TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Looker

    Score8.1 out of 10
    N/ALooker 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 SQL Server

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft SQL Server is a relational database.

    $1,418

    Per License

    Pricing
    LookerMicrosoft SQL Server
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Subscription
    $1,418.00
    Per License
    Enterprise
    $13,748.00
    Per License
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    LookerMicrosoft SQL Server
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsMust contact sales team for pricing.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    LookerMicrosoft SQL Server
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    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, …
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    85 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    53 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    75 Answers
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    45 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    87 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    53 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    55 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    39 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    69 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    45 Answers
    Features
    LookerMicrosoft SQL Server
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Looker and Microsoft SQL Server
    Feature
    Looker
    7.4
    134 Ratings
    10% below category average
    Microsoft SQL Server
    -
    Ratings
    Pixel Perfect reports6.5110 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards8.2133 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates7.5115 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Looker and Microsoft SQL Server
    Feature
    Looker
    6.8
    132 Ratings
    16% below category average
    Microsoft SQL Server
    -
    Ratings
    Drill-down analysis6.3128 Ratings00 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities6.6130 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages5.655 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration8.8131 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Looker and Microsoft SQL Server
    Feature
    Looker
    7.9
    128 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Microsoft SQL Server
    -
    Ratings
    Publish to Web7.7105 Ratings00 Ratings
    Publish to PDF7.8113 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Versioning7.984 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling8.2110 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Looker and Microsoft SQL Server
    Feature
    Looker
    6.6
    128 Ratings
    19% below category average
    Microsoft SQL Server
    -
    Ratings
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)7.7124 Ratings00 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.5110 Ratings00 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics4.66 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Looker and Microsoft SQL Server
    Feature
    Looker
    7.3
    128 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Microsoft SQL Server
    -
    Ratings
    Multi-User Support (named login)7.5120 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model7.2105 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)7.2122 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control7.360 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Looker and Microsoft SQL Server
    Feature
    Looker
    5.2
    95 Ratings
    40% below category average
    Microsoft SQL Server
    -
    Ratings
    Responsive Design for Web Access4.991 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Application5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile5.885 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    LookerMicrosoft SQL Server
    Small Businesses
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Amazon RDS
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    SingleStore
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    SAP IQ
    Score5.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    LookerMicrosoft SQL Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (134 ratings)
    7.9
    (107 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.2
    (8 ratings)
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    Usability
    8.8
    (12 ratings)
    7.6
    (17 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.8
    (14 ratings)
    7.9
    (26 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    8.5
    (51 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Data Sources
    7.3
    (51 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Professional Services
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    LookerMicrosoft SQL Server
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft SQL is ubiquitous, while MySQL runs under the hood all over the place. Microsoft SQL is the platform taught in colleges and certification courses and is the one most likely to be used by businesses because it is backed by Microsoft. Its interface is friendly (well, as pleasant as SQL can be) and has been used by so many for so long that resources are freely available if you encounter any issues.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Easy to configure and use with Visual Studio and Dot Net
    • Easy integration with MSBI to perform data analysis
    • Data Security
    • Easy to understand and use
    • Very easy to export database and tables in the form of SQL query or a script
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise edition has a high cost but is the only edition which supports SQL Always On Availability Groups. It would be nice to include this feature in the Standard version.
    • Licensing of Microsoft SQL Server is a quite complex matter, it would be good to simplify licensing in the future. For example, per core vs per user CAL licensing, as well as complex licensing scenarios in the Cloud and on Edge locations.
    • It would be good to include native tools for converting Oracle, DB2, Postgresql and MySQL/MariaDB databases (schema and data) for import into Microsoft SQL Server.
    Incentivized
    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).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We understand that the Microsoft SQL Server will continue to advance, offering the same robust and reliable platform while adding new features that enable us, as a software center, to create a superior product. That provides excellent performance while reducing the hardware requirements and the total cost of ownership of our solution.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    SQL Server mostly 'just works' or generates error messages to help you sort out the trouble. You can usually count on the product to get the job done and keep an eye on your potential mistakes. Interaction with other Microsoft products makes operating as a Windows user pretty straight forward. Digging through the multitude of dialogs and wizards can be a pain, but the answer is usually there somewhere.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    No objections
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Its does not have outages.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    SSAS data cubes may some time slow down your Excel reports.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We managed to handle most of our problems by looking into Microsoft's official documentation that has everything explained and almost every function has an example that illustrates in detail how a particular functionality works. Just like PowerShell has the ability to show you an example of how some cmdlet works, that is the case also here, and in my opinion, it is a very good practice and I like it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    It was good
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    very hands on and detailed training
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Google
    Very satisfied, easy to implement
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Other than SQL taking quite a bit of time to actually install there are no problems with installation. Even on hardware that has good performance SQL can still take close to an hour to install a typical server with management and reporting services.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    [Microsoft] SQL Server has a much better community and professional support and is overall just a more reliable system with Microsoft behind it. I've used MySQL in the past and SQL Server has just become more comfortable for me and is my go to RDBMS.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Google
    Perfect price to performance
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    SQL server does handle growing demands of a mid sized company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Increased accuracy - We went from multiple users having different versions of an Excel spreadsheet to a single source of truth for our reporting.
    • Increased Efficiency - We can now generate reports at any time from a single source rather than multiple users spending their time collating data and generating reports.
    • Improved Security - Enterprise level security on a dedicated server rather than financial files on multiple laptop hard drives.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Looker Screenshots

    Screenshot of a Looker dashboard with a geo chart.