How does Looker BI & Analytics score on certain components?
In our survey, we looked in detail at the various software products of Looker software. More than 720 evaluation criteria were examined. The graph below gives good insight into the strengths and weaknesses of Looker Data Analytics, compared to the competition. Please note that Passionned Group is 100% independent of the suppliers in the research. We are not a reseller, we do not make deals or have done business with the supplier. Among other things, we help and advise companies in the proper selection of BI tooling.
Figure 1: The pros and cons of the software vendor Looker BI & Analytics. A maximum of 100% can be obtained. Source: The BI & Analytics Guide 2024. Do you want more information about the survey structure? Click here to download this guide.
The Looker analysis was conducted by collecting a lot of public big data and from there it was extensively analyzed. More than 5,479 documents have reviewed from Looker in recent years. In this analysis process, both algorithms and the critical eye of a senior BI expert played a key role in drawing conclusions.The BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 
In our 100% vendor-independent BI & Analytics Guide we have collected all the ins and outs of Looker for you. You get access to hundreds of (shorter) trainings, tech talks, lectures, demos, tutorials, and so on and always have the latest BI & AI news. This guide will additionally assist you in profoundly improve your knowledge about BI & Analytics.
Looker and their complete BI & Analytics product portfolio
Looker knows (a minimum of) 14 products in the realm of BI & Analytics. Starting with the most popular product of Looker BI & Analytics we list the most important products below:
What is Looker Data Analytics?
Other names by which this software product is known: Looker Business Intelligence, Looker BI, Looker Platform
Under this heading, we provide a description of Looker Data Analytics, including some of its features and any related products. This product group consists of LookML, Looker Studio, Looker API, LookML Dashboards, Looker Blocks, Looker Server, Looker mobile, Looker Embedded Analytics, Looker Retail, Looker Data Modeling, Looker Marketing Analytics, Looker Web Analytics, and Looker Digital Marketing. Looker Data Analytics can be best defined by the following features:
- analysis
- analytics
- analytics platform
- business intelligence
- dashboards
- data modeling
- data visualization
- embedded analytics
- infrastructure
- SQL
Are you curious about all the functionalities (100+) of Looker Data Analytics? Download directly our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
Lacking capacity and want to hire an experienced Looker Data Analytics consultant?
Do you want to hire a freelance Looker Data Analytics developer who can do a mountain of work for you, and implement a beautiful Looker Data Analytics application? You can do so using our interim services. Indeed, hiring Looker Data Analytics developers is not always necessary and sometimes even inconvenient. Leave a message here and we will explore the possibilities of cooperation with you.
What is LookML?
In this paragraph, we portrait LookML, including some of its features and any related products. This product/group of products can be characterized by the following functionalities:
- analytics
- big data analytics platform
- business intelligence
- caching
- dashboards
- data modeling
- embedded analytics
- real-time
- SQL
- SQL database
Do you want to know everything about all elements (100+) of LookML? Download the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
What is Looker Studio?
Under this heading, we report the (main) characteristics of Looker Studio, including some of its features and any related products. This product/group of products can be best defined by the following characteristics:
- analytics
- business intelligence
- business intelligence platform
- dashboards
- embedded analytics
- Google Analytics
- pivot tables
- real-time insights
- reporting
- share insights
Are you curious about all characteristics (100+) of Looker Studio? Download directly our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
What is Looker API?
Under this heading, we describe Looker API, including some of its features and any related products. This product/group of products can be best defined by the following functionalities:
- API authentication
- Application Programming Interface
- authentication
- business intelligence platform
- embedded analytics
- infrastructure
- OAuth
- Python
- repository
- SDK
Are you now curious about all properties (100+) of Looker API? In that case, open the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
What is LookML Dashboards?
In this section, we provide a description of LookML Dashboards, including some of its features and any related products. This product/group of products can be best characterized by the following features:
- analytics
- dashboards
- map chart
- self-service BI
- tiles
Do you want to know the intricacies of all characteristics (100+) of LookML Dashboards? Then download our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
What is Looker Blocks?
In this paragraph, we report the (main) characteristics of Looker Blocks, including some of its features and any related products. This product can be defined by the following features:
- analysis
- analytics
- analytics hub
- business intelligence
- custom visualizations
- dashboards
- embedded analytics
- Google Analytics
- retail analytics
- SQL
Do you want to know everything about all elements (100+) of Looker Blocks? Then download our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
What is Looker Server?
We don’t reveal everything here but, in this paragraph, we provide a description of Looker Server, including some of its features and any related products. The tool Looker Server can be best characterized by the following features:
- analytics
- authentication
- business intelligence
- business intelligence platform
- dashboards
- data catalog
- embedded analytics
- interactive dashboards
- java
- SDK
Are you now curious about all the functionalities (100+) of Looker Server? Download the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
What is Looker mobile?
In this paragraph, we provide a description of Looker mobile, including some of its features and any related products. The product Looker mobile can be best characterized by the following characteristics:
- analytics
- Android
- business intelligence platform
- dashboards
- iOS
- iPad
- iPhone
- KPI
- real-time
- share insights
Are you curious about all the functionalities (100+) of Looker mobile? Then order the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
What is Looker Embedded Analytics?
In this paragraph, we provide a description of Looker Embedded Analytics, including some of its features and any related products. Looker Embedded Analytics can be best characterized by the following functionalities:
- analytics
- analytics platform
- business intelligence
- business intelligence platform
- embedded analytics
- high availability
- iOS
- real-time insights
- SDK
- share insights
Are you now curious about all properties (100+) of Looker Embedded Analytics? Open the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
What is Looker Retail?
In this paragraph, we provide a description of Looker Retail, including some of its features and any related products. This product can be best characterized by the following properties:
- analytics
- business intelligence
- business intelligence platform
- cloud computing
- CRM
- dashboards
- data discovery
- embedded analytics
- real-time
- retail analytics
Do you want to know the intricacies of all features (100+) of Looker Retail? In that case, order the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
What is Looker Data Modeling?
In this paragraph, we describe the key elements of Looker Data Modeling, including some of its features and any related products. This product can be characterized by the following characteristics:
- analysis
- analytics
- business intelligence
- dashboards
- data governance
- data management
- data modeling
- reporting
- SQL
- SQL database
Do you want to know the intricacies of all the functions (100+) of Looker Data Modeling? Download the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
What is Looker Marketing Analytics?
We do not display all the features here but, in this paragraph, we display the details of Looker Marketing Analytics, including some of its features and any related products. This product/group of products can be characterized by the following properties:
- analytics
- analytics platform
- business intelligence
- dashboards
- embedded analytics
- Google Analytics
- marketing analytics
- reporting
- share insights
- SQL
Are you now curious about all elements (100+) of Looker Marketing Analytics? Download directly our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
What is Looker Web Analytics?
In this part, we describe Looker Web Analytics, including some of its features and any related products. Looker Web Analytics can be characterized by the following functionalities:
- analysis
- analytics
- big data
- business intelligence
- business intelligence platform
- data science
- embedded analytics
- real-time
- SQL
- web analytics
Do you want to know the intricacies of all the functions (100+) of Looker Web Analytics? Then order the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
What is Looker Digital Marketing?
In this section, we report the (main) characteristics of Looker Digital Marketing, including some of its features and any related products. Looker Digital Marketing can be best characterized by the following functionalities:
- analysis
- analytics
- analytics platform
- business intelligence
- dashboards
- data discovery
- data visualization
- interactive dashboards
- reporting
- web analytics
Are you curious about all characteristics (100+) of Looker Digital Marketing? Download directly our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here.
Innovations of Looker Data Analytics tools and the version history
Lately, we see a positive trend when it comes to BI & Analytics functionality and support for various platforms, and data sources. The latest added ‘gadgets’ are in the areas of data integration > data warehousing > ODS, data discovery > data visualization > gauge charts, and data discovery > data visualization > heat maps.
We reviewed Looker’s latest updates of its product portfolio. Below you can see the respective version numbers of all the ones known to us BI & Analytics products of Looker:
- Looker API: 4.0 3.1
- Looker Data Analytics: 2024 2023 2022 192 24.0 23.14 23.12 23.6 23.4.1 23.0 23 22.20 22.16 22.12 22.10 22.8 22.6 22.4.35 21.20 21.4 7.0 6.6 5.14 4.6 0.1.3
- Looker mobile: 1.2.5 january 1.2.5 1.2.1 1.2.0 may 1.2.0 1.1.1 february 1.1.0 january
Behind each product, we mention the version numbers, the older the version the more backward the version is in the list.
What are the licensing costs of LookML, Looker Studio, and Looker API?
It is difficult to determine exactly what a license of LookML, Looker Studio, and Looker API costs because it depends on the country, the number of users (also consider the amount of CPUs for server versions), the connectors to data sources, and at what point in the year you request a quote. And before the end of a fiscal quarter of Looker, you may be able to look forward to a decent discount. In addition, we recommend to run the software in the cloud, for the most part, you only pay for your consumption then. The purchase cost of LookML, Looker Studio, and Looker API may not be the single largest expense, but maintenance and support can certainly put quite a strain on your annual budget.
What makes Looker BI & Analytics unique compared to other BI platforms
In our study, we see that Looker in the field of BI & Analytics software has several specific features which emerged distinctively in our research. This makes Looker Data Analytics more or less unique: average trend line, MaxDB, motion charts, linear regression analysis, and ADWC.
The advantages and disadvantages of Looker Data Analytics
Figure 44: Tag cloud of the strengths and weaknesses of Looker BI & Analytics
In the following paragraphs, we name all the advantages and disadvantages of Looker BI & Analytics, LookML, Looker Studio, and Looker API. The listing in the following paragraphs is subject to change, because: Looker can currently work to improving existing and developing new functionality at this time (such as support for OLAP, active directory, ad hoc reporting, predictive analytics, Blob storage, EMR, ADFS, parallel processing, MDX, and prescriptive analytics). It may also be that a feature has not yet been adequately described.
Share your experience with Looker BI & Analytics
Report your experience with Looker BI & Analytics here. Your observations may then be taken into consideration in an even better assessment of the performance of Looker Data Analytics.
1. Looker Data Discovery
The vendor Looker has a good rating in our objective BI & Analytics survey on the section ‘Data Discovery’. The score amounts to 57%, relative to other vendors. The following criteria were used: time series, standard deviation, data storytelling, and share insights. In total, we examined 398 criteria in this category. Would you like to delve further into the topic ‘Data Discovery’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide 2024.
2. Looker Business Intelligence
The vendor Looker has a good score in our current BI & Analytics survey on the section ‘Business Intelligence’. The score amounts to 53%, relative to other vendors. We used the following selection criteria: reporting and business intelligence platform. In doing so, we looked at the following five products: Looker Data Modeling, Looker Web Analytics, Looker Data Analytics, Looker Retail, and Looker Blocks. In total, we examined 73 selection criteria within this main theme. Would you like to go into more depth with the topic ‘Business Intelligence’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide 2024. Or take a deep dive in the following content:
3. Looker Data Connectivity
Looker has a good score in our current BI & Analytics survey of the theme ‘Data Connectivity’. The company scores 52% on this topic, compared to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: Sharepoint, Salesforce, Teradata, Amazon Redshift, PostgreSQL, Google BigQuery, and Microsoft Excel. In total, we examined 91 features within this discipline. Would you like to learn more about the topic ‘Data Connectivity’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Study 2024.
4. Looker BI Infrastructure
Looker has a moderate rating in our independent BI & Analytics survey on the subject ‘BI Infrastructure’ with a score of 44%, relative to other vendors. The following criteria were used: infrastructure, repository, open source, web services, web server, and hybrid cloud. In total, we examined 162 criteria in this category. Would you like to learn more about the topic ‘BI Infrastructure’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide 2024.
5. Looker Performance Optimization
The company has a moderate performance in our 100% vendor-independent BI & Analytics survey of the theme ‘Performance Optimization’. The score amounts to 38%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: parallel processing, data pipelines, materialized views, and cache settings. In total, we examined 29 criteria in this category. Would you like to learn more about the topic ‘Performance Optimization’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide 2024.
6. Looker Self-service BI
Looker has a moderate performance in our independent BI & Analytics survey on the subject ‘Self-service BI’ with a score of 36%, compared to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: self-service data preparation, self-service reporting, self-service analysis, self-service data discovery, and self-service data analytics. In total, we examined 14 criteria in this category. Would you like to learn more about the topic ‘Self-service BI’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Study.
7. Looker Real-time Analytics
Looker has a moderate performance in our 100% vendor-independent BI & Analytics survey of the theme ‘Real-time Analytics’ with a score of 34%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: real-time, real-time data, and data ingestion. In total, we examined 19 criteria in this category. Would you like to delve further into the topic ‘Real-time Analytics’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide 2024.
8. Looker Data Governance
The company has a moderate performance in our independent BI & Analytics survey on the subject ‘Data Governance’ with a score of 33%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: data management, data quality, data catalog, data encryption, data lineage, and data acquisition layer. In total, we examined 91 selection criteria within this main theme. Would you like to learn more about the topic ‘Data Governance’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide 2024. Or take a deep dive in the following content:
9. Looker Artificial Intelligence
The vendor Looker has a moderate rating in our 100% vendor-independent BI & Analytics survey on the section ‘Artificial Intelligence’ with a score of 32%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: machine learning, R, algorithms, natural language processing, linear regression, business rules, and cognitive services. In total, we examined 181 criteria in this category. Would you like to learn more about the topic ‘Artificial Intelligence’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide 2024.
10. Looker Analytics
The vendor Looker has a moderate rating in our current BI & Analytics survey on the section ‘Analytics’ with a score of 30%, relative to other vendors. The following criteria were used: analytics platform, customer analytics, retail analytics, marketing analytics, HR analytics, process analytics, and performance analytics. In doing so, we looked at the following five products: Looker Data Modeling, Looker Web Analytics, Looker Data Analytics, Looker Retail, and Looker Blocks. In total, we examined 130 criteria in this category. Would you like to learn more about the topic ‘Analytics’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide 2024. Or take a deep dive in the following content:
11. Looker Data Integration
The vendor Looker has a poor performance in our objective BI & Analytics survey on the section ‘Data Integration’. The score amounts to 29%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: data warehousing, data hub, and data virtualization. In total, we examined 76 criteria in this category. Would you like to learn more about the topic ‘Data Integration’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Study 2024.
12. Looker Big Data
The vendor Looker has a poor score in our objective BI & Analytics survey on the subject ‘Big Data’ with a score of 29%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: streaming, unstructured data, sensors, Blob storage, sensor data, big data integration, and big data processing. In total, we examined 59 criteria in this category. Would you like to go into more depth with the topic ‘Big Data’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Study 2024. Or take a deep dive in the following content:
13. Looker Decision Management
The company has a poor performance in our 100% vendor-independent BI & Analytics survey on the subject ‘Decision Management’ with a score of 28%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: performance management, decision support, decision-making platform, enterprise decision management, and real-time decisioning. In total, we examined 30 features within this discipline. Would you like to learn more about the topic ‘Decision Management’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide.
14. Looker Mobile Business Intelligence
The company has a poor performance in our 100% vendor-independent BI & Analytics survey on the section ‘Mobile Business Intelligence’ with a score of 26%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: push notification, mobile server, mobile analytics, mobile dashboards, and mobile push notifications. In total, we examined 10 criteria in this category. Would you like to delve further into the topic ‘Mobile Business Intelligence’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide.
15. Looker Multidimensional Models
The vendor Looker has a poor score in our objective BI & Analytics survey on the subject ‘Multidimensional Models’ with a score of 12%, relative to other vendors. We considered the following factors: OLAP, DAX, ROLAP, MOLAP, and tabular data models. In total, we examined 14 selection criteria within this main theme. Are you planning to specialize further in the topic ‘Multidimensional Models’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide 2024.
Want to know more? Then order the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024 here
In which sectors is Looker BI & Analytics most active?
In our research, we also found out at which industries a supplier has a track record. These are the industries where Looker is most popular: energy, insurance, manufacturing, and retail.
Hire a competent Looker programmer
Education and training course Looker BI & Analytics
We provide various training courses in the field of BI & Analytics but can also provide specific Looker training, for example as in-company. In these sessions, we delve into various software applications including LookML, Looker Studio, and Looker API. Of course, we color such a training with the ideas of the intelligent, data-driven organization.
Final Verdict: Looker Data Analytics scores reasonably well
Looker has a minimal product portfolio with which it scores reasonably well in our BI & Analytics survey. Looker BI & Analytics innovates (approximately) at an average rate of more than 15 features per year, is active (for now) in relatively few sectors, and has developed best in data discovery.
About Passionned Group
Passionned Group specializes in 100% independent BI & Analytics consulting and the implementation of BI & Analytics solutions. Our dedicated and passionate consultants help large & small organizations to advance as intelligent, data-driven organizations.
