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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Looker

    Score8.2 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 Power BI

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft 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.

    $168

    per year per user

    Pricing
    LookerMicrosoft Power BI
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Power BI Pro
    $14
    per month (billed annually) per user
    Power BI Premium
    $24
    per month (billed annually) per user
    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.Power BI Desktop is the data exploration and report authoring experience for Power BI, and is available as a free download.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    LookerMicrosoft Power BI
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    Chose Looker
    Looker seems friendlier and more accessible.
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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
    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 …
    Incentivized
    Chose Looker
    Free, simpler...less enterprise grade level
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    Chose Looker
    Looker isn't *quite* as powerful, but the learning curve is so drastically easier that it pretty much lets us do everything we want.
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    Chose Looker
    Easy setup and day-to-day use.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Power BI
    Complexity: Microsoft Power BI is more powerful and complex, Looker Studio is simpler and easier to use.
    Data: Microsoft Power BI handles complex data modeling and diverse sources, Looker Studio is better for simpler data and Google ecosystem sources.
    Analytics: Microsoft Power …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Power BI
    Much more instinctive
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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. …
    Incentivized
    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, …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Power BI
    It Improve business process agility.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    85 Answers
    96%
    Would buy again
    110 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    75 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    103 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    87 Answers
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    112 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    55 Answers
    99%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    69 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    69 Answers
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    73 Answers
    Features
    LookerMicrosoft Power BI
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Looker and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Looker
    7.4
    134 Ratings
    10% below category average
    Microsoft Power BI
    8.1
    198 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Pixel Perfect reports6.5110 Ratings8.1169 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards8.3133 Ratings8.6197 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates7.5115 Ratings7.7180 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Looker and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Looker
    6.8
    132 Ratings
    16% below category average
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.9
    196 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Drill-down analysis6.4128 Ratings8.4193 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities6.6130 Ratings7.7193 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages5.655 Ratings7.4143 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration8.8131 Ratings8.2191 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Looker and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Looker
    7.9
    128 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.9
    189 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Publish to Web7.7105 Ratings8.1179 Ratings
    Publish to PDF7.8113 Ratings7.7174 Ratings
    Report Versioning7.984 Ratings7.7145 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling8.3110 Ratings8.3148 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings7.9111 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Looker and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Looker
    6.6
    128 Ratings
    19% below category average
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.7
    189 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)7.7124 Ratings8.3183 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.5110 Ratings8.1168 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics4.66 Ratings7.2138 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings7.339 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Looker and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Looker
    7.3
    128 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Microsoft Power BI
    8.3
    180 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)7.6120 Ratings8.6169 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model7.2105 Ratings8.1148 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)7.2122 Ratings8.1160 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control7.360 Ratings8.149 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.5141 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Looker and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Looker
    5.2
    95 Ratings
    39% below category average
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.9
    162 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access5.091 Ratings7.6152 Ratings
    Mobile Application5.01 Ratings7.5133 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile5.885 Ratings7.9155 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Looker and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Looker
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.6
    116 Ratings
    2% below category average
    REST API00 Ratings7.7104 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings7.485 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings8.055 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings6.769 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings7.391 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.444 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    LookerMicrosoft Power BI
    Small Businesses
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score7 out of 10
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    LookerMicrosoft Power BI
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (134 ratings)
    8.6
    (199 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.2
    (8 ratings)
    9.6
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    8.8
    (12 ratings)
    8.3
    (115 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)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    8.5
    (51 ratings)
    8.5
    (82 ratings)
    Data Sources
    7.3
    (51 ratings)
    9.0
    (81 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.
    Incentivized
    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
    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
    • 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.
    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
    • 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.
    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
    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.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    No objections
    Incentivized
    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
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Google
    Very satisfied, easy to implement
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    It was integrated with our erp easily and was accessible on cloud.
    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 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.
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Google
    Perfect price to performance
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    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