Best Free BI Tools 2026: 7 Options Compared

Free business intelligence tools differ in who they expect to build the dashboards. Power BI Desktop and Data Studio are free for individuals, and both are strong when your data sits in Microsoft or Google products. The catch is sharing: Power BI reports need a Pro licence at $14 per user a month billed yearly before colleagues can see them, while Data Studio's paid tier is Data Studio Pro. If you can run a server, the open-source route has no per-seat fee. Metabase's open-source edition is free to self-host with unlimited users and is the gentlest for non-technical people who want to click through questions. Apache Superset is Apache-2.0 and connects to any SQL database with a Python driver, which suits analysts who write SQL. Redash is BSD-2-Clause and focuses on a query editor with dashboards and alerts. Lightdash and Evidence both use code, with Lightdash built on dbt and Evidence writing reports in Markdown. The trade-off is operating cost: self-hosting means you maintain the server, secure it and upgrade it, and the free editions leave out features such as single sign-on that vendors keep for paid plans.

Metabase

AGPL-licensed open-source edition, free to self-host with unlimited users. Starter cloud is $100 a month billed monthly, so the free route means running your own server.

Price: Free (Open source edition is free to self-host with unlimited users); paid from $90 per month, Starter cloud billed yearly, first 5 users included (Metabase pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. AGPL (core) with commercial enterprise directory (open source).

Project activity: 49.9k GitHub stars · latest release v0.64.3 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 28, 2026

Best for: Non-technical teams exploring SQL data.

Worth knowing: Starter cloud is $100 per month billed monthly; extra users $6 per month. Pro cloud starts at $517.50 per month billed yearly.

Compare: Metabase alternatives

Apache Superset

Apache-2.0 and free; you pay only for hosting. Connects to any SQL database with a Python driver, including Snowflake and BigQuery, with a steeper learning curve than Metabase.

Price: Free (Free open source software; you pay for your own hosting) (Apache Superset pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. Apache-2.0 (open source).

Project activity: 75.3k GitHub stars · latest release 6.1.0 (May 13, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: SQL-comfortable analysts with many data sources.

Worth knowing: Queries any SQL database with a Python DB-API driver and SQLAlchemy dialect, including Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, ClickHouse and SQL Server.

Redash

BSD-2-Clause and self-hosted with no paid tier on the repository page. Query editor, dashboards, alerts and more than 35 data sources.

Price: Free (open-source, self-hosted; no paid tier on the repository page) (Redash pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. BSD-2-Clause (open source).

Project activity: 28.9k GitHub stars · latest release v26.9.0 (Sep 24, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: Query-first dashboards and alerts.

Lightdash

MIT open-source self-hosted plan for teams that use dbt; Cloud has only a 21-day trial and no permanent free plan, and Cloud Pro is far pricier.

Price: Free (open-source self-hosted plan; Cloud has a 21-day trial and no permanent free plan); paid from $3000 per month (Cloud Pro, no per-seat pricing) (Lightdash pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. MIT (code under packages/backend/src/ee is under a separate license) (open source).

Project activity: 6.2k GitHub stars · latest release 3.73.3 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: Teams whose metrics already live in dbt.

Evidence

MIT framework where reports are written in Markdown and SQL. Evidence Cloud has only a 30-day trial, so the free route is self-hosting.

Price: Free (open-source framework for building BI as code; Evidence Cloud has a 30-day trial and no free tier); paid from $2500 per month (Cloud Team, unlimited users) (Evidence pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. MIT (open source).

Project activity: 7.1k GitHub stars · latest release @evidence-dev/evidence@40.1.8 (Feb 6, 2026) · last commit Oct 26, 2026

Best for: Analysts who prefer code and version control.

Power BI

Free account and Power BI Desktop for authoring, but sharing reports needs Pro at $14 per user a month billed yearly. Windows-centred.

Price: Free (Free account and free Power BI Desktop for authoring; sharing reports needs Pro or Premium Per User); paid from $14 per user/month, billed yearly (Pro) (Power BI pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web, Windows (Desktop). Proprietary.

Best for: Microsoft 365 shops building reports alone.

Worth knowing: Premium Per User is $24 per user per month billed yearly; the Premium Per User add-on is $14 for existing Pro or E5 holders.

Compare: Power BI alternatives

Data Studio (formerly Looker Studio)

Google's base product is no-cost; Data Studio Pro is the paid tier. Renamed back from Looker Studio in April 2026, with the Pro price not given on the docs page.

Price: Free (Base product is no-cost; Data Studio Pro is the paid tier) (Data Studio (formerly Looker Studio) pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.

Best for: Reports over Google Sheets and Ads data.

Which one to pick

• You want business users to click through data: Metabase
• Your analysts write SQL all day: Apache Superset
• You already use dbt: Lightdash
• You are one person on Microsoft tools: Power BI