Metabase vs Looker Studio vs Custom: Which Dashboard Tool Fits

Most SMEs evaluating dashboard tools stop at Looker Studio because it’s free and Google. That’s usually fine. Sometimes it’s wrong. Knowing when each option actually fits saves rework later.

Here’s a clean comparison of the three real options for Indonesian SMEs in 2026.

Looker Studio (formerly Data Studio)

Cost: Free for the tool itself. Hosting is Google’s problem.

Strengths:

• Genuinely free. No hidden tier upgrades.
• Native connectors to Google products (Sheets, Analytics, Ads), which many SMEs use.
• Easy to set up basic dashboards without engineering help.
• Sharing is simple — link or embed.

Weaknesses:

• Connectors to Indonesian-specific tools (Tokopedia, Shopee, local accounting) range from non-existent to flaky.
• Performance struggles when data volume grows past a certain point (depends on data source — can get slow surprisingly fast).
• Customisation is limited compared to alternatives. Looks like Google products look. That’s fine; just know it.
• Calculations beyond basic aggregations get awkward.

Use it when: Most of your data is in Google products, your dashboard needs are simple, and you want zero infrastructure cost.

Metabase

Cost: Free if you self-host (Rp 500rb–2 juta/month for a small VPS). Cloud-hosted starts around Rp 1.5 juta/month for small teams.

Strengths:

• Open-source, mature, actively developed.
• Connects to almost any database directly. If your data is in Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, or similar, Metabase reads it natively.
• Better visualisation flexibility than Looker Studio.
• Good for teams that need to ask ad-hoc questions (the “Question” feature is genuinely useful).
• Self-hosted means full control over data location.

Weaknesses:

• Connectors to SaaS tools (Tokopedia, Shopee, etc.) require you to build your own data pipeline first.
• Self-hosting requires some infrastructure capability.
• Performance still depends on the underlying database — Metabase can’t make a slow Postgres query fast.

Use it when: Your data is consolidated in a database you control, your team has at least basic engineering capability, and you want a dashboard that grows with you.

Custom dashboard

Cost: Rp 80–250 juta to build, Rp 1.5–6 juta/month to run.

Strengths:

• Designed exactly to your team’s questions and workflows.
• Can integrate any data source, in any way.
• Branded as part of your operation.
• Performance can be tuned for your specific patterns.
• No platform-imposed limits on what’s possible.

Weaknesses:

• Significant upfront cost.
• Requires ongoing maintenance.
• Can’t change as quickly as the other options when needs shift.
• Easy to over-build the first version.

Use it when: The dashboard is core to operations, the visualisations and interactions are specific to your business, or you’ve outgrown what Metabase and Looker Studio can do.

A simple decision framework

Three questions get most SMEs to the right answer:

1. Where does your data live?

• Mostly in Google products (Sheets, Analytics, Ads): Looker Studio.
• In a database you control or can move it to: Metabase.
• Spread across many sources, none of which the off-the-shelf tools connect to well: Probably custom (or build a data pipeline first, then use Metabase on top).

2. How specialised is your reporting?

• Standard charts and tables answering common questions: Looker Studio or Metabase.
• Specific visualisations or interactions your team needs (drill-downs, custom calculations, integrated actions): Custom.

3. What’s your operational complexity?

• Few enough sources and stakeholders that one person can manage the dashboard: Looker Studio.
• Multiple teams asking different questions, need for ad-hoc exploration: Metabase.
• Dashboard is the operational nerve centre your team uses daily for decisions: Custom.

A common pattern

What we recommend for many Indonesian SMEs:

1. Start with Looker Studio for the quick wins. Get the obvious “we want one chart of this” needs handled in a week, free.
2. Move to Metabase once data sources multiply. When you start needing data from 4+ places consolidated, build a small data layer (Postgres, Cloudflare D1, BigQuery) and put Metabase on top.
3. Consider custom only when Metabase is genuinely a constraint. Most SMEs never need this. The ones that do are usually 50+ employees with operations-critical reporting.

The trap is starting custom. The Rp 150 juta you’d spend on a v1 custom dashboard is usually better spent on the underlying data pipeline (which you’d need anyway) plus a Metabase deployment, with custom layered on top later if needed.

Cost comparison over 3 years

For a typical mid-sized SME dashboard need:

• Looker Studio: ~Rp 5–20 juta total (mostly hosting and small consulting work). Limited features.
• Metabase self-hosted: ~Rp 25–80 juta total (build pipeline + hosting + occasional tuning). Capable.
• Custom dashboard: ~Rp 200–500 juta total (build + maintenance + hosting). Powerful and bespoke.

Quality of decisions enabled tracks roughly with cost — but only if the simpler options would have actually worked. Custom is wasteful when Metabase would have served. Metabase is overkill when Looker Studio would have served.

If you’re trying to figure out which of the three fits your specific situation, an hour of conversation usually clarifies it. We do those at no cost.