Introduction to SQL in Metabase

After spending time learning Metabase's notebook data editor, you might be wondering what the pros and cons of using SQL instead are. If you are using a relational database with Metabase, all questions that can be created with the notebook editor can be expressed with SQL instead. The reverse of that statement is not true. Only some questions expressed with SQL can be created with the notebook editor. There are many functions and operations that can be carried out with SQL that don't exist in the notebook editor. This will likely change over time, as the Metabase team is constantly improving the notebook editor, but for the time being, having a solid background in SQL means you can ask questions that would not be possible to express in the notebook editor.

Just because any question created in the notebook can be written in SQL, does not mean that all questions should be written in SQL. There are benefits to using the notebook editor instead...