## You could be querying 5 minutes from now

Regardless of what state your DB is in.

- **Low-lift to get started**  
  Write up your config in a single YAML or clean up things like experimental column headers right in the UI.

- **Curate what you expose**  
  Choose tables you show, edit metadata in the UI to support self-service.

- **Start simple before your first data hire joins the team**  
  Configure modeling layers as your data grows and you bring more data-focused people onboard.

### Avoid repeated requests with reports anyone can run
  Let people dive deeper into data on their own without the hand-holding.

###### Metabot
#### Ask Metabot AI
[Chat with your database](/content/features/metabot-ai?use_case=bi/index.html) to get answers in natural language. Make it easier for your less technical teammates to self-serve data.

###### Drill-through
#### Click on charts to drill into data
Drillthrough menus preempt questions, like “Can we see this broken down by plan tier?” or “What about just the users from last month?” and dive deeper without forming a new query. Configured for you out of the box.

###### SQL editor
#### Query data with or without SQL
Put together queries intuitively in the [visual query builder](/content/features/query-builder?use_case=bi/index.html) without writing SQL. Let power users do more complex analysis with the [SQL editor](/content/features/sql-editor?use_case=bi/index.html).

###### Collections and verified items
#### Make content trustworthy and easy to find
Mark dashboards, models, metrics, and questions as official. Keep content organized and easy to find in collections.

###### Alerts
#### Put the most valuable data in front of people
Schedule reports to send without anyone (even outside of your org) via Slack or email. Make data actionable in real-time by triggering alerts in Slack, email, and HTTP.

### Make sure people only see what they need to
Granular permissions to keep people safe from accidentally seeing (or breaking) something they shouldn’t, or blasting raw user PII into a company all-hands deck.

- **Limit access at the table, row, or column level**  
  Lock down sensitive tables, fields, and columns while letting folks use the rest of the data.

- **Manage role-based permissions with SSO**  
  Set role-based visibility and permissions (e.g. marketing sees X, support sees Y) with separate view and edit access.

- **Keep track of who’s doing what, when**  
  You can even set alerts to monitor access and downloads on your usage analytics.

### Works with your stack for live visualizations and reports, not extracts
Metabase is a visualization and querying layer that sits on top of your database. Your data stays in your database—Metabase doesn’t ingest it, store it, or do refreshes. Connects with over [20 data sources](/content/data-sources/?use_case=bi/index.html) and plays well with whatever’s in your stack.

Metabase is an amazing tool for startups that want 90/10 solutions to data analytics at a cost effective price. It continues to be the most effective way for us to build reporting efficiently.

### Ready to get started?
Visualize your data in minutes. Let non-technical teammates explore data and share interactive dashboards people love.

[Try Metabase Cloud free](https://store.metabase.com/checkout?use_case=bi) [Deploy Metabase Open Source](/content/start/oss/?use_case=bi/index.html)  
Free 14-day trial  
Super-fast setup  
Open source