The Apache Foundation (ASF) has announced the open-source project Apache Superset is now a top-level project. Reaching top-level status indicates that the project has graduated from Apache’s incubation program and meets specific ASF requirements.
Apache Superset is designed as a modern data exploration and visualization platform that enables users to build and explore dashboards through a no-code visualization builder and SQL editor. It was first developed in 2015 at Airbnb, and joined Apache in 2017.
“It’s been amazing to be an active part of growing a welcoming, diverse and engaged community over the past five years while following the ASF principles around inclusion, openness and collaboration,” said Maxime Beauchemin, vice president of Apache Superset. “At the scale and level of diversity that the Superset project has achieved, it’s critical to have a solid governance model in place like the one prescribed by the ASF.”
The latest version of the project, version 1.0, provides an intuitive interface for users to explore and visualize data sets, create interactive baseboards, and model real-time business intelligence insights at scale, according to the foundation. Key features include the ability to integrate with SQL-speaking data sources, modern cloud-native databases, data warehouses, and engines; support for integrating custom visualization; a thin caching layer for charts and dashboards; code-free visualization building; SQL editor and metadata workflow; enterprise authentication and security model; a lightweight semantic layer; and notification alerts and scheduled reports.
“Apache Superset 1.0 is a solid, mature, self-standing solution that fully solves business intelligence and data visualization needs for modern data teams,” added Beauchemin. “Superset not only covers the table stakes, but also offers guarantees, features and a fresh approach that existing BI solutions can’t match.”
Apache Superset is also used by Airbnb, American Express, Dropbox, Lyft, Netflix, Rakuten Viki, Twittery and Udemy.
“Apache Superset helps Airbnb democratize data insights and make data-informed decisions,” said Jeff Feng, product lead at Airbnb and member of the Apache Superset Project Management Committee. “Superset uniquely connects SQL analysis with data exploration for thousands of our employees each week. It also serves as a flexible and reliable platform for visualizing metrics, helping executives and knowledge workers see and understand data.”
