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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Looker Studio

    Score7.6 out of 10
    N/ALooker Studio is a data visualization platform that transforms data into meaningful presentations and dashboards with customized reporting tools.

    $9

    per month per user per project

    Sigma

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/ASigma Computing headquartered in San Francisco provides a suite of data services such as code free data modeling, data search and explorating, and related BI and data visualization services.N/A
    Pricing
    Looker StudioSigma
    Editions & Modules
    Looker Studio Pro
    $9
    per month per user per project
    Looker Studio
    No charge
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Looker StudioSigma
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details—Contact us for pricing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Looker StudioSigma
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Sigma Computing
    Chose Sigma
    I am not an expert in any of these, though from my brief exposure to Looker it felt like a steeper learning curve, more appropriate to companies with dedicated and skilled BI engineers, whereas Sigma (and Tableau, and Looker Studio) offer a quicker and more intuitive interface …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sigma
    Sigma is easier to work with and faster than Looker Studio.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sigma
    Much more customizable than Looker Studio
    Some features are way better than Cluvio. But Cluvio search bar was better.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sigma
    flexibility, works really well with Snowflake, export capability, level of support, the fact that Sigma Computing is a start up and improving so quickly. Web based software
    Incentivized
    Chose Sigma
    Sigma service is superior. In terms of feature set it does not fall behind.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sigma
    Data Studio was used in the past but Sigma Computing is far more powerful, customizable, and sharable across teams.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sigma
    Easy entry tool that can grow with you as the data expertise and literacy grows within the org. Start up effort and cost is too high in the tools that are built for large corporate solutions.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sigma
    Google Data Studio is free, intuitive and easy to use but the analytics are limited. In-table calculations can't be done easily and it lacks a native connector for Snowflake. Moreover, table columns cannot be arranged in any order--they must be dimension first, and metrics …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sigma
    Tableau has better visualization capabilities than Sigma. Google Data Studio is a little more rigid in its capabilities and interface. I see Sigma as the happy middle.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sigma
    Sigma Computing is significantly faster and more versatile than Data Studio integrations for marketing data.
    While it is less powerful than Tableau for data visualization, it is much easier to use due to its spread sheet like user interface.
    Microsoft BI is a middle ground but …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    34 Answers
    94%
    Would buy again
    118 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    32 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    77 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    33 Answers
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    116 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    26 Answers
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    68 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    87%
    Implementation went as expected
    27 Answers
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    77 Answers
    Features
    Looker StudioSigma
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Looker Studio and Sigma Computing
    Feature
    Looker Studio
    8.0
    53 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Sigma Computing
    8.9
    160 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Pixel Perfect reports7.037 Ratings8.8103 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards8.552 Ratings9.2158 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates8.451 Ratings8.7130 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Looker Studio and Sigma Computing
    Feature
    Looker Studio
    7.6
    52 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Sigma Computing
    8.6
    163 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Drill-down analysis9.544 Ratings9.5153 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities8.048 Ratings8.3160 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages4.024 Ratings7.35 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration8.951 Ratings9.4159 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Looker Studio and Sigma Computing
    Feature
    Looker Studio
    8.2
    52 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Sigma Computing
    9.1
    153 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Publish to Web7.546 Ratings9.9102 Ratings
    Publish to PDF9.545 Ratings9.0127 Ratings
    Report Versioning8.033 Ratings9.9117 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling7.436 Ratings9.8130 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers8.818 Ratings7.067 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Looker Studio and Sigma Computing
    Feature
    Looker Studio
    7.1
    51 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Sigma Computing
    6.6
    146 Ratings
    19% below category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)9.551 Ratings7.9144 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization9.048 Ratings5.626 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics5.026 Ratings6.218 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining5.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Looker StudioSigma
    Small Businesses
    Chartio (discontinued)
    Score7.5 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Jet Reports
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Zendesk Explore
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Grafana
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score9.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Looker StudioSigma
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.9
    (54 ratings)
    8.0
    (167 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (5 ratings)
    7.6
    (48 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.7
    (10 ratings)
    10.0
    (47 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Looker StudioSigma
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    Looker Studio is well-suited for those wanting to analyze web/site data and performance quickly. It is simple enough to learn/use for quick report-building or drilling into data. Looker Studio is easier to use/understand than the GA4 console and thus has a better UI/UX. It is an efficient tool for fast, simple data needs—especially for team members with limited analytical capabilities and knowledge.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sigma Computing
    We were able to set up client-facing embedded reports with ease and security. The interface is not difficult to learn, although we may not be aware of or lack the necessary expertise to utilize more advanced features that would likely benefit us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • 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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sigma Computing
    • Allows end users to easily dive into the data without having direct access to the table in our database management software.
    • Can easily turnaround dashboards that are detailed and visually pleasing.
    • Sigma is intuitive and as new features are rolled out it is easy to adopt and incorporate them into new and existing dashboards.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • 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.
    Read full review
    Sigma Computing
    • Sigma Computing does not allow custom ordering of pivot fields in pivot tables easily
    • Sigma Computing lacks functionality for creating tables or sections that dynamically adjust to the browser window's height while maintaining a fixed height textbox at the bottom
    • Sigma Computing does not provide straightforward options for formatting totals in tables, such as renaming 'Total' to 'Average', 'Team Total', etc
    • Sigma Computing does not support searching by individual tab names within a workbook
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    It is the simplest and least expensive way for us to automate our reporting at this time. I like the ability to customize literally everything about each report, and the ability to send out reports automatically in emails. The only issue we have been having recently is a technical glitch in the automatic email report. Sadly, there is almost no support for this tool from Google, but is also free, so that is important to take into consideration
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sigma Computing
    Sigma has helped us a lot and has become an integral part of our daily workflow. It would be difficult to switch to another platform and have to rebuild the numerous metrics and performance reports that we have already established
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Google
    It is not ideal and requires time and dedication to understand how to work with it. Also, it has a lot of limitations around data it can accept. But in most cases, this tool is sufficient for everyday tasks of product and marketing departments. I wouldn't say that the interface is very user-friendly, but for people who regularly work with analytical tools, it must be ok.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sigma Computing
    It has a clean and modern interface. However, it is not completely intuitive. I think it would be better and easier to navigate with more Windows style drop down menus and/or tabls. There is a significant learning curve, but that may be due in part to the technical nature of this type of software tool.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Sigma Computing
    Yes, as long as you don’t conduct user error sigma is always up and running and waiting for you to complete your dashboards
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Sigma Computing
    It depends, it loads quickly for smaller dashboards but when loading larger amounts of data it takes more time to do so
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Google
    I give it a lower support rating because it seems like our Dev team hasn't gotten the support they need to set up our database to connect. Seems like we hit a roadblock and the project got put on pause for dev. That sucks for me because it is harder to get the dev team to focus on it if they don't get the help they need to set it up.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sigma Computing
    They are very friendly and informative. They are quick in resolving our queries and help us understand very minute things as well. They are quick in creating feature tickets based on our custom requirements, and they would also create a bug ticket if there is any discrepancy and get that checked on time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Sigma Computing
    Was not involved in implementation
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    The free version of Looker Studio is still better than the leading enterprise-embedded BI tools, despite its weaknesses. The leading embedded BI platforms have terrible visualizations that can be spotted a mile away. They are also primarily locked to a grid, making it very hard to fully customize. The price point is also a major deterrent, since users end up paying for lots of features they might never use. Looker Studio has weaknesses on the blending and modeling side, but we've been able to get by via connection to GBQ and transformation done in dbt.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sigma Computing
    With Looker, to be effective, a substantial amount of coding & modeling needs to happen in LookML. Being another language to learn, users have to context switch again from at a minimum either SQL or Python into LookML. The concept of being able to source control, code review, and deploy your models is a plus though.
    Tableau is the gold standard for data visualization, no question. Power users will be able to create dazzling content that Sigma won't necessarily be able to easily match. However, since development usually happens via an extract, helping other users troubleshoot is an arduous process. Trying to re-do or un-do all the transformations and calculations that cause a certain number is very difficult.
    With Sigma, all the queries happen directly against Snowflake and you can see the query logs. The data modeling happens right in a tabular, spreadsheet-like manner, so within only a few minutes, substantial transformations can happen, with visualizations just a few more clicks away.
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Sigma Computing
    It is a cloud service offering that is able to expand based on your usage
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • Free, so the only investment is time
    • Because it doesn't have native support of non-Google sources, it can cost more money than Tableau
    • The time spent formatting the templates or building connectors can have a negative impact on ROI
    • As a agency, charging for the reporting service is profitable after the first month or two after building the dashboard.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sigma Computing
    • Monitoring health of cloud platform has allowed the company to anticipate issues before they affect customers – Sigma prompted us building a canary monitoring process that provides customer container health.
    • Customer success has used an activity report to discover customers running runaway processes that they were unaware of, creating an alert to contact the customer and prevent an embarrassing situation.
    • Customer success uses the activity report to prompt conversations regarding increases or declines in behavior that led to increasing contract limits or addressing churn concerns.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots