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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Looker

    Score8.5 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 BI (MSBI)

    Score7.1 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft BI is a business intelligence product used for data analysis and generating reports on server-based data. It features unlimited data analysis capacity with its reporting engine, SQL Server Reporting Services alongside ETL, master data management, and data cleansing.

    $14

    per month per user

    Pricing
    LookerMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Power BI Pro
    $14
    per month per user
    Power BI Premium
    $24
    per month per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    LookerMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsMust contact sales team for pricing.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    LookerMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    Chose Looker
    Looker Studio is not as robust as Tableau or Microsoft BI. So it does not provide quite as much insight or depth and it has more limitations overall then the other major reporting products. However, it is also free and connects perfectly with other Google products. Plus, all of …
    Incentivized
    Chose Looker
    Looker is web based app and much easier to use.¨ON the othe hand Power BI offers robust integration with Microsoft products (like Azure, SQL Server, and Excel) and a wide range of other data sources. Power BI's ability to seamlessly connect and import data from these sources is …
    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
    Chose Looker
    Looker stacks up very well against the other tools we have evaluated and used. All the tools have their own pros and cons. Looker had a better edge in terms of visualizations when we chose to use it. After several updates, other tools began to have newer features. Looker still …
    Incentivized
    Chose Looker
    • Looker is relatively reasonably priced.
    • No setup for end-user.
    Incentivized
    Chose Looker
    Looker is a free and easier analytics and dashboard tool. It provides enough data and features to get things done and analyze marketing data. The other tools have more advanced features and are more suited for other things besides marketing.
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    Chose Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    MSBI for my company is a like using a car that has a good balance of features, is easy to use, has good support, and works well with other things or requirement you may have.
    We specifically chose it because it is one of the promising platform whose support team will never let …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Unlike Oracle Business Intelligence Cloud Service (OBICS), Microsoft BI offers a good range of visualisation options. However, it falls behind in terms of data management capabilities. If your requirements are more data intensive and less reporting intensive, then Microsoft BI …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Specific data displays are some of the strongest aspects of Microsoft BI when compared to alternate programs. It also does a superior job in compatibility with many programs, especially those from Microsoft. Since my company primarily uses Office 365 and other Microsoft …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    60 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    11 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    53 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    11 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    61 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    11 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    40 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    48 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 Answers
    Features
    LookerMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Looker and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Looker
    8.5
    116 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.7
    48 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Pixel Perfect reports8.195 Ratings9.041 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards9.0115 Ratings8.048 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates8.499 Ratings9.046 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Looker and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Looker
    8.5
    116 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.8
    48 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Drill-down analysis8.2112 Ratings9.043 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities7.9114 Ratings8.048 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages8.947 Ratings9.038 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration9.2116 Ratings9.048 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Looker and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Looker
    8.9
    112 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.0
    47 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Publish to Web8.494 Ratings9.043 Ratings
    Publish to PDF9.1100 Ratings9.043 Ratings
    Report Versioning8.775 Ratings9.039 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling9.297 Ratings9.042 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings9.023 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Looker and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Looker
    7.0
    113 Ratings
    13% below category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.0
    47 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.2109 Ratings9.046 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization8.297 Ratings9.043 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics4.66 Ratings9.041 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Looker and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Looker
    8.3
    112 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.0
    48 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)8.7106 Ratings9.045 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model8.293 Ratings9.042 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.2106 Ratings9.045 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control8.245 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings9.027 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Looker and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Looker
    6.3
    84 Ratings
    22% below category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    38 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access7.681 Ratings8.035 Ratings
    Mobile Application5.01 Ratings8.026 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile7.575 Ratings10.035 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Looker and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Looker
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.8
    20 Ratings
    12% above category average
    REST API00 Ratings9.018 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings9.018 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings9.017 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings9.016 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings9.017 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.016 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    LookerMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Small Businesses
    Cyfe
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Zendesk Explore
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Zendesk Explore
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score9.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    LookerMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.7
    (117 ratings)
    9.0
    (72 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.5
    (7 ratings)
    8.0
    (25 ratings)
    Usability
    8.8
    (12 ratings)
    8.9
    (14 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.8
    (14 ratings)
    8.9
    (15 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.9
    (3 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.6
    (7 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    8.5
    (51 ratings)
    8.5
    (42 ratings)
    Data Sources
    7.3
    (51 ratings)
    8.4
    (41 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 BI (MSBI)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    Looker is ideal if you are heavily invested in Google Services, particularly marketing related services, and you with to quickly create reporting dashboards for that data. It gets more difficult when you try to tie in data from other services, and I would not use this were I already using BI package - it is not anywhere near as well supported or as widely known as some of its major competitors, but what it does do, it does do well.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft BI is well suited for Stream analytics, easy data integration, report creation and UI/UX designs (limited but what all available are great ones) Microsoft BI may be less appropriate for handling huge number of datasets and difficult queries. It may also be difficult for a company with heavy data.
    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
    • Comparatively easy to use compared to other data analytics solutions, collaborating with other colleagues on data work is simple.
    • Using Visual Studio for database, ETL, reporting, and analytics development save time and money.
    • Transfer of data from one application to another via Excel and comparison of data attributes between applications
    • Dashboard functionality, as well as Python support, are available, allowing you to add additional charts and graphs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • I wish I could get more granular in the Google ad data, such as down to the campaign type, instead of having to see only all campaigns.
    • The setup can be time-consuming if you're not using the product regularly.
    • Editing the dashboard requires a few logins; I wish it was more seamless.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • The race to perfect gathering of Non-Traditional datasets is on-going; with Microsoft arguably not the leader of the pack in this category.
    • Licensing options for PowerBI visualizations may be a factor. I.e. if you need to implement B2C PowerBI visualizations, the cost is considerably high especially for startups.
    • Some clients are still resistant putting their data on the cloud, which restricts lots of functionality to Power BI.
    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 BI is fundamental to our suite of BI applications. That being said, Northcraft Analytics is focused on delighting our customers, so if the underlying factors of our decision change, we would choose to re-write our BI applications on a different stack. Luckily, mathematics are the fundamental IP of our technology... and is portable across all BI platforms for the foreseeable future.
    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
    The Microsoft BI tools have great usability for both developers and end users alike. For developers familiar with Visual Studio, there is little learning curve. For those not, the single Visual Studio IDE means not having to learn separate tools for each component. For end-users, the web interface for SSRS is simple to navigate with intuitive controls. For ad-hoc analysis, Excel can connect directly to SSAS and provide a pivot table like experience which is familiar to many users. For database development, there is beginning to be some confusion, as there are now three tool choices (VS, SSMS, Azure Data Studio) for developers. I would like to see Azure Data Studio become the superset of SSMS and eventually supplant it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    No objections
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    The product has been reliable.
    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
    SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) can drag at times. We created two report servers and placed them under an F5 load balancer. This configuration has worked well. We have seen sluggish performance at times due to the Windows Firewall.
    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
    While support from Microsoft isn't necessarily always best of breed, you're also not paying the price for premium support that you would on other platforms. The strength of the stack is in the ecosystem that surrounds it. In contrast to other products, there are hundreds, even thousands of bloggers that post daily as well as vibrant user communities that surround the tool. I've had much better luck finding help with SQL Server related issues than I have with any other product, but that help doesn't always come directly from Microsoft.
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    This training was more directed toward what the product was capable of rather than actual programming.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    I have used on-line training from Microsoft and from Pragmatic Works. I would recommend Pragmatic Works as the best way to get up to speed quickly, and then use the Microsoft on-line training to deep dive into specific features that you need to get depth with.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Google
    Very satisfied, easy to implement
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We are a consulting firm and as such our best resources are always billing on client projects. Our internal implementation has weaknesses, but that's true for any company like ours. My rating is based on the product's ease of implementation.
    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
    We have used the built in ConnectWise Manager reports and custom reports. The reports provide static data. PowerBI shows us live data we can drill down into and easily adjust parameters. It's much more useful than a static PDF report.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    • As a SaaS provider we see being able to provide self-service BI to our client users as a competitive advantage. In fact the MSSQL enabled BI is a contributing factor to many winning RFPs we have done for prospective client organisations.
    • However MSSQL BI requires extensive knowledge and skills to design and develop data warehouses & data models as a foundation to support business analysts and users to interrogate data effectively and efficiently. Often times we find having strong in-house MSSQL expertise is a bless.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Looker Screenshots

    Screenshot of a Looker dashboard with a geo chart.