If you’re tired of finding out about business surprises after they’ve already cost you, you’re not alone. Nobody wants to dig for important changes in dashboards every morning, and nobody has time to babysit reports all day. This guide is for folks who want to get clear, actionable email alerts when things change—without fussing with a bunch of tools or learning to code.
We’re focusing on Metabase, because it’s popular, open source, and—when set up right—can cut through a lot of noise. Let’s get practical about making Metabase send you the right alerts, at the right time.
Why use Metabase email alerts?
Before you start, let’s clear the air: Metabase’s alerts aren’t magic. They’re handy for:
- Getting notified when key business metrics cross a threshold (like sales dropping, or signups spiking)
- Keeping teams in the loop without endless meetings or Slack pings
- Automating “heads-up” emails so you don’t have to watch dashboards all day
But, Metabase’s alerts are not a replacement for robust monitoring tools. If you need second-by-second monitoring or mission-critical uptime guarantees, look elsewhere. For most teams, though, Metabase is plenty good for business metrics and trends.
Step 1: Get Metabase email setup working
Let’s not skip the boring-but-important stuff. If Metabase can’t send emails, none of this matters.
1.1 Check email configuration
- Log into your Metabase admin panel (
Admin>Settings>Email). - Plug in your SMTP server details (Gmail, Outlook, SES, Mailgun, whatever your company uses).
- Hit “Send test email.” If it works, great. If not, double-check your credentials and firewall rules.
Pro tip: Use a dedicated email address for alerts (e.g., alerts@yourcompany.com). This keeps things organized and avoids confusing your personal inbox.
1.2 Don’t trust “it should work”
If your company has strict email policies, test with a real recipient before moving on. Spam filters love to eat automated emails, especially from new tools.
Step 2: Build a question worth alerting on
Metabase sends alerts based on “questions”—basically, saved queries or chart cards.
2.1 Start simple
- Go to
New Questionin Metabase. - Pick the table or view with the metric you care about.
- Build a question that returns a single number or a simple table. Complicated visualizations don’t make good alerts.
Examples: - “How many orders were placed today?” - “What’s the average response time this week?” - “How many users signed up in the last hour?”
2.2 Clean up your questions
- Name them clearly (“Daily New Signups” beats “Untitled Card 27”).
- Add a short description if your future self (or teammates) might wonder what this is for.
- Check your filters: If you want real-time (as much as Metabase allows), use dynamic date filters like “today,” “this hour,” etc.
Step 3: Set up a new alert
Now for the main event.
3.1 Open your question, hit “Create Alert”
- Find your saved question.
- Look for the “bell” icon or the “Create alert” button (this moves around a bit between Metabase versions, but it’s usually near the top).
- Click it.
3.2 Choose alert type
You’ll get a couple of options:
- Threshold alert: Get an email if your metric is above or below a value you set.
Example: “Email me if orders today drop below 10.” - Row-level alert: Get an email if any rows in a table meet a condition.
Example: “Alert me if any customer’s payment fails with ‘critical’ error.”
Pick what fits. Threshold alerts work best for real-time-ish monitoring.
3.3 Set frequency (Don’t overdo it)
You can pick how often Metabase checks the condition:
- Every hour (the closest thing to “real time” Metabase does)
- Daily
- Weekly
Reality check: Metabase isn’t built for second-by-second monitoring. If “hourly” isn’t fast enough, you’ll need a beefier alerting or monitoring tool.
3.4 Pick your recipients
- Enter email addresses of folks who should get the alert.
- You can usually pick from groups or paste individual emails.
- Don’t spam everyone—send alerts only to people who will act on them.
Step 4: Test your alert
Don’t trust that everything works until you see it for yourself.
- Adjust your question or data so the alert condition is definitely met.
- Wait for the next scheduled check (or, if it’s urgent, temporarily make your alert condition something that will always be true).
- Check your inbox (and your spam folder).
- If you don’t get the alert, go back and check your email setup, permissions, and question filters.
Pro tip: Add yourself as the only recipient for the first week. Once you’re sure it’s working, widen the list.
Step 5: Tune, iterate, and avoid “alert fatigue”
Email alerts are only helpful if people actually read them. Here’s how to keep yours useful:
- Be specific: “Sales dropped below $5,000 today” is actionable. “Report ready” isn’t.
- Limit noise: Don’t set up alerts for every little thing. Focus on real thresholds that matter.
- Review regularly: If nobody acts on an alert, kill it or adjust it.
- Start small: One or two key alerts is better than a flood.
- Use clear subject lines: So people know what’s urgent at a glance.
If you bombard your team with alerts, they’ll start ignoring them—then you’re back where you started.
What works (and what doesn’t)
What works: - Quick setup—no code needed. - Good for simple thresholds and basic “something changed” notifications. - Integrates with Slack and other channels, if email isn’t your thing.
What doesn’t: - No true real-time; “hourly” is as fast as it gets. - Alert logic is basic—no fancy conditions or multi-step logic. - Not great for operational monitoring (think servers going down). - Email reliability is only as good as your SMTP setup (don’t blame Metabase for your mail server’s quirks).
What to ignore: - Don’t bother with alerts for metrics you already watch daily in dashboards. Alerts are for exceptions, not summaries. - Skip overly complex visualizations—stick to numbers or simple tables.
Wrapping up: Keep it simple, review often
Metabase alerts are a handy tool, but more isn’t better. Start with one or two high-impact alerts. Make sure they work. Check if people actually use them. Adjust as you go.
Don’t chase “real time” if you don’t need it—hourly or daily is enough for most business needs. If you ever need more, you’ll know because you’ll outgrow Metabase’s built-in alerts, not because you read about a fancy feature.
Set up, test, and move on. Your time’s better spent acting on insights than fiddling with tools.