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> Superset is fast, lightweight, intuitive, and loaded with options that make it easy for users of all skill sets to explore and visualize their data, from simp

> Superset is fast, lightweight, intuitive, and loaded with options that make it easy for users of all skill sets to explore and visualize their data, from simple line charts to highly detailed geospatial charts. I tried Superset a few years back, and maybe it's changed since then, but intuitive is about the last thing I'd use to describe it. Things which I could figure out in a few minutes on any other BI tool literally took me hours of searching. It didn't help that they decided to rename core concepts at some point so half the online documentation made no sense anymore. Others at those companies who tried it at the time said similar things.

fayten 3y ago
I also found Superset unintuitive to use and setup as well. I settled on standing up Metabase because it was so simple to get started with trying it since it can be launched as a single jar. The business users loved it and so did I and administration with a Postgres backend instead of the internal h2 database was a breeze.
- c0brac0bra 3y ago
  Yep, we've really liked Metabase for embedding in our platform.
- datadrivenangel 3y ago
  Metabase is great. It truly is a BI tool. Superset is more of a visualization platform, which works great if you have engineers building reports. Less good if you expect more junior analysts to be super productive.
  - sumoboy 3y ago
    We ran into the same exact issue with Superset not being intuitive, just for a different audience that is more technical. Also went with Metabase which is good, easy to use, lacks some a few chart types but overall the past year has seen quite a few changes and bug fixes consistently happening.
- fuzztester 3y ago
  I just took a look at Metabase. https://www.metabase.com/demo https://www.metabase.com/demo Demo is nice.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- xtracto 3y ago
  I had the same experience. Featurewise Superset looked better, but after wasting a couple of hours trying to install it, I just gave up. Instead I installed Metabase in 5 minutes tops: spin ec2 instance, whether and java -jar . I've never looked back. The only thing that turns me off I'd that it's implemented in an obscure language. At one time I wanted to add some custom postprocessing to an api (given an sql query, get some python/pandas postproc command from a sql comment and execute it in the returned table), but the used language is just not for me (some lisp dialect)
  - NoThisIsMe 3y ago
    Clojure is not particularly obscure
- hodgesrm 3y ago
  My experience with Superset was the opposite. It's easy to install using containers. You can have it up and running and connected to ClickHouse in a few minutes. I also found the internal design pretty intuitive--the SQL query lab is much easier than Grafana's editor. I like Grafana too, but there's basically no isolation between your query and the SQL database at least in the Altinity Grafana plugin for ClickHouse which is the main one I use.
bushbaba 3y ago
It’s more intuitive than the open source alternatives but is not as intuitive as tableau and others.
- marcinzm 3y ago
  Metabase is more intuitive. Also, being unintuitive isn't great but not the worst thing. A project not even realizing that (and thinking the exact opposite) is much much worse. Unintuitive can be fixed with PRs over time. Delusional project leadership cannot.
codeduck 3y ago
I've just been playing with superset. I'd have to agree. Things which are easy in SQL are... disturbingly hard or nonobvious in superset. And the documentation is sparse at best.
staticautomatic 3y ago
Let’s be honest, intuitive is the last word we’d use to describe most Apache projects.
- pseudosavant 3y ago
  They are doing pretty well that it is even clear what the project is really even about. Good luck figuring that out within 30 seconds of hitting the average Apache project homepage.
  - slyall 3y ago
    There seem to be dozens of Apache "Big Data" projects that all look kinda the same unless you are a Big Data person.
    - dzamo_norton 3y ago
      Even if you are a data person. The ASF doesn't mind overlap between projects [1], it spreads its bets and lets the market choose the winners. 1. https://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works/#incubator https://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works/#incubator
atombender 3y ago
Are there better alternatives?
FridgeSeal 3y ago
It wasn’t fast either when I used it. What it was though, was riddled with dozens of Python runtime errors and innumerable glitches. Metabase is where it’s at.
mritchie712 3y ago
Had a similar experience with Superset. A few others have mentioned Metabase and I agree it's better, but if you're looking for a different approach to data, check out Definite (https://www.definite.app/ https://www.definite.app/). It's a "data stack in a box". A few things we're doing differently: 1. Built-in data warehouse - We spin up a duckdb database for you to load data to 2. 500+ connectors - You don't need to buy a separate ETL and you can pull in all your data (e.g. Postgres, Stripe, HubSpot, Zendesk, etc.) automatically 3. Semantic layer - Define dimensions, measures, and joins in one place. We have pre-built models for all the sources we support (e.g. the Stripe model already has measures for MRR, churn, etc.) 4. Simple BI - Build a table with the data you want and generate visuals off that table I'm mike@definite.app if you have any questions.

fayten 3y ago

I also found Superset unintuitive to use and setup as well. I settled on standing up Metabase because it was so simple to get started with trying it since it can be launched as a single jar. The business users loved it and so did I and administration with a Postgres backend instead of the internal h2 database was a breeze.

c0brac0bra 3y ago
Yep, we've really liked Metabase for embedding in our platform.
datadrivenangel 3y ago
Metabase is great. It truly is a BI tool. Superset is more of a visualization platform, which works great if you have engineers building reports. Less good if you expect more junior analysts to be super productive.
- sumoboy 3y ago
  We ran into the same exact issue with Superset not being intuitive, just for a different audience that is more technical. Also went with Metabase which is good, easy to use, lacks some a few chart types but overall the past year has seen quite a few changes and bug fixes consistently happening.
fuzztester 3y ago
I just took a look at Metabase. https://www.metabase.com/demo https://www.metabase.com/demo Demo is nice.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
xtracto 3y ago
I had the same experience. Featurewise Superset looked better, but after wasting a couple of hours trying to install it, I just gave up. Instead I installed Metabase in 5 minutes tops: spin ec2 instance, whether and java -jar . I've never looked back. The only thing that turns me off I'd that it's implemented in an obscure language. At one time I wanted to add some custom postprocessing to an api (given an sql query, get some python/pandas postproc command from a sql comment and execute it in the returned table), but the used language is just not for me (some lisp dialect)
- NoThisIsMe 3y ago
  Clojure is not particularly obscure
hodgesrm 3y ago
My experience with Superset was the opposite. It's easy to install using containers. You can have it up and running and connected to ClickHouse in a few minutes. I also found the internal design pretty intuitive--the SQL query lab is much easier than Grafana's editor. I like Grafana too, but there's basically no isolation between your query and the SQL database at least in the Altinity Grafana plugin for ClickHouse which is the main one I use.

bushbaba 3y ago

It’s more intuitive than the open source alternatives but is not as intuitive as tableau and others.

marcinzm 3y ago
Metabase is more intuitive. Also, being unintuitive isn't great but not the worst thing. A project not even realizing that (and thinking the exact opposite) is much much worse. Unintuitive can be fixed with PRs over time. Delusional project leadership cannot.

codeduck 3y ago

I've just been playing with superset. I'd have to agree. Things which are easy in SQL are... disturbingly hard or nonobvious in superset. And the documentation is sparse at best.

staticautomatic 3y ago

Let’s be honest, intuitive is the last word we’d use to describe most Apache projects.

pseudosavant 3y ago
They are doing pretty well that it is even clear what the project is really even about. Good luck figuring that out within 30 seconds of hitting the average Apache project homepage.
- slyall 3y ago
  There seem to be dozens of Apache "Big Data" projects that all look kinda the same unless you are a Big Data person.
  - dzamo_norton 3y ago
    Even if you are a data person. The ASF doesn't mind overlap between projects [1], it spreads its bets and lets the market choose the winners. 1. https://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works/#incubator https://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works/#incubator

atombender 3y ago

Are there better alternatives?

FridgeSeal 3y ago

It wasn’t fast either when I used it. What it was though, was riddled with dozens of Python runtime errors and innumerable glitches. Metabase is where it’s at.

mritchie712 3y ago

Had a similar experience with Superset. A few others have mentioned Metabase and I agree it's better, but if you're looking for a different approach to data, check out Definite (https://www.definite.app/ https://www.definite.app/). It's a "data stack in a box". A few things we're doing differently: 1. Built-in data warehouse - We spin up a duckdb database for you to load data to 2. 500+ connectors - You don't need to buy a separate ETL and you can pull in all your data (e.g. Postgres, Stripe, HubSpot, Zendesk, etc.) automatically 3. Semantic layer - Define dimensions, measures, and joins in one place. We have pre-built models for all the sources we support (e.g. the Stripe model already has measures for MRR, churn, etc.) 4. Simple BI - Build a table with the data you want and generate visuals off that table I'm mike@definite.app if you have any questions.