What it is: Enterprise-grade open-source BI. No-code builder for business users, SQL IDE for analysts.

What It Does Best

Both worlds. Drag-and-drop for business users. SQL Lab for power users. Everyone happy.

Modern stack. React frontend, Python backend. Cloud-native, scales horizontally.

Visualization variety. 40+ chart types. Maps, time-series, tables, custom viz plugins.

Key Features

SQL Lab: Full-featured SQL IDE with query history

No-code charts: Drag-and-drop visualization builder

40+ visualizations: Rich chart library with plugin support

Semantic layer: Define metrics once, use everywhere

Row-level security: Fine-grained access control

Pricing

Free. Apache 2.0 license (self-hosted)

Managed hosting: Preset.io starts $20/user/month

When to Use It

✅ Want enterprise features without enterprise cost

✅ Have DevOps to manage self-hosting

✅ Modern data stack (cloud warehouse)

✅ Power users need SQL interface

✅ Need custom visualizations via plugins

When NOT to Use It

❌ No DevOps resources (use Metabase or cloud BI)

❌ Simple use case (Metabase simpler)

❌ Need drag-drop data modeling (Tableau better)

❌ Want managed service only

❌ Small team without technical skills

Common Use Cases

Company-wide BI: Enterprise dashboards for large organizations

Data exploration: SQL Lab for analysts and data scientists

Operational dashboards: Real-time monitoring and KPIs

Self-service analytics: Empower business users with no-code builder

Custom visualizations: Extend with plugins for specific needs

Superset vs Alternatives

vs Tableau: Superset free, open source; Tableau easier, more polished

vs Metabase: Superset more features, power; Metabase simpler, faster setup

vs Redash: Superset better no-code; Redash simpler, lighter

Unique Strengths

Most complete open source: Enterprise features without cost

Modern architecture: Cloud-native, scalable stack

SQL Lab: Best SQL IDE among BI tools

Battle-tested: Used by Airbnb, Netflix, Dropbox

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