Preset was founded in 2019 by Maxime Beauchemin, the creator of Apache Superset and Apache Airflow — two of the most widely used open-source data tools in the world. The San Francisco company offers a managed cloud version of Superset, handling the deployment, scaling, and maintenance that organizations would otherwise need to manage themselves.
Apache Superset is a powerful open-source data exploration and visualization platform used by companies including Airbnb, American Express, and Dropbox. It connects to virtually any SQL-speaking database, provides an intuitive chart builder with over 40 visualization types, and includes a SQL editor for ad-hoc analysis. The challenge has always been running Superset at scale — configuration, authentication, caching, and upgrades require dedicated engineering effort.
Preset solves that operational burden. Teams sign up, connect their databases, and start building dashboards within minutes. The managed service adds enterprise features that the open-source project doesn’t include: SSO integration, role-based access control, audit logging, and automated performance optimization. Preset also provides semantic layer capabilities, letting data teams define metrics and dimensions centrally.
The platform integrates with modern data stack components like Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Redshift, and dbt. Dashboard embedding lets companies white-label analytics into their own products. The SQL Lab interface gives analysts a powerful query environment with autocomplete, query history, and result visualization.
Preset occupies an interesting position in the BI market. It’s backed by the credibility of the most popular open-source BI project while offering the convenience and support of a commercial product. For organizations already using Superset, Preset eliminates infrastructure management. For those evaluating BI tools, it provides enterprise-grade analytics at a fraction of the cost of legacy platforms.
