Metabase release versioning

We follow our own flavor of the semantic versioning guidelines in order to distinguish the open-source version of Metabase from the paid, source-available version of Metabase (available in the Pro and Enterprise plans).

Semantic versioning typically follows the format: Major.Minor.Point.Patch. For example, version 3.15.2 or 3.15.2.1.

With Metabase releases, we prefix the version with a 0 or 1, depending on the license.

The Metabase version schema

License.Major.Point.Hotfix

E.g.,

v0.46.3.1

v0.46.3.1 would be for a hotfix (1) for the third (3) point release of Metabase 46, the open-source edition (0).

License

• 0 for the free, open-source version (sometimes called OSS, for open-source software).
• 1 for the paid, source-available version that has all the bells and whistles (sometimes called EE for “Enterprise Edition”).

Major

We release major version when we introduce new features or breaking changes.

Point

Sometimes called a minor release, we issue point releases when we add bug fixes and refinements to existing features.

Hotfix

Sometimes called a patch release, we issue these hotfix releases to fix security issues in a timely manner, or to undo a horrific regression.

Other release terms

The Gold Release

The gold release is the first release of a new major version of Metabase. So for Metabase version 46, the gold releases would be:

• v0.46.0 (the OSS version)
• v1.46.0 (the EE version)

Release Candidates

We usually publish release candidates to kick the tires on new features before releasing a new major version (a gold release). To distinguish these release candidates, we append an -RC# at the end.

E.g.,

• v1.46.0-RC1 (the first release candidate for the EE version)
• v0.46.0-RC3 (the third release candidate for the OSS version)

Further reading

• Metabase releases on Github
• Metabase release blog posts