Metal alternatives
TL;DR: 12 companies doing similar work to Metal in B2B, ranked by how closely they match what Metal actually does — not just by category.
How this list was built: every company here is Y Combinator-backed and shares at least one category with Metal. They are scored on how closely their own description overlaps with Metal's, and all facts shown come from the YC company records — nothing is estimated.
What are the best alternatives to Metal?
| Alternative | What it does | Batch | Team | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fithub | — | Winter 2010 | — | Inactive |
| Insoshi | — | Winter 2008 | — | Inactive |
| GiveSpark | Givespark was a celebrity charity fundraising platform | Winter 2012 | 1 | Inactive |
| Optilly/Installmonetizer | Fb ad optimization platform | Winter 2012 | 11 | Inactive |
| Brushes | iPad drawing software. | Summer 2010 | — | Inactive |
| Cascade | Distilling Proprietary Intelligence | Winter 2026 | 2 | Active |
| Wavelength | Build Magical Customer Experiences | Winter 2024 | 3 | Active |
| Syncly | Social listening for the video era | Winter 2023 | 15 | Active |
| Reflex | The operating system for building mission-critical enterprise apps. | Winter 2023 | 10 | Active |
| Arcten | Lab working on long-horizon autonomous research and coding agents | Fall 2025 | 2 | Active |
| Citus Data | Real-time. Big data. PostgreSQL | Summer 2011 | 45 | Acquired |
| BookSolid | BookSolid is the opentable for tour operators. | Winter 2012 | — | Inactive |
Is Metal still active?
Metal is still operating, so switching is a choice rather than a forced migration. Compare on fit and price rather than urgency.
How was this list put together?
Every company here is Y Combinator-backed and shares at least one category with Metal. They are then ranked on how closely their own description overlaps with Metal's, so the closest matches come first rather than whoever happens to share a tag.