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Looker

Looker

Overview

What is Looker?

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…

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Recent Reviews

Look no further!

10 out of 10
March 25, 2024
Incentivized
We use Looker as a business intelligence tools that translates our data into meaningful insights for consumption by internal and external …
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Great reporting tool

8 out of 10
March 15, 2024
Incentivized
We are using Looker Studio to create dashboards that’s can be shared with other departments. We can include information from different …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 21 features
  • Customizable dashboards (94)
    8.7
    87%
  • Report sharing and collaboration (96)
    8.5
    85%
  • Drill-down analysis (93)
    8.2
    82%
  • Formatting capabilities (94)
    7.4
    74%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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N/A
Unavailable

What is Looker?

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.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://cloud.google.com/resources/look…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?

99 people also want pricing

Alternatives Pricing

What is SAP Crystal?

SAP Crystal is an analytics and reporting software solution for SMBs. SAP Crystal comprises Crystal Reports for pixel-perfect reporting, and SAP Crystal Server for automated distribution and self-service access to reports, dashboards and data exploration.

What is SAP Lumira Discovery?

SAP Lumira Discovery is SAP’s data visualization and discovery application. It facilitates data discovery, visualization, and analysis by assisting users with creation of dashboards, infographics, presentations, data facets, tag clouds, and more.

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Product Demos

How To Use Looker as a Business User

YouTube
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Features

BI Standard Reporting

Standard reporting means pre-built or canned reports available to users without having to create them.

8.1
Avg 8.2

Ad-hoc Reporting

Ad-Hoc Reports are reports built by the user to meet highly specific requirements.

8
Avg 8.1

Report Output and Scheduling

Ability to schedule and manager report output.

8.4
Avg 8.4

Data Discovery and Visualization

Data Discovery and Visualization is the analysis of multiple data sources in a search for patterns and outliers and the ability to represent the data visually.

6.7
Avg 8.1

Access Control and Security

Access control means being able to determine who has access to which data.

8.5
Avg 8.6

Mobile Capabilities

Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

5.8
Avg 8.0
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Product Details

What is Looker?

Looker is a business intelligence application with an analytics-oriented application server that sits on top of relational data stores. The Looker platform includes an end-user interface for exploring data, a reusable development paradigm for creating data discovery experiences and an extensible API set so the data can exist in other systems.

Looker vs. Looker Studio


Looker Studio is a part of Google's Looker Suite for business intelligence. Looker Studio is a self-serve BI solution where less technical users can create charts and reports, while Looker is a complete, enterprise BI platform, where technical users can build complex models that consider every aspect of the business. Looker Studio offers both free and pro versions, while Looker is not available for free. Looker and Looker Studio integrate with each other to support both types of analysis at businesses.

Looker Features

BI Platform Features

  • Supported: Administration via Web Interface
  • Supported: Live Connection to External Data
  • Supported: In-memory data model
  • Supported: Multi-Data Source Reporting (Blending)
  • Supported: Data warehouse / dictionary layer

Supported Data Sources Features

  • Supported: Oracle
  • Supported: MS SQL Server
  • Supported: IBM DB2
  • Supported: Postgres
  • Supported: MySQL
  • Supported: Cloudera Hadoop
  • Supported: Hortonworks Hadoop
  • Supported: EMC Greenplum
  • Supported: IBM Netezza
  • Supported: HP Vertica
  • Supported: ParAccel
  • Supported: SAP Hana
  • Supported: Teradata
  • Supported: Sage 500
  • Supported: SAP

BI Standard Reporting Features

  • Supported: Pixel Perfect reports
  • Supported: Customizable dashboards
  • Supported: Report Formatting Templates

Ad-hoc Reporting Features

  • Supported: Drill-down analysis
  • Supported: Formatting capabilities
  • Supported: Integration with R or other statistical packages
  • Supported: Report sharing and collaboration

Report Output and Scheduling Features

  • Supported: Publish to Web
  • Supported: Publish to PDF
  • Supported: Output Raw Supporting Data
  • Supported: Report Versioning
  • Supported: Report Delivery Scheduling

Data Discovery and Visualization Features

  • Supported: Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
  • Supported: Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
  • Supported: Support for Machine Learning models
  • Supported: Integration with R or other statistical packages

Access Control and Security Features

  • Supported: Multi-User Support (named login)
  • Supported: Role-Based Security Model
  • Supported: Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
  • Supported: Report-Level Access Control
  • Supported: Table-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
  • Supported: Field-Level Access Control (BI-layer)

Mobile Capabilities Features

  • Supported: Responsive Design for Web Access
  • Supported: Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile

Looker Screenshots

Screenshot of a Looker dashboard with a geo chart.

Looker Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported CountriesUnited States, Canada, United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil
Supported LanguagesEnglish

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Domo, MicroStrategy Analytics, and Tableau Server are common alternatives for Looker.

Reviewers rate Multi-User Support (named login) highest, with a score of 8.8.

The most common users of Looker are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(381)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-2 of 2)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Looker is being used by all departments across the entire company globally. We actually set up a group of 'super users', and 1 or 2 members of each department are represented in it. The business problem/ motivation to get Looker was to provide our business insight into our data without having to consult tech to write one-time use MySQL queries.
  • Get access to your data! I taught myself MySQL and LookML and am able to model almost anything.
  • Used to report on exceptions and police data quality. For example, we use Looker to notify our finance & customer support departments if there are any failed refunds.
  • Data visualizations & dashboards provide great, easy, and quick insight into how our business is doing. For example, we have a dashboard that shows how we are selling concert tickets for any concerts we recently put on sale.
  • More expansive & less technical data visualizations
  • Blend data from different data sources
Do you want complete control over the data model and not have to engage tech or a 3rd party to change the data model? If so, go with Looker.
  • RJMetrics,Tableau Desktop,Domo
We selected Looker for control over the data model, pricing, and to get into business with a young and growing company.
BI Platform
N/A
N/A
Supported Data Sources
N/A
N/A
BI Standard Reporting (3)
80%
8.0
Pixel Perfect reports
90%
9.0
Customizable dashboards
80%
8.0
Report Formatting Templates
70%
7.0
Ad-hoc Reporting (4)
60%
6.0
Drill-down analysis
80%
8.0
Formatting capabilities
90%
9.0
Integration with R or other statistical packages
N/A
N/A
Report sharing and collaboration
70%
7.0
Report Output and Scheduling (3)
83.33333333333334%
8.3
Publish to Web
80%
8.0
Publish to PDF
80%
8.0
Report Delivery Scheduling
90%
9.0
Data Discovery and Visualization (1)
70%
7.0
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
70%
7.0
Access Control and Security (3)
93.33333333333334%
9.3
Multi-User Support (named login)
100%
10.0
Role-Based Security Model
90%
9.0
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
90%
9.0
Mobile Capabilities (2)
20%
2.0
Responsive Design for Web Access
20%
2.0
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
20%
2.0
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
N/A
N/A
It can connect to a lot of sources, but the data can't be joined between different sources.
Access control is a bit time consuming and tricky to configure, but it's def possible.
10
Finance, product, marketing, client services, BD, customer support
1
Any querying language or basic programing background
  • Sit on top of a proper data warehouse, which we will soon be building
  • Alerts/ exceptions
  • Dashboards
  • Ad hoc or saved reports (aka Looks)
  • Monitor inventory levels relative to items sold or unsold
Jim O'Sullivan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Looker has been deployed to our users to help them better understand our customers' data. Before Looker our customers' had a difficult time analyzing their data. In the social service's world, decisions have been typically made based on anecdotal evidence. Now with Looker, they can quickly make decisions based on real-time data.
  • Quick to implement
  • Easy to use
  • Very customizable
  • Not robust enough table calculations
Looker is perfect for any organization that wants to quickly analyze their data.
I think Looker is easier to use than Business Objects, Domo, Pentaho and Tableau. Tableau offers better visualizations than Looker but the overall package in Looker is better.
We've invested a lot of time in Looker and it is doing what we need it to do.
30 users.
BI Platform
N/A
N/A
Supported Data Sources
N/A
N/A
BI Standard Reporting (3)
56.66666666666667%
5.7
Pixel Perfect reports
50%
5.0
Customizable dashboards
90%
9.0
Report Formatting Templates
30%
3.0
Ad-hoc Reporting (3)
80%
8.0
Drill-down analysis
90%
9.0
Formatting capabilities
50%
5.0
Report sharing and collaboration
100%
10.0
Report Output and Scheduling (4)
80%
8.0
Publish to Web
90%
9.0
Publish to PDF
90%
9.0
Report Versioning
70%
7.0
Report Delivery Scheduling
70%
7.0
Data Discovery and Visualization (3)
43.33333333333333%
4.3
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
60%
6.0
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
50%
5.0
Predictive Analytics
20%
2.0
Access Control and Security (3)
90%
9.0
Multi-User Support (named login)
90%
9.0
Role-Based Security Model
90%
9.0
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
90%
9.0
Mobile Capabilities (2)
50%
5.0
Responsive Design for Web Access
50%
5.0
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
50%
5.0
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
N/A
N/A
We only connect to Mariadb.
We love the sharing, make public and scheduling capability.
30
The are end users.
2
We have a data analyst and a system administrator.
  • Operational data
  • Predictive analytics
  • Program Performance
  • We use looker to analyze data on homeless clients and homeless projects.
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