Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Looker
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Looker is a BI application with an analytics-oriented application server that sits on top of relational data stores. It includes an end-user interface for exploring data, a reusable development paradigm for data discovery, and an API for supporting data in other systems.N/A
Microsoft Power BI
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Power BI is a visualization and data discovery tool from Microsoft. It allows users to convert data into visuals and graphics, visually explore and analyze data, collaborate on interactive dashboards and reports, and scale across their organization with built-in governance and security.
$10
per month per user
Pricing
LookerMicrosoft Power BI
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
LookerMicrosoft Power BI
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional DetailsMust contact sales team for pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
LookerMicrosoft Power BI
Considered Both Products
Looker
Chose Looker
The biggest advantage that Looker Studio has is that it's really easy to use and to distribute to other use. You can have a really complex report set up in a couple of minutes with an extract data source that enables Looker to update really fast.
Chose Looker
Looker was the most customizable option for our business and cost wise made the most sense. They do have a free tier option that some of the other weren't offering to us at the time. Looker has a great- mobile app solution while Tableau is a desktop-based platform. Tableau also …
Chose Looker
Looker is less complex to use and links directly to google suite which we use across the business and personally think is a better user experience than microsoft.
Chose Looker
Looker stacks up well against other data providers for usability and friendly interfaces, plus the ability to customise. We actually integrate Looker with other analytics tools in the same sphere (power bi, Dreamdata and others) so that we can have one comprehensive dashboard …
Chose Looker
In my opinion, Looker is no Power BI. It is good, but I think Power BI is amazing. That said, in my experience, Power BI is nowhere near as easy to setup and report on Google services as Looker is. We plan to continue using Power BI for c-suite and corporate reporting, …
Chose Looker
If you company is using Google suite products, Looker is a no-brainer. Tableau is probably the most flexibly but as a result it has the least governance capabilities. Power BI is kind of old-school in terms of how it feels to use it. I think in general, Looker brings a lot of …
Chose Looker
Better in terms of data configuration with slight harder learning curve, available help material is not that much and we usually have to connect with Looker Help with chat for our data and analysis questions. While Looker offers a wide range of visualization options, there were …
Chose Looker
Technically, Power BI is much more complete and powerful, but it's like an ocean liner. I didn't need all that equipment. In my case, I needed to move more quickly, like on a speedboat, to build a page with several data sources in a single source of truth that could be easily …
Chose Looker
There are some specific use cases where other tools are not useful in our organization. Some software solutions are shared with other organizations inside the company and Looker is the only tool where we can collaborate good enough.
Chose Looker
Looker works and exists in the Google ecosystem. If you are a Google Cloud Platform user, Looker is a no brainer. There is also Looker Studio, the small (free) brother with less features which is basically a report only viewer/creator. The reason we choose Looker is because can …
Chose Looker
Looker is a great fit for our company because we have collaborative analytics workflows and complicated data ecosystems and because of its strengths in data modeling, integration, and collaboration.
Brand name and peer recommendations also helps us to select Looker against …
Chose Looker
Our organization is going all in on Google products so switching out of the Microsoft suite of tools is a no brainer. All the Google tools work incredibly well together and once you transition it’s incredibly hard to be half in half out between Google and Microsoft. If you’re a …
Chose Looker
We haven't had a proper benchmarking done. We might consider looking at other options, but this thing is deeply integrated into our platform, so not anytime soon.
Chose Looker
Actually, I use both power BI and Looker. Power BI has more data connectors and power query, one of the most important things that Looker does not have. You can customize the visuals in power bi in a higher level than Looker as well. Besides, Looker is much more advanced when …
Chose Looker
Legitimately, every other business solution is superior to Microsoft's product offerings. They are a business that doesn't listen to their customers because they know that they don't have to and that someone will always be a client. That being said, Looker does care about your …
Chose Looker
The easy which with data and reports can be customized in Looker for adhoch or individual needs is amazing - Very easy to filter and save views.
Chose Looker
Looker provides really excellent customer service in comparison to other similar products. The sharing aspect of Looker is also a big plus, which allows multiple users to access the data at the same time. We have also found it to stand out among competitors with its dashboard …
Microsoft Power BI
Chose Microsoft Power BI
I prefer Power BI because of its affordability and fewer complicated tools than Tableau. It's easy to use and compatible with other Microsoft products, which are mostly used in the IT industry. It's not limited to only one platform like Looker Studio, which is mostly used in …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
After several years using Google Looker Studio and BigQuery, Microsoft Power BI is a step-up in terms of visualizations. It is also much more powerful, leading to less errors and has a more intuitive interface. Looker Studio has a focus on Google Analytics whereas Microsoft …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Some of the strengths are 1. User-Friendliness 2. Self-Service BI (Caters to all levels of the employees 3. Cost-effective. 4. Easy integration with Microsoft Suits. 5. DAX Calculations 6. Familiar Interface like traditional Excel. 7. Easier Self-Service platform for …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft Power BI excels against its competition in being a great combination between feature set and scalability. Tableau is more integrated with Salesforce but it has a high starting price point whereas Microsoft Power BI can start out with a single license for less than $20 …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft PowerBI is easy to use, has leadership alignment, and is liked by everyone using it in the past and in the current setup. Thus, we decided to continue renewing Microsoft Power BI. We had also evaluated some competitors, but those platforms were not as easy to onboard. …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Overall Microsoft Power BI has more capabilities, it is more customizable and it also has it's own query language DAX which is really powerful for complex calculations and that's something you just don't get in their competitors, also when integrated with the other power apps, …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
It Improve business process agility.
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Due to microsoft user and all the data into excel it was found more feasible from the organization to get Microsoft Power BI. Also due to access of microsoft licence we don't need to survey other vendors and feasibility. Also price wise it was more competitive then Tableau.
Chose Microsoft Power BI
I selected Power BI because it is the best in all because of its ecosystem and its ability to connect with multiple data source like Microsoft Excel, Microsoft SQL Server, web, analysis services etc. Moreover, its available on both Cloud and Desktop with some pro and cons …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Power BI from a price perspective is the lowest cost (probably even from a total cost of ownership perspective) of all the offerings I have ever evaluated. The piece that really stands out for Power BI is the data transformation layer called Power Query. This section allows you …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft Power BI is the leader of this category, but it is a little expensive. It could use some more customization features, but other than that, it gives stellar returns for your investment.
Chose Microsoft Power BI
We selected Microsoft Power BI because it was the easiest to integrate with our primary systems, allowed us to embed reports for our partners, allowed us to host our data and some reports on premise. It also provided the shortest route to production deployment allowing us to …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft BI tool does a better job than most of the other software. The reason is excellent visualizations and its capability to connect with various other software and data sources. Tableau does a better job when it comes to tutorials and being more user-friendly. Also …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
We selected Power BI because it had more flexibility in modelling/measurement definition, excellent per-user pricing, easy self-implementation, integration with our other Office 365 tools, and easy distribution of content to others in the organization.
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Power BI performs quite well in comparison to it's competitor's products. We compared it mainly to GoodData and Tableau. Power BI has a great pricing. It's affordable and efficient with mid-sized datasets. Hence many companies go for it. Competitive products like Tableau are …
Features
LookerMicrosoft Power BI
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Looker
7.5
132 Ratings
9% below category average
Microsoft Power BI
8.3
196 Ratings
1% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports6.7108 Ratings8.3167 Ratings
Customizable dashboards8.3131 Ratings8.7195 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates7.5113 Ratings8.0178 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Looker
7.1
130 Ratings
12% below category average
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
194 Ratings
0% below category average
Drill-down analysis6.9126 Ratings8.3191 Ratings
Formatting capabilities6.8128 Ratings7.8191 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages5.954 Ratings7.4143 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration8.7129 Ratings8.4189 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Looker
8.0
126 Ratings
3% below category average
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
187 Ratings
3% below category average
Publish to Web7.6104 Ratings8.2177 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.3112 Ratings8.1172 Ratings
Report Versioning7.782 Ratings7.7144 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling8.5108 Ratings8.2147 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings7.9110 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Looker
6.5
126 Ratings
21% below category average
Microsoft Power BI
7.8
187 Ratings
3% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)7.6122 Ratings8.2181 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.3108 Ratings8.1166 Ratings
Predictive Analytics4.66 Ratings7.4136 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings7.437 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Looker
7.4
126 Ratings
14% below category average
Microsoft Power BI
8.5
178 Ratings
0% below category average
Multi-User Support (named login)7.9118 Ratings8.7168 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model7.2103 Ratings8.4146 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)7.3120 Ratings8.4158 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control7.358 Ratings8.347 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.6140 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Looker
5.5
94 Ratings
35% below category average
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
160 Ratings
2% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access5.890 Ratings7.7150 Ratings
Mobile Application5.01 Ratings7.6131 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile6.184 Ratings7.9153 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Looker
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
7.8
115 Ratings
1% above category average
REST API00 Ratings8.1103 Ratings
Javascript API00 Ratings7.684 Ratings
iFrames00 Ratings8.055 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings7.068 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings7.690 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.444 Ratings
Best Alternatives
LookerMicrosoft Power BI
Small Businesses
Yellowfin
Yellowfin
Score 8.8 out of 10
Yellowfin
Yellowfin
Score 8.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Score 9.5 out of 10
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Score 9.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
LookerMicrosoft Power BI
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(132 ratings)
8.5
(197 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.3
(8 ratings)
9.5
(3 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(12 ratings)
8.3
(113 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
6.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(14 ratings)
10.0
(52 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
LookerMicrosoft Power BI
Likelihood to Recommend
Google
When data drives potential for new orders, Looker earns its place in our tech stack. If, on the other hand, we are hoping for pipeline generation, Looker is useful if you are willing to repeatedly go check customer utilizations .... it is not appropriate if you are hoping to automate data analysis for this purpose.
Read full review
Microsoft
Has significantly improved collation of data and visualisation especially with business across Europe. Has given me the ability to see the Site availability at the click of a button to see which Site is in the "money" and seize opportunities based on Market data
Read full review
Pros
Google
  • Show visited pages - sessions, pageviews - which programs are viewed the most.
  • Displays session source/medium views to see where users are coming from.
  • It shows the video titles, URLs, and event counts so we can monitor the performance of our videos.
  • It gives a graphic face to the numbers, such as using bar charts, pie graphs, and other charts to show user trends or which channels are driving engagement.
  • Our clients like to see the top pages visited for a month.
  • I like the drop-and-drag approach, and building charts is a little easier than it was before.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Options for data source connections are immense. Not just which sources, but your options for *how* the data is brought in.
  • Constant updates (this is both good and bad at times).
  • User friendliness. I can get the data connections set up and draft some quick visuals, then release to the target audience and let them expand on it how they want to.
Read full review
Cons
Google
  • Documentation is scarce, and very difficult to find when you need it.
  • Pricing is unclear, particularly as you look to scale your reports across the business.
  • Data from other sources is not represented in the system as well as first party Google services.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • It would be easier for users could Microsoft Power BI and Excel used the same programming languages.
  • Would like to see the online version of Microsoft Power BI be as powerful as the desktop version.
  • Publishing a Microsoft Power BI file online and then having to save the file is somewhat redundant.
  • Would like to export each page or chart as an image.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Google
I give it this rating because it deems as effective, I am able to complete majority of my tasks using this app. It is very helpful when analyzing the data provided and shown in the app and it's just overall a great app for Operational use, despite the small hiccups it has (live data).
Read full review
Microsoft
Microsoft Power BI is an excellent and scalable tool. It has a learning curve, but once you get past that, the sky is the limit and you can build from the most simple to the most complex dashboards. I have built everything from simple reports with only a few data points to complex reports with many pages and advanced filtering.
Read full review
Usability
Google
Looker is relatively easy to use, even as it is set up. The customers for the front-end only have issues with the initial setup for looker ml creations. Other "looks" are relatively easy to set up, depending on the ETL and the data which is coming into Looker on a regular basis.
Read full review
Microsoft
Automating reporting has reduced manual data processing by 50-70%, freeing up analysts for higher-value tasks. A finance team that previously spent 20+ hours per week on Excel-based reports now does it in minutes with Microsoft Power BI's automated Real-time dashboards have shortened decision cycles by 30-40%, enabling leadership to react quickly to sales trends, operational bottlenecks, and customer behavior.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Google
No objections
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Performance
Google
Somehow resources heavy, both on server and client. I recommned at least 50Mbs data rate and high performance desktop comouter to be abke to run comolex tasks and configure larger amount of data. On the other hand, the client does not need to worry when viewing, the performance is usually ok
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Google
Never had to work with support for issues. Any questions we had, they would respond promptly and clearly. The one-time setup was easy, by reading documentation. If the feature is not supported, they will add a feature request. In this case, LDAP support was requested over OKTA. They are looking into it.
Read full review
Microsoft
It is a fantastic tool, you can do almost everything related with data and reports, it is a perfect substitutive of Power Point and Excel with a high evolution and flexibility, and also it is very friendly and easy to share. I think all companies should have Power BI (or other BI tool) in their software package and if they are in the MS Suite, for sure Power BI should be the one due to all the benefits of the MS ecosystem.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Google
Very satisfied, easy to implement
Read full review
Microsoft
It was integrated with our erp easily and was accessible on cloud.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Google
Looker Studio, you can easily report on data from various sources without programming. Looker Studio is available at no charge for creators and report viewers. Enterprise customers who upgrade to Looker Studio Pro will receive support and expanded administrative features, including team content management. So it's good.
Read full review
Microsoft
Microsoft Power BI is free. If I didn't want to create a custom platform (i.e. my organization insisted on an existing platform that I *had* to use), I'd use Microsoft Power BI. For any start-up or SMB, I'd just use Claude & Grok to build it quickly, also for free. Would not pay for Tableau or Sigma anymore. Not worth it at all.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Google
Perfect price to performance
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Google
  • Looker has a poignant impact on our business's ROI objectives. As an advertising exchange we have specific goals for daily requests and fill, and having premade Looks to monitor this is an integral piece of our operational capability
  • To facilitate an efficient monthly billing cycle in our organization, Looker is essential to track estimated revenue and impression delivery by publisher. Without the Looks we have set up, we would spend considerably more time and effort segmenting revenue by vertical.
  • Looker's unique value proposition is making analytical tools more digestible to people without conventional analytical experience. Other competing tools like Tableau require considerably more training and context to successfully use, and the ability to easily plot different visualizations is one of its greatest selling points.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Power BI usage reduced the effort of analytical reports creation by about 80%
  • Empowered all the level of employee to be more vigilant of the data and business insights, gained the profit of 8% overall.
  • AI-powered predictive analytics improved forecasting accuracy by 17%, that topped the overall sales.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Looker Screenshots

Screenshot of a Looker dashboard with a geo chart.

Microsoft Power BI Screenshots

Screenshot of Microsoft Power BI - Turns insights into impact for business usersScreenshot of Power BI integrates easily with Microsoft 365Screenshot of Microsoft Power BI - AI-Powered CapabilitiesScreenshot of Microsoft Power BI - Copilot can be used to create reportsScreenshot of Microsoft Power BI - Data HubScreenshot of Microsoft Power BI - Scales as organizational needs grow