Metabase vs Looker Studio vs Tableau Public for Indie Dashboards

This Metabase vs Looker Studio vs Tableau Public guide helps indie SaaS teams choose a dashboard stack by data location and publicity—not by chart cosmetics.

Teams stall among three “can chart anything” names. The right entry is where the data lives, whether it can be public, and who may see it. This comparison gives a decision tree, defaults, and hard exclusions.

Data in Postgres / product DBs: prefer Metabase

If product metrics already live in Postgres or MySQL, Metabase can query and dashboard directly. Official pricing lists Open Source as free with unlimited users when self-hosted, plus Cloud Starter around the $90–$100 per month range on monthly billing (lower on yearly) with per-user add-ons and embedding options. That fits private internal metrics if you can run hosting or pay for managed cloud. The failure mode is over-broad read access on production or dumping payment fields into company-wide boards—classify fields and row-level permissions before debating visuals.

Data in the Google marketing stack: prefer Looker Studio

For GA4, Google Ads, and Sheets, Looker Studio is usually the fastest free reporting path. Google’s docs describe core Looker Studio as free to use, with Looker Studio Pro adding organizational governance features billed per user/project. Use it for marketing and growth reporting—not as a reason to expose production databases to a marketing connector. The failure mode is forcing the product warehouse into the marketing stack “so everything lives in one tool,” which is slow and expands leak surface.

Portfolio or public data stories: only then Tableau Public

Tableau Public’s product page emphasizes public data. Published visualizations can be viewed by anyone, and infrastructure is fully hosted. It fits portfolios and open-data storytelling. It does not fit private ARR, user tables, or unsanitized business data. If the dashboard cannot be public, exclude it immediately—even if the charts look better. Refresh limits also make it a poor internal real-time ops cockpit.

Put permissions into the decision

If internal Postgres metrics include personal or payment fields, default to Metabase with tight permissions and auditing. Shareable read-only marketing reports can live in Looker Studio. A public dashboard with unsanitized data fails Tableau Public immediately. For marketing reports, confirm fields may leave the product boundary; for compliance-sensitive overseas reporting, confirm hosting region and subprocessors are acceptable.

Minimal acceptance test

List three must-have charts (for example today revenue, activation funnel, channel source). Confirm sources and public/private constraints. If you can connect the product DB, trial Metabase. If sources are Google marketing only, trial Looker Studio. If you must publish a public portfolio viz, consider Tableau Public. Accept with one week of real data: refresh reliability, permission breadth, and whether share links leak.

What a minimal indie dashboard actually is

Most indie SaaS products need three chart families first: today/week revenue or orders, activation or retention funnel, and primary channel source. Write one page for those sources: table or GA property, refresh cadence, and who may view. If revenue lives in Postgres and channels live in GA4, the default combo is often Metabase for private ops plus Looker Studio for marketing shares—not one forced mega-tool.

Tableau Public enters the shortlist only when you need a public portfolio or open-data story. Putting an internal weekly ops board on Public expands the audience on purpose. Even aggregated charts can leak individuals through sparse dimensions—if unsure, do not publish.

When self-hosting Metabase, put upgrades and backups on the on-call list. On Cloud, count users including embed viewers in the bill: Metabase notes that internal analysts and in-product embed users can both count. Before embedding customer-facing charts, confirm multi-tenant isolation and branding fit the tier you bought.

Current takeaway and defaults

Private product databases default to Metabase (Open Source if you can operate it; Cloud if you cannot). Google marketing reports default to Looker Studio. Public storytelling is the only strong Tableau Public case. Answer data location and publicity before debating aesthetics—and never publish non-public data to Tableau Public just because the BI is free.

Decision tree for dashboards

1. Are core ops metrics in a private product DB? Yes → default Metabase.
2. Are reports mostly GA4/Ads/Sheets shared with marketing? Yes → default Looker Studio.
3. Must you publish a public viz portfolio? Yes → only then Tableau Public; otherwise exclude.
4. Can someone operate self-host upgrades and backups? No → pick Metabase Cloud instead of unattended Open Source.

Pin a “must not publish” field list. Without it, do not touch Tableau Public and do not leave Metabase share links crawlable. Indie data incidents are usually over-broad permissions, not insufficient chart bling.

Final reminder: freeze the decision record with the default tool, pilot scope, and non-goals, then re-check official pricing pages on a dated cadence instead of debating tools weekly.