Compare Toucan and Metabase for Embedded Analytics

Toucan and Metabase both help teams bring analytics closer to end users, but they’re built with different starting points and workflows in mind. Metabase is an open-source BI platform that connects your databases and warehouses, with query experience and multiple ways to embed dashboards and charts but with a limited customization.

Toucan focuses on customer-facing, product-native analytics experiences: deeply branded embedded dashboards, flexible delivery inside your app, and AI-powered capabilities to help teams accelerate insight and analytics creation.

In this side-by-side comparison, we’ll break down where Toucan and Metabase differ across embedded analytics, AI capabilities, customization, governance, and scalability — so you can pick the best fit for your product strategy and user experience.

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Where Toucan Goes Further Than Metabase

We’ve broken down the comparison to show how Toucan goes further than Metabase when it comes to embedded analytics, customization, and scaling analytics inside SaaS products.

Toucan

Metabase

Embedded Analytics

✔ Product-native embedded analytics built for customer-facing experiences

✔ Multiple embedding options (static/signed embeds, full-app embedding, modular embedding)

End User Dashboard Creation

✔ End users can build and customize dashboards inside the embedded experience

◑ Possible with authenticated embedding (e.g., full-app or modular components), but often configured as read-only for end users

White-labeling

✔ Full look & feel control to match your product UI

✔ White-label features available (appearance settings + branded embedded analytics)

Custom CSS Styling

✔ Strong styling flexibility for fully native in-app analytics

◑ Theming and SDK styling supported for embeds, but no general “inject custom CSS” into Metabase UI

Localization

✔ Multi-language support for global product experiences

✔ Localization settings for language + formats, plus embed translation support

Multi-tenant Architecture

✔ Designed for complex multi-tenant SaaS environments

✔ Multi-tenant patterns supported via row/column security and sandboxing (plan-dependent)

AI-Assisted Insights

✔ AI-powered capabilities to accelerate insights and analytics creation in-product

✔ AI chat (Metabot) available for embedded experiences (plan-dependent)

Custom Visualizations

✔ Flexible visualization options to support tailored product analytics

◑ Customization is primarily through configuration/SDK rather than bespoke chart code

Interactivity & Filters

✔ Rich interactivity designed for embedded product workflows

✔ Interactive dashboards with drill-through and configurable click behavior

Scalability

✔ Built to scale embedded analytics across growing SaaS products and user bases

◑ Scales well for BI and embedded use cases, with performance features often tied to plan/configuration

Data Preparation & ETL

✔ Supports integration patterns and transformations to power embedded experiences

◑ Connects directly to your databases/warehouses; relies on upstream modeling/ETL rather than being an ETL tool

Customer-Facing Reporting

✔ Optimized for customer-facing analytics inside SaaS products

✔ Embedded analytics and white-label reporting to share dashboards with external users

Real-Time Data Updates

✔ Designed to support real-time or near-real-time embedded analytics experiences

◑ Live queries plus query result caching (schedule-based, plan-dependent) rather than “always real-time” by default

API & SDK

✔ Full API & SDK support for deep embedding and integration

✔ Supports embedding via signed tokens and an Embedded Analytics SDK (React) for modular components (plan-dependent)

Data Governance & Auditing

✔ Fine-grained governance built for customer-facing analytics at scale

✔ Permissions + row/column security and usage analytics/audit logs (plan-dependent)

Versioning & Collaboration

✔ Built for teams to iterate and manage analytics as a product capability

✔ Version history for questions/dashboards/models (up to 15 versions) and collaborative organization via collections

Performance Optimization

✔ Performance patterns designed for embedded analytics at scale

✔ Performance tooling including query caching (plan-dependent) and configuration options to optimize workloads

From Data to Insight in Just a Few Steps

Deliver astonishing analytics in your product in a 4 step process.

Connect

Compute

Visualize

Embed

Unleash Your Data, Instantly

Dozens of connectors

Native connectors for state of the art data warehouses and data bases on the market and a web service connector to connect to any API using Rest.

Built-in Storage

Store your metrics Toucan to reduce calls to your data stack. Automate refreshes and combine with live connection if you need the freshest data.

Learn more

Transform Your Data with Ease

No-Code Data Preparation

Prepare your datasets without writing a single line of code, using YouPrep™ for data joins, filtering, aggregation, and more.

SQL expert? Create your own optimized and complex queries, you can jot down some SQL in our editor.

Comprehensive DataHub

Manage all your datasets in one place. Easily create, edit, duplicate, tag, retrieve and delete datasets.

Learn more

Bring Your Data to Life

Intuitive Dashboard Builder - Fully Customizable

Create stunning, user-friendly dashboards with our intuitive drag-and-drop interface.

Tailor every chart to your brand with customizable colors, layouts, and styles to match your brand.

Data Storytelling

Transform your charts into compelling stories, by enriching them with contextual text, tips, glossaries, medias and more.

Manage multiple languages to reach a global audience.

Learn more

Deliver Insights Where They Matter

Effortless Product Integration

Embed your dashboards into your product with a few lines of code. Provide your users with real-time, interactive insights—right where they need them.

Security down to row-level

Ensure the right people see the right data with granular access controls, personalized views, and a built-in token management system that keeps users on your side without replication.

Learn more

Connect

Unleash Your Data, Instantly

Dozens of connectors

Native connectors for state of the art data warehouses and data bases on the market and a web service connector to connect to any API using Rest.

Built-in Storage

Store your metrics Toucan to reduce calls to your data stack. Automate refreshes and combine with live connection if you need the freshest data.

Learn more

Compute

Transform Your Data with Ease

No-Code Data Preparation

Prepare your datasets without writing a single line of code, using YouPrep™ for data joins, filtering, aggregation, and more.

SQL expert? Create your own optimized and complex queries, you can jot down some SQL in our editor.

Comprehensive DataHub

Manage all your datasets in one place. Easily create, edit, duplicate, tag, retrieve and delete datasets.

Learn more

Visualize

Bring Your Data to Life

Intuitive Dashboard Builder - Fully Customizable

Create stunning, user-friendly dashboards with our intuitive drag-and-drop interface.

Tailor every chart to your brand with customizable colors, layouts, and styles to match your brand.

Data Storytelling

Transform your charts into compelling stories, by enriching them with contextual text, tips, glossaries, medias and more.

Manage multiple languages to reach a global audience.

Learn more

Embed

Deliver Insights Where They Matter

Effortless Product Integration

Embed your dashboards into your product with a few lines of code. Provide your users with real-time, interactive insights—right where they need them.

Security down to row-level

Ensure the right people see the right data with granular access controls, personalized views, and a built-in token management system that keeps users on your side without replication.

Learn more

Create dashboard in minutes

Turn your data into an engaging and accessible experience. Discover how Toucan can help you integrate interactive dashboards and enhance your analytics effortlessly.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Toucan and Metabase?

Toucan and Metabase both enable teams to work with analytics, but they are designed for different use cases. Metabase is an open-source BI platform focused on internal analytics and data exploration, with options to embed dashboards into external applications. Toucan is designed specifically for customer-facing, embedded analytics, helping product teams deliver analytics that feel native to their SaaS product.

Is Toucan or Metabase better for embedded analytics?

Both platforms support embedded analytics, but Toucan is purpose-built for this use case. Toucan focuses on deeply integrated, branded analytics experiences inside SaaS products, while Metabase offers embedding as an extension of its BI platform, often requiring more configuration depending on the embedding mode.

Can end users build or edit dashboards in Toucan and Metabase?

Toucan allows end users to build and customize dashboards directly within the embedded experience, depending on the permissions defined by the product team. Metabase supports interactive exploration and dashboard editing primarily for authenticated users, and embedded dashboards are often configured as read-only for external users.

How do Toucan and Metabase compare on AI features?

Both platforms use AI to enhance analytics workflows. Toucan integrates AI-powered capabilities to assist with insight discovery and analytics creation within embedded, customer-facing experiences. Metabase offers AI features such as Metabot, which allows users to ask questions in natural language and generate queries, primarily within its BI environment.

Is Toucan suitable for large, multi-tenant SaaS products?

Yes. Toucan is designed to scale across complex, multi-tenant SaaS environments, with fine-grained permissions, governance, and performance patterns tailored for large numbers of external users. Metabase can support multi-tenant scenarios using permissions and data sandboxing, but it is often optimized first for internal analytics teams.

Can I try Toucan before choosing a solution?

Yes. Toucan offers a free trial, allowing you to explore its embedded analytics capabilities, customization options, and AI-powered features before making a decision.