Google Data Studio

Visualization design of dashboards.

Integration with data sources

Smooth access of BigQuery

Creating aggregate function can be more smooth.

Data banding can be improve.

3rd party integration of other data sources can be smooth and reliable.

Easy to learn interface

Versatile - able to select various colours and fonts

Various graph options for visualization

Easily refresh data

It can become laggy at times, especially when working on a larger data project for lengthier periods

I can't build graphs from scratch and easily choose which metrics to include

Blending different data sources is difficult

It is online service. You don't need to upload an application to use it and it's free.

It has many visualization tools.

You can use many data sources to connect your data with Data Studio. For example Google Analytics, Google Sheets are among most popular choices for users.

It is not that easy to learn Data Studio without tutorials and as I know Google don't have video lessons for Data Studio.

Sometimes Data Studio can't differentiate metrics from dimensions.

Charts sometimes don't work properly. You need to reload them again to fix errors.

Data management

Calculations

Data visualization

Interactivity

Few functionalities are very exclusive only for data studio.

It's time taking to load data and at the same time only single Data source can be connected.

When editing the reports you have to switch between Edit and View mode to see how does the change looks like.

Data Visualization

KPI Tracking

Deccision Taking

Proccessing Power

Desing Tools

More types of charts or Graphs

Google Data connectors are simple

Visualisations

Syncing with other apps

Delayed updates in data

No excel support

No on-premise deployment

Simple data integration from files.

Create calculated fields using data (for metrics).

Plot charts and tables quickly.

Organize everything in a dashboard.

Easy sharing.

Data preparation.

Custom integrations.

Combine sources with recurrent process.

Charting

Multiple data sources

reporting

Scheduled transmission of reports

It's reporting and dash-boarding lacks the interactivity of Tableau.

As a developer, I find the layout and formatting options somewhat limited.

It is somewhat difficult to organization reports and dashboards into folders.

There seems to be no integration with any external source control provider.

Ease of use

User interface / look-and-feel of reports

Pricing (has a free option)

CSV file support minimizes barriers to entry

First party connector support can be improved

Complex visualizations / datasets may not be possible

Cannot be used on-premise, which may cause issues with data compliance

I love that this tool is free.

The reports and dashboards are very customizable.

Pivot tables and combinations are easy.

The platform can be slow at times.

There can be bugs.

Setting it up initially can be a little tough.

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

Limited data joining / merge options

Limited ETL

Limited calculations / regex configs

Limited data labels and presentation reporting settings vs. alternatives

Can be slow to update (dreaded "GDS is not available, please try later")

It's free to use!

Seamless integration with GA

A selection of connectors to import data from other channels (Facebook, LinkedIn etc)

Having to pay for third-party connector access.

Limited in terms of the number of recipients that can be included in the scheduled reporting.

Lots of information on some pages making it hard to understand from time-to-time. Could be cleaner from a UX perspective.

This platform is free.

Can connect to verity of databases easily.

Live data connection is one of the most powerful feature which is not there in other BI tools.

Data range filter settings are amazing.

Excel can not be imported you have to convert it into csv file before use.

On premise deployment facility is not available.

Cannot handle complex relationships between datasets.

Extremely customizable. From colors to font sizes to adding images, you can make your reports look like they were specifically created for your clients.

Constantly innovating. In the year that I have been using GDS they have released lots of new features, and it seems like they really listen to the user feedback through the customer service portal.

Data source flexibility. You can use Excel files, Google Sheets, CSV, etc.

Ease of onboarding. If you are familiar with Microsoft Excel, it was really intuitive to pick up without a long period of onboarding/watching tutorials.

Once data files start getting large, it can be finicky. We currently don't have a database solution set up to use, and have been trying to use Google Sheets as our data sources, but once the Google Sheet files get large, it can affect the quality of the Google Data Studio report

This is still a relatively new product, so there are several little bugs you will find while using it. You just have to be patient and wait for the product team to fix the issues.

Some of the visualizations are limited. Once you get used to the full power of a tool like Excel, you run into occasions where GDS is missing a specific visualization feature you are used to seeing in Excel.

Pull all the data I need from Google Analytics

Visualize the information to create beautiful reports

I can easily share reports with teammates

I wish there were more templates to choose from

I wish it was easier to pull information from other sources

I wish there was more syncing with our ecommerce platform

Free.

Easy to use, like the rest of Google Docs.

Integrates with hundreds of data sources.

Calculated fields are clumsy.

No variables/data storage.

Not a BI/computational tool, visualization only.

Easy to design/brand

Native data support for all Google products such as Adwords, Search Console, and Analytics

Constantly improving and growing

No native support for many outside sources like Facebook or Twitter (must build own or use third party software)

Many features that are available in Tableau or other dataviz solutions aren't available yet

Available templates aren't styled using default colors, so you have to update the color palette of each module by hand.

Data Score boxes are very limited in what they can report

Ability to define reports.

Report against a large amount of data quickly.

Data visualizations.

More difficult for non-technical people to use.

It can be a little cumbersome to get everything setup and running.

The documentation could be a lot better.

Reliable connection to Google Analytics.

Various ways to display data.

Options for custom reports.

Takes a long time to set up.

Not user friendly.

Not enough template reports that are helpful.

Easy to schedule automatic emails

Completely customizable

Can connect to almost anything to pull data

Honestly Google Data Studio does really well. The improvements I would like to see have to do with connectors, not Google Data Studio itself.

Dashboards that combine data sources.

Customization with design and branding.

Easy to use interface. Simple to get started with.

This is an issue that our Dev team is dealing with, so I can't speak too much to it, but we have had issues integrating our database with GDS. Those issues have held us back from fully using GDS the way we wanted to.

Missing data can be a hassle to make look good on a dashboard.

Adoption has been slow across my team, they haven't seen the value the same way I do.

Reports on demand. My clients can log in at any moment and adjust parameters to see details on particular dates or periods of time.

Templates can be created very easily and with a lot of detail.

Connection to Google Ads is a very easy way to track campaign performance, by showing the most important metrics.

The amount of information you can add to the reports is great, you can go into as much detail as you need in regards to website online performance.

Connection to social media would be a great addition.

New GA4 uses different kinds of metrics or names to the same metrics, so it has been an issue when trying to use the same template for new customers.

Having a just view option for non-Gmail users would be very helpful so my clients can open the link and see the report even though they are not Gmail users.

Ease of use: All it takes to create a report is just drag and drop the features/tools and get the report instantly. One great advantage compared to other similar tools such as power bi or Tableau is sharing the report instantly.

Sharing the Report: You can share the report within your organization and outside the organization with just an URL. You don't need to be a Google user to open the report.

Embed the Report on a Sharepoint with just a code. Never thought it would be so easy.

Seamless connectivity with Google Products.

As this is a free tool, definitely you would miss some features when compared with other BI tools ( for example prediction capabilities etc).

Combines data sources into one report.

It's free.

Filtering is easy.

It's intuitive if you understand analytics and ads.

Allows you to send automated reports from your own email rather than from Google.

Easy integration with Google Analytics

Very easy to use and implement.

Training easily available online and google training academy

Variety of features to use

From features point of view, still a lot has to be done

In comparison to its competitors like Tableau, Data Studio still needs to have advanced features