Best Open-Source Data Visualization Software 2026: 7 Options Compared

Open-source data visualization software covers three different jobs, and the best tool for one is poor at another. Dashboard and BI tools such as Apache Superset, Metabase, Redash and Lightdash connect to a SQL database and let people build charts and share them. Grafana is similar but centered on time series, so it dominates monitoring and metrics. Evidence takes another approach, where reports are written in Markdown and SQL as code, which fits analysts who like version control. Orange is a visual desktop tool for exploring data and building machine learning workflows without programming. Think about who will use the output. Executives and colleagues want a dashboard they can filter, while analysts may prefer code. Self-hosting means you maintain the server and the connection to your data, and that is where most trouble appears: credentials, caching and slow queries. Licensing needs a look too. Metabase has an AGPL core with an enterprise directory, and Lightdash and Grafana have paid cloud tiers priced well beyond a hobby budget. A good test is to connect your real database, build one chart your team actually asks for, and watch how long it takes someone else to understand it.

Apache Superset

Apache-2.0 BI platform that queries any SQL database with a Python driver, including Snowflake, BigQuery and ClickHouse. You host it yourself.

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) (license source).

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

Best for: Teams needing broad chart types and SQL access.

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

Metabase

AGPL core with a commercial enterprise directory. The open source edition is free with unlimited users; Starter cloud is $90 a month billed yearly.

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) (license source).

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

Best for: Non-technical colleagues asking questions of 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

Redash

BSD-2-Clause query editor, dashboards and alerts with over 35 data sources. The repository does not say whether a hosted service is still sold.

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) (license source).

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

Best for: SQL-first analysts.

Lightdash

MIT with an ee folder under a separate license, built to work on top of dbt projects. Cloud Pro is $3,000 a month, so most users self-host.

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) (license source).

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

Best for: dbt teams.

Evidence

MIT framework for building reports as code and Markdown. Evidence Cloud has a 30-day trial and no free tier; Team is $2,500 a month.

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) (license 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 git.

Grafana

AGPL-3.0 and the standard for time-series dashboards. Self-hosted is free; Cloud free tier has 10k metric series and 3 users.

Price: Free (10k metric series, 50 GB logs, 50 GB traces, 3 users, 14-day retention); paid from $19 per month platform fee plus usage (Cloud Pro) (Grafana pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted, Grafana Cloud. AGPL-3.0 (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 77.6k GitHub stars · latest release v13.3.0 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: Metrics and monitoring dashboards.

Worth knowing: Self-hosted Grafana is free; Cloud adds hosted Prometheus, Loki, Tempo and IRM (incident response and on-call) with 3 free IRM users.

Compare: Grafana alternatives

Orange

GPL-3.0 or later desktop tool with widget-based visual workflows for data exploration and machine learning, no coding required.

Price: Free (Free and open source; donations requested) (Orange pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. GPL-3.0 or later (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 5.7k GitHub stars · latest release 3.40.0 (Dec 20, 2025) · last commit Oct 26, 2026

Best for: Learning and exploring data visually.

Worth knowing: Widget-based visual workflows for data visualization and machine learning, no coding required.

Which one to pick

• You want many chart types and have an engineer to run it: Apache Superset
• Colleagues should ask questions without SQL: Metabase
• You track servers and metrics over time: Grafana
• You already model data in dbt: Lightdash
• You explore data on your desktop: Orange