Looker Studio vs. SAS Visual Analytics

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Looker Studio
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Looker 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
SAS Visual Analytics
Score 7.7 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
SAS Visual Analytics provides a complete platform for analytics visualization, enabling users to identify patterns and relationships in data that weren't initially evident. Interactive, self-service BI and reporting capabilities are combined with out-of-the-box advanced analytics so everyone can discover insights from any size and type of data, including text.N/A
Pricing
Looker StudioSAS Visual Analytics
Editions & Modules
Looker Studio Pro
$9
per month per user per project
Looker Studio
No charge
SAS Visual Analytics for SAS Cloud
$0
Annual By Users: 5, 10, 20
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Looker StudioSAS Visual Analytics
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsSAS Visual Statistics and SAS Office Analytics are also available as add-ons.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Looker StudioSAS Visual Analytics
Considered Both Products
Looker Studio
Chose Looker Studio
Looker Studio is great for free, simple Google-centric dashboards, while Power BI offers strong Microsoft integration, AI, and deep data prep (Power Query/DAX) for corporate users. Tableau excels in advanced visual exploration for complex data, though often much pricier. …
Chose Looker Studio
We have evaluated Power BI, Looker Studio, and Tableau for a short period. Looker Studio is easy to deploy and helpful for creating quick reports. However, for better performance, scale, and deeper analysis, we found Power BI.
Chose Looker Studio
A huge amount of backend data that you don't have access to via social media performance tracking platforms themselves. Opens the door to a better understanding of onward journeys from digital channels, and deeper knowledge of user behaviour and audience experience.
Chose Looker Studio
Looker Studio is easy to use and provides sufficient capabilities for setting up basic reporting. It's especially good for a marketing environment. We also use other tools for complex reporting, but when it comes to value for money, Looker Studio is one of the best BI tools on …
Chose Looker Studio
Very good imo, and really cost-effective. With Salesforce, there is too much stubbornness when importing data from Microsoft suite applications, and Power BI is really expensive for a mid-sized organisation. Hence, I feel Looker Studio is actually worth the investment for …
Chose Looker Studio
The main reason why Looker Studio was selected is because it was already integrated into the google ecosystem. But it actually once you start working with it, is really easy to get into. For really complex reports you will have to focus in building a good model in the database …
Chose Looker Studio
I liked Tableau, but it is a bit pricey, also there is no option to share the report online unless you add the team members. If your research is not really big and difficult, using Looker Studio is more practical and easy. I think it is very important to estimate how big and …
Chose Looker Studio
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. …
Chose Looker Studio
We selected Looker Studio because we are Google Workspace users, and Looker Studio is natively integrated with it.
Chose Looker Studio
The free version of Looker Studio is still better than the leading enterprise-embedded BI tools, despite its weaknesses. The leading embedded BI platforms have terrible visualizations that can be spotted a mile away. They are also primarily locked to a grid, making it very hard …
Chose Looker Studio
Easy availability and accessible with Google suits. Sharing is smooth.
Chose Looker Studio
Google Data Studio integrates data into visually appealing reports and can constantly update based on the linked data source (i.e., Google Analytics), a feature that neither of the platforms listed can do. However, sometimes Google Data Studio can't generate graphs based on my …
Chose Looker Studio
We selected Google Data Studio because it is easier to make connections with third-party data sources. Also Google Data Studio can understand connections between different tables and databases better that its competitors such as Power BI. Compared to Power BI you do not need to …
Chose Looker Studio
In comparison to Kibana , its much easier and being free its worth a lot. Apart from that it has flexibility of connecting to more than 300 connectors, which is not there in Kibana. Apart from that no doubt its much better that in terms of visualization of Data, analytics etc.

A…
Chose Looker Studio
Data Studio is the first step in your data visualization journey, as your data gets bigger and your need for information grows you will have to move to something more powerful,
Chose Looker Studio
Google holds it's own against these competitors as they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. While Tableau provides user-interactive reporting, its formatting options can be quickly rigid and frustrating.
Chose Looker Studio
Google Data Studio provides a great feature set considering its price point, especially when compared to commercial options from Microsoft and Tableau. While it may not be as versatile when it comes to working with and developing complex datasets, there is enough charm in its …
Chose Looker Studio
We have used Google Charts as well which works just as great as Google Data Studio for our team. We love both of these tools.
Chose Looker Studio
Well this tool is free that's the primary reason of using it more often.
Microsoft Power BI doesn't have google sheet connector that's the second one.
Chose Looker Studio
Google Data Studio is a Google product and many other companies also use Google Suite (as Gmail), so it was easier to share reports to clients using it than Zoho Analytics (which needs a paid account to give access to any other user).
Chose Looker Studio
Google Analytics and Google Data studio work well with each other. They don't necessarily stack against each other, Google Data studio just makes interpreting the data more visual and concise. I recommend both and not one over the other. Both are free tools provided by Google, …
Chose Looker Studio
Google Data Studio is free, easily integrates with the Google Marketing Platform, and is simple to use. It's a better choice for most basic marketing reporting. Tableau is better for more BI and exploratory data analysis.
Chose Looker Studio
Obviously, Google Data Studio is an improvement over Google Charts, which I believe powers the chart modules used in Data Studio. I think of Data Studio as a convenient way to combine multiple Google Charts in one, easy-to-read report.

In many ways it is similar to SmartDraw's …
Chose Looker Studio
We are heavily within the Google ecosystem and therefore didn't really consider alternatives to Google Data Studio since it met our somewhat limited needs at the time of implementation. For outside presentations, we would probably lean towards something that allows us to more …
Chose Looker Studio
We originally selected Google Data Studio since it didn't have a cost but have since switched to using DashThis.
SAS Visual Analytics
Chose SAS Visual Analytics
I have chosen SAS Visual Analytics because one of my colleagues suggests using the software for the same for our work. As earlier, we use to take a lot of time in analyzing the data but after using the SAS Visual Analytics software our work has improved and time has decreased. …
Chose SAS Visual Analytics
I have used Crystal Reports, Jaspersoft and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). I would recommended Business Intelligence over SSRS and Crystal Reports. SSRS is very SQL-centric and Crystal Reports is more of an end-user tool. I would recommend Jaspersoft over Business …
Chose SAS Visual Analytics
We already have lot of SAS products in our organisation like Base SAS, SAS Grid, SAS EG, SAS Studio and Office Add-in. SAS VA works best for our situation.
Chose SAS Visual Analytics
I have used SAP Lumira as well. The reason for me to use both software is to see the user experience. With Lumira, it was easy for me to visualize data and data storytelling and with SAS it was easy for me to create an algorithm as I wanted them to be. SAS software allows me to …
Chose SAS Visual Analytics
Price and features we looked at seemed consistent. We chose this product because our staff already knew the product, plus users at the state had recommended it as it is what they use.
Chose SAS Visual Analytics
I have used Tableau desktop for which free access is provided for a limited time with limited features. Tableau is visually more appealing than SAS VA but SAS VA can handle data better. My use of Tableau with limited features may have effected my viewpoint.
Chose SAS Visual Analytics
SAS visual analytics has high sped LASR servers mounted on Hadoop filesystems which makes it more powrful for analytics.
Chose SAS Visual Analytics
We use both. But SAS is always the starting point to all analytics projects. It is a wider array of products and features. Gives robust results and reporting is easier. There is always this one or two things for which you turn to some other products to fill the holes.
Chose SAS Visual Analytics
There is no contest. SAS is easier maintain and has much more in the way of analytics than MicroStrategy has. It can pull from more than one data source and when the underlying architecture changes, it is much easier to maintain. More savvy analysts can perform more with SAS …
Features
Looker StudioSAS Visual Analytics
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Looker Studio
7.1
Ratings
13% below category average
SAS Visual Analytics
8.3
Ratings
1% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports6.60 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Customizable dashboards7.40 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates7.20 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Looker Studio
7.7
Ratings
2% below category average
SAS Visual Analytics
8.8
Ratings
9% above category average
Drill-down analysis6.90 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Formatting capabilities7.10 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages7.10 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration9.70 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Looker Studio
8.1
Ratings
1% below category average
SAS Visual Analytics
9.2
Ratings
12% above category average
Publish to Web8.40 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.70 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Report Versioning8.10 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling7.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers7.60 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Looker Studio
6.6
Ratings
16% below category average
SAS Visual Analytics
9.7
Ratings
19% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)7.20 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.70 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Predictive Analytics5.20 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining6.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Looker Studio
-
Ratings
SAS Visual Analytics
8.3
Ratings
2% below category average
Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Looker Studio
-
Ratings
SAS Visual Analytics
8.7
Ratings
12% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Looker Studio
-
Ratings
SAS Visual Analytics
9.2
Ratings
17% above category average
REST API00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Javascript API00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
iFrames00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
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Looker StudioSAS Visual Analytics
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User Ratings
Looker StudioSAS Visual Analytics
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.3
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.4
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.7
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Looker StudioSAS Visual Analytics
Likelihood to Recommend
Fantastic for detailed data, especially for tracking user journeys from social media onto the website, for example. Great for use across multiple people in teams, even where only one or two people have a full understanding of the tool, as it is user-friendly once set up. Not hugely appropriate for presenting in and of itself, best as a source of raw data versus a tool to convey findings.
Read full review
SAS Business Intelligence is more suited to organizations which are already using SAS as the primary software for their analytics needs. Learning curve is relatively shorter for teams already skilled in BASE SAS. For organizations already working with open source software like Julia and Python, it doesn't make much sense to use SAS BI.
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Pros
  • Self-service
  • Easy to use, point and click
  • Little to no training required
  • Easy to share internally and externally
  • Rich visualizations
  • Canned reports
  • Easy to copy/paste/dupe existing reports
  • Ability to join data sets
  • Easy integration with various data sources
  • Flexible data integrations, including lowest common denominator (CSV, XLS, G-Sheets)
  • Wide range of APIs
  • Secure / authentication via Google SSO
  • Easy to share / re-assign ownership of reports and data sources
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  • SAS BI makes it very easy to create interactive dashboards even for someone who is not from an IT background. For some specific requirements, basic knowledge of SQL is good enough.
  • A lot of functions have been predefined which makes it very convenient to create dashboards and reports. One doesn't need to be from an IT or a programming background to understand and create dashboards.
  • It supports other programming languages like R and also has a seamless API integration with various data management platforms.
Read full review
Cons
  • There are several limitations to data manipulation - especially with different scopes.
  • Limited functionality on pivoting data, etc - ie, cannot create segments.
  • Data has to be refreshed if new dataLayer elements are added often manually.
  • A limited number of charts, graphics, etc.
  • Limited design abilities (cannot bring in custom fonts, etc).
Read full review
  • Business Objects should provide a more consistent mobile/desktop interface so operation between the two is seamless
  • Business Objects needs to make it easier to query across disparate data sets such as Oracle to SQL to Mongo DB
  • Our installation of Business Objects does not natively allow the export of XLSX documents, only XLS
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Likelihood to Renew
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
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There is no other product that can match SAS. There are some products that can compare to ETL but lack the analytics that SAS has. Others can perform a limited set of analytical procedures but lack the data processing that comes with SAS. Using thin client allows users to access data whenever they have an internet connection.
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Usability
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.
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SAS BI is good for creating reports and dashboards and then sharing it with the users. It also has ability to manage access to the reports and dashboards but somehow with most of the world moving to open source languages R, Python and Julia, SAS BI feels to be archaic in terms of feature set and integrations it allow[s]. Also, comparing it with other Business Intelligence tools like Tableau and Microsoft BI, the functionality of SAS BI is very limited and doesn't justify the pricing.
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Support Rating
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.
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When you call tech support, you are immediately routed to a person who can answer your question. Often they can answer on the spot. However, if they cannot, you are given a track number and then followed up with. There have been times when I have had multiple track numbers open and they will actually TRACK YOU DOWN to ensure that your problem has been resolved. Issues do not fall into black holes with SAS. They are also willing to do a WebEx with you to diagnose the problem by seeing your environment, which is always helpful.
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Alternatives Considered
Looker Studio is great for free, simple Google-centric dashboards, while Power BI offers strong Microsoft integration, AI, and deep data prep (Power Query/DAX) for corporate users. Tableau excels in advanced visual exploration for complex data, though often much pricier. Fullstory is a different beast, focusing on user experience (UX) session replay for product teams, not traditional BI
Read full review
I have chosen SAS Visual Analytics because one of my colleagues suggests using the software for the same for our work. As earlier, we use to take a lot of time in analyzing the data but after using the SAS Visual Analytics software our work has improved and time has decreased. It's very helpful for us.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • It has reduced the manual reporting effort we were putting into compiling Excel spreadsheets. It saved us hours of our daily work.
  • Given its cost-effectiveness, time savings, and operational viability, we can say it has a positive ROI with minimal overhead.
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  • SAS Visual Analytics licensing cost should be reduced to enable users to use it in mass scale.
  • More statistical and mathematical equations and theories should be converted into SAS functions for reusing.
  • Because of enriched ETL and reporting capabilities SAS Visual Analytics is most preferred by business users.
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ScreenShots

SAS Visual Analytics Screenshots

Screenshot of Explore your data using analytics and interactive data visualizations.