Why Omni over Metabase?

Go beyond custom SQL and unlock self-service for business users, consistent results, and easier change management.

Self-service for everyone: Non-technical users can query with Omni's point/click UI, Excel formulas, and AI, while technical users can query in SQL.

Consistent metrics: Leverage Omni's shared data model to drive consistent metrics & joins while letting everyone freely explore data in workbooks.

Faster load times: Get insights quickly through Omni's intelligent caching, without added costs.

White-glove support: Get hands-on support in real-time — without paying extra.

The transition from custom SQL in Metabase to a semantic layer in Omni was an opportunity to 'slow down to speed up'. By migrating to Omni, we were able to consolidate the number of dashboards in our BI tool by 5x.— Jack Colsey, Analytics Manager, incident.io

How Omni & Metabase compare

Omni provides self-serve analytics for everyone — without needing to know SQL.

In Metabase, users often can't get the answers they need without knowing SQL. Omni meets users where they are, letting them query with a point/click interface, Excel formulas, SQL, or AI.

Anyone can explore, analyze, and visualize data. Users can query with a point/click UI, Excel formulas, SQL, and AI, regardless of their data proficiency.

Metabase requires deep SQL knowledge to be effective. This make it difficult for less technical users to get answers without help from the data team.

Without hands-on SQL experience this tool is very hard to handle.

Omni helps you drive consistent metrics and enables easier governance without slowing you down.

Metabase tends to rely on custom SQL, which often leads to data chaos. Omni helps you drive consistent metrics and manage reporting effectively through a shared data model.

Omni's built-in semantic layer helps ensure everyone uses consistent metrics while also being able to explore data and do ad-hoc analysis.

Push new metric definitions to dbt via a bi-directional integration to make them universally accessible and optimize performance.

Safely test the impact of changes to underlying data sources. Use Omni's dynamic schemas to switch between dev & prod environments and update your content in bulk with the content validator.

With Omni, you don't have to compromise on speed or data freshness.

Metabase's simple caching means data is often pulled directly from the database, resulting in long dashboard load times. Omni's intelligent cache ensures you're getting fresh data without the wait.

Omni's intelligent caching combines the speed of extracts and the data freshness of direct queries without added costs.

Omni offers hands-on support in real-time — for free.

Omni's team is here to support you at every step of the way, all included in your contract without any extra costs. With Metabase, you'll be waiting days for an email response.

White-glove Slack support is included for all customers. Get help solving problems in real-time, not days later.

If you like dbt, you'll love Omni's dbt integration

Omni's dbt integration is robust and supports real analyst workflows: switching between dev & prod schemas, creating dbt models from logic in your BI platform, and more.

See how Omni's dbt integration compares to Metabase's

Using Metabase?

Switching to Omni is easier than you think.

incident.io migrated off Metabase in just a few weeks. With Omni, they boosted BI adoption to 95% and reduced custom SQL queries from 70% to 5%.

Customer love

"Omni Analytics is a sweet spot between Looker and Mode. It's easy for your team to use, like Looker, but also lets tech-savvy folks dig into data with SQL queries. Plus, the Omni team is super quick to support and brainstorm on new ideas."

FAQs

Omni is a relatively new tool. Does it have the same features as Metabase?

Omni has the same core features as Metabase, and it's also built around a central data model that ensures governance and metrics consistency, without slowing you down.

Why do I need a semantic layer in Omni if I'm using dbt?

With Omni, your team can easily query from and iterate on pre-built dbt models.

We want to enable self-serve analytics for our business users. Which tool should I choose?

Omni enables self-service by meeting every user where they are.

Many of our BI users don't know how to write SQL. Which tool is a better fit for our situation?

Non-technical business users will find it difficult to get answers in Metabase, since Metabase is built for SQL users.

We have a small data team with limited bandwidth. Which tool is a better fit for us?

Omni, in contrast, is built to free up bandwidth for your data team.