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Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) vs. Looker Studio

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)

    Score7.6 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Universal Analytics was an enterprise-level analytics solution that was sunset in July of 2024.

    $150,000

    Up to 1 Billion hits/month

    Looker Studio

    Score8.2 out of 10
    N/ALooker Studio is a data visualization platform that transforms data into meaningful presentations and dashboards with customized reporting tools.

    $9

    per month per user per project

    Pricing
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)Looker Studio
    Editions & Modules
    Google Analytics Premium
    $150,000
    Up to 1 Billion hits/month
    Google Analytics
    Free
    Looker Studio Pro
    $9
    per month per user per project
    Looker Studio
    No charge
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)Looker Studio
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)Looker Studio
    Considered Both Products
    Discontinued Products
    Chose Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    I don't know any competitor of Google Analytics Premium.
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics are very similar. I wasn't involved in the decision making process at my organization, as we had GA well before I began in my position. However, GA has a suite of other tools that complement Web Analytics that makes it extremely easy to …
    Incentivized
    Google
    Chose Looker Studio
    Tableau and Domo are MUCH more robust tools than Google Data Studio. We did try to use Tableau before using GDS and we ended up not using Tableau to its full potential since we didn't know what we didn't know.

    After using GDS for almost 2 years, we now have a solid …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    34 Answers
    95%
    Would buy again
    40 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    26 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    38 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    32 Answers
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    40 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    27 Answers
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    31 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    89%
    Implementation went as expected
    24 Answers
    89%
    Implementation went as expected
    33 Answers
    Features
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)Looker Studio
    Web Analytics
    Comparison of Web Analytics features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and Looker Studio
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    6.9
    1 Ratings
    16% below category average
    Looker Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Lead Conversion Tracking7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device and Browser Reporting1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pageview Tracking7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Event Tracking8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting in real-time10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Referral Source Tracking10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable Dashboards5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and Looker Studio
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Looker Studio
    7.0
    62 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings6.643 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards00 Ratings7.361 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings7.259 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and Looker Studio
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Looker Studio
    7.7
    61 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Drill-down analysis00 Ratings6.851 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities00 Ratings7.057 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings7.129 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings9.759 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and Looker Studio
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Looker Studio
    8.1
    60 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Publish to Web00 Ratings8.453 Ratings
    Publish to PDF00 Ratings8.753 Ratings
    Report Versioning00 Ratings8.139 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings7.942 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings7.524 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and Looker Studio
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Looker Studio
    6.6
    60 Ratings
    16% below category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings7.160 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings7.757 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics00 Ratings5.330 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings6.36 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)Looker Studio
    Small Businesses
    Matomo Analytics
    Score9 out of 10
    Chartio (discontinued)
    Score7.5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Lead Forensics
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Jet Reports
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Chartbeat
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Kibana
    Score8.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)Looker Studio
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (55 ratings)
    8.3
    (63 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (11 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    8.4
    (14 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (23 ratings)
    6.7
    (10 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)Looker Studio
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Discontinued Products
    As I have discussed previously their insights were very useful. The second thing is since it is a Google product you will connect the data very easily from other platforms like Bigquery, Google Drive, etc. and even you can connect Google marketing platform. through this tool, you can track your live campaign how they were performing, and how it will be engaging your customer as well.
    Read full review
    Google
    Visualizing cross-channel campaign performance can blend data from a few different sources to compare performance metrics like spend, clicks, and conversions side-by-side in a single view, which helps in quick budget reallocation decisions. When dealing with massive volumes of data (millions of rows) or highly complex queries, Looker Studio dashboards can become slow, laggy, or even crash. Performance issues are a frequent complaint when working with large datasets, making it unsuitable for enterprise-level companies
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Discontinued Products
    • It is an excellent cloud analytics platform that is easy to install and configure and easy to deploy and use, allowing us to measure web traffic and other tools.
    • It is an entirely online tool; it does not take up hard disk space like other desktop tools.
    • Since this tool is draggable, Google is constantly adding more features.
    • Even beginners who do not have a custom dashboard can get information. If there is a problem somewhere on the site that needs to be investigated, Google Analytics 360 will notify you.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • Breath of data - the number of ways to interrogate the data is endless, and the options to view metrics alongside each other make for comprehensive datasets.
    • Data visualisation and customisation - the options for presenting data and separating out across pages allow for clean visuals and segmented information.
    • Easy shareability/usability - a quick and simple tool to introduce colleagues to, and easy to grant access for them to be able to view the data, without having to understand the setup itself.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Discontinued Products
    • Generally I think there is a lot you can do within the tool, but as it is a Google product it means there is limited support - something which I think lets all of the platform stacks down
    • There could be more visual signifiers to identify if a feature is a normal or 360 feature. This would mean you can really get to grips with what the extra more advanced elements are
    Read full review
    Google
    • It needs better handling of complex logic. We often need workarounds to perform complex custom calculations, and it can be really unpleasant at times.
    • Felt it got slow with a larger data set, and in one minor report, we had to set up time filters so that calculations during spikes could be traced more quickly.
    • Compare to competition they need to improve with notification things.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Discontinued Products
    Google Analytics 360 is an upgraded version of the most widely used web/app analytics tracking tools in the market. The price is stable and predictable making it a long-term product of choice. It's easy to use and pairs so well with other Google Marketing Platform products.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    It is the simplest and least expensive way for us to automate our reporting at this time. I like the ability to customize literally everything about each report, and the ability to send out reports automatically in emails. The only issue we have been having recently is a technical glitch in the automatic email report. Sadly, there is almost no support for this tool from Google, but is also free, so that is important to take into consideration
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Discontinued Products
    The UI is very easy to navigate and use. The features are well designed and intuitive. As long as the user has a good understanding of basic digital analytics definitions and capabilities, this tool should be quite easy to use. I consider Google Analytics Premium to be the easiest of all of the enterprise solutions out there to use.
    Read full review
    Google
    Looker Studio is easy to use, and it offers a sufficient variety of predefined visualizations to choose from. It's easy for us, and anyone can set up basic reporting without extensive data visualization skills. The interface layout is easy to understand, and it doesn't take long to get used to.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Discontinued Products
    If you purchase Premium through a reseller like LunaMetrics, you are going to be taken care of. The additional amount of support and services that a reseller provides to make sure you have the best experience with the product is the reason why the reseller program exists to begin with. Support doesn't have to be just reactive, it can be proactive as well.
    Read full review
    Google
    I give it a lower support rating because it seems like our Dev team hasn't gotten the support they need to set up our database to connect. Seems like we hit a roadblock and the project got put on pause for dev. That sucks for me because it is harder to get the dev team to focus on it if they don't get the help they need to set it up.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Discontinued Products
    There is a ton of information online about Google Analytics, but Google Analytics Premium users will have dedicated support and training from Google or an Authorized Reseller.
    Read full review
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Discontinued Products
    If you already have the basic version of GA installed, "getting" GA Premium happens immediately through a virtual flipping of the switch - no need to re-implement. You'll want to expand your use of custom dimensions and metrics (you get 10x the amount with Premium). Ideally, you'll be using a tag management solution to talk with GA Premium, in concert with implementing a dataLayer (to note, Google's Tag Manager platform is covered under the same GA Premium SLA, and it's free). There are some welcomed "configurations" with GA Premium, such as integrating with DoubleClick products, activating data driven attribution models, and building roll-up executive reports - but all of these are easy point and click solutions. In comparison with any other enterprise analytics solution, implementing GA and GA Premium is traditionally easier and more flexible. And if you have any trouble or need an extra set of hands for implementation, GA Certified Partners like LunaMetrics can help
    Read full review
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Discontinued Products
    Unless you have very complex and edge case analytics needs, Google Analytics [360 (formerly Google Analytics Premium)] is likely going to be the best choice. From both a cost and usability stand point, Google wins. Adobe has the edge case when you need to create really custom reports, dimensions, metrics, etc. In my experience, this is rarely the case and you end up biting off more than you can chew. Stick with Google unless you are or plan on hiring an Adobe Analytics expert.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    Looker Studio is far easier to implement, stand up, and learn. The interface is simpler and user-friendly for various levels of data visualization/analysis knowledge and experience. The biggest benefit of Looker Studio, however, is its ease of connection to GA data and speed. Furthermore, since it is an online program/tool, it requires less CPU/battery/storage on the user's device.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Discontinued Products
    • It helps me understand which social media platforms are most successful for me - which I should focus on and which I might want to focus less on.
    • I can also see which blog posts people are reading - so I know which topics resonate most. I can write more of those, hopefully gaining more visitors.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • Free, so the only investment is time
    • Because it doesn't have native support of non-Google sources, it can cost more money than Tableau
    • The time spent formatting the templates or building connectors can have a negative impact on ROI
    • As a agency, charging for the reporting service is profitable after the first month or two after building the dashboard.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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