is better for your team
  • Review - Metabase vs. Looker: Which is best for your team?

Blazer Rails Engine videos

2019 Chevrolet Blazer – Review & Road Test

More videos:

  • Review - The 2020 Chevy Blazer RS is the Camaro SUV
  • Review - 2021 Chevy Blazer RS - Review - I LOVE this SUV! 😍

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Metabase and Blazer Rails Engine)
Data Dashboard
91 91%
9% 9
Business Intelligence
88 88%
12% 12
Data Visualization
93 93%
7% 7
Analytics
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Metabase and Blazer Rails Engine

Metabase Reviews

Explore 6 Metabase Alternatives for Data Visualization and Analysis
Draxlr is an intuitive Metabase alternative, blending a robust no-code query builder with AI-powered SQL generation for both non-technical and advanced users. It seamlessly integrates with various databases and provides real-time alerts through Slack, email, and more. With features like embeddable dashboards, granular team access, customizable visualizations, and live data...
Source: www.draxlr.com
5 best Looker alternatives
Metabase: Metabase is an open-source BI tool that offers a free self-hosted plan, but this can be challenging for non-technical users who may struggle with setup and maintenance. While the cloud-hosted option simplifies that, it comes at a higher cost, which might not be ideal for smaller teams or businesses.
Source: www.draxlr.com
10 Best Alternatives to Looker in 2024
Metabase: Metabase is a popular open-source alternative known for its cost-effectiveness and ease of setup. Its simplicity and straightforward deployment make it particularly appealing to smaller businesses and startups.
6 Best Looker alternatives
If you’re considering Metabase, take a look at our deepdive into Looker vs Metabase, as well as a breakdown of top Metabase alternatives.
Source: trevor.io
10 Best Looker Alternatives in 2024 | A Practitioner Review
While Metabase may not offer the same depth in modeling features or the proprietary semantic layer (LookML) that Looker does, it can integrate with Cube.dev to provide a viable, modern, open-source alternative. Additionally, Metabase's alert feature and its general adequacy for IT-related reporting present a valuable, lightweight solution for teams not requiring the full...

Blazer Rails Engine Reviews

We have no reviews of Blazer Rails Engine yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Metabase should be more popular than Blazer Rails Engine. It has been mentiond 17 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Metabase mentions (17)

  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (April 2025)
    Metabase | https://metabase.com/ | Remote (Global) | Full-time | Applied AI Engineers, Engineering Managers, Frontend and Backend Engineers Metabase is an open source (https://github.com/metabase/metabase) business intelligence software that lets anyone in your company rummage around in the databases you have. It connects to a number of databases / data warehouses (BigQuery, Redshift, Snowflake, Postgres, MySQL,... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (September 2024)
    Metabase | https://metabase.com | REMOTE | Full-time | Backend Engineers, Frontend Engineers, and Engineering Managers Metabase is open source analytics software that lets anyone in your company rummage around in the databases you have. It connects to a number of databases / data warehouses (BigQuery, Redshift, Snowflake, Postgres, MySQL, etc). People rather like the product (https://metabase.com/love). We're a... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Tools for Starting a Business or Testing an Idea: A Beginner's Guide
    Reporting - Metabase A free, open-source business intelligence tool that helps you create custom reports and dashboards to track your business metrics and make data-driven decisions. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Is Tableau Dead?
    I've never used Tableau, but heard a lot of hate about it. However, in my previous role, we were big fans of Metabase (https://metabase.com). You can also self-host it, which was a huge win for us. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: Open-Source Self-Hosted No-Code Platforms?
    The solution really depends on what sort of problems you are trying to solve and who your customers are. There are a fair few low-code solutions out there for reporting and data visualisation that are great for finance and marketing teams for example. e.g. https://metabase.com/ , https://evidence.dev/ For enterprise processes I'd go with Camunda (solely based on recommendations and not first hand experience).... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
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Blazer Rails Engine mentions (11)

  • Is Tableau Dead?
    I try to avoid these tools wherever possible, given the choice I'd always go for tools like Blazer. https://github.com/ankane/blazer No such luck in my current role, Looker and PowerBI are both in use by different bits of the org and nobody has the ability to delve into the underlying figures. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • BI vs custom queries in app
    As u/jaxn said you could use Blazer for this kind of thing. I would also look into materialized views or custom tables and a scheduled job that calculates the metrics they care about. That will take you a long way. Eventually you can use something like Metabase but I would put that off for as long as possible as it's really expensive and pretty involved. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Evidence – Business Intelligence as Code
    And it's Open Source: https://github.com/evidence-dev/evidence if you are into the Ruby on Rails world. It's super solid, and it's been an indispensable tool integrated to all my projects. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Italian watchdog bans use of Google Analytics
    I use Ahoy too, but I don't have very good visibility into the data. I should spend more time building queries and creating charts. I should probably set up blazer as well: https://github.com/ankane/blazer. - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago
  • Using Scientist to Refactor Critical Ruby on Rails Code
    The Blazer gem provides a nice way to analyze the results easily. It is simple to install and allows SQL queries to run against tables. The query here shows that the candidate implementation is significantly faster than the original. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Metabase and Blazer Rails Engine, you can also consider the following products

Tableau - Tableau can help anyone see and understand their data. Connect to almost any database, drag and drop to create visualizations, and share with a click.

Microsoft Power BI - BI visualization and reporting for desktop, web or mobile

Evidence.dev - Evidence enables analysts to build a trusted, version-controlled reporting system by writing SQL and markdown. Evidence reports are publication-quality, highly customizable, and fit for human consumption.

Looker - Looker makes it easy for analysts to create and curate custom data experiences—so everyone in the business can explore the data that matters to them, in the context that makes it truly meaningful.

SeekTable - Free web BI tool for ad-hoc analytics and live reporting with online pivot tables (crosstabs), charts and datagrids. Analyze CSV data or connect directly to a database (SQL, MongoDb, ElasticSearch, Analysis Services), share & publish your reports.

Domo - Domo: business intelligence, data visualization, dashboards and reporting all together. Simplify your big data and improve your business with Domo's agile and mobile-ready platform.