BI Tools-Power BI Vs Tableau Vs Google Data Studio Vs Looker

In this post, we will review the comparison among the most popular BI tools. Big data is only as useful to the team as the perspectives and learnings we can imagine. The good thing is that data visualization tools are available to help us make a beautiful sense of all the numbers.

Companies use software for data visualization to have a better sense of their business data. By using Business Intelligence software, you can do lots of cool things with the data, like interact, analyze, and present it.

In its truest sense, BI software makes the data come alive.

There is wide array of tools for visualizing data. 

They come with range of features and usages that enable you to make the data more visual. All you need to do is pick one which is best suited for your needs. Still, with all the options, this can be bit daunting.

To help you search, we’ve created this post to compare the four most used BI tools: Power BI, Tableau, Google Data Studio, and Looker. 

With that out of the way, here is the comparison of the leading tools – Power BI, Tableau, Looker, and Google Data Studio.

Power BI

Power BI is suite of software for visualizing data. It also has huge applications with business analytics. It offers tools for easy analysis, visualization, and transformation of data. This includes the ability to build reusable models. 

Power BI offers a user-friendly interface and excellent capabilities for visualizing data.

The Power BI logo

Who Should Use Power BI?

If your company uses Microsoft tools and you have a team of Excel power users, then Power BI at a low price point would probably work well for you.

Additionally, the free version is more suited to individual users. This is true because it comes with limited storage and capabilities. Teams that want more capacity, quicker refresh cycles, and collaboration features should go with the Pro package.

Pros of Using Power BI

Let us discuss some of the most essential pros of Power BI.

1. Power BI Is Affordable

major advantage of using Power BI for analyzing and visualizing data is that it is reliable and relatively inexpensive.

2. Powe BI Offers Custom Visualizations

The Windows Store offers customized graphics. It provides a wide array of concept visualizations. Furthermore, you can use Power BI custom visualizations in your reports and dashboards in addition to the general collection of available visualizations.

3. Power BI Integrates with Excel

Integration with Excel helps users view and interact with the raw data behind Power BI visualization.

4. Data Connectivity Is Easy with Power BI

It can import data from almost all data sources.

5. Power BI Embedded

Power BI Embedded is another positive aspect of Power BI. An app developer can use this tool to integrate or implement Power BI reports and functionality into web-based or other applications.

Cons of Power BI

  1. Free-version limitations can be frustrating;
  2. Could not be exported to PowerPoint by third party visuals;
  3. It could be challenging if you are not a powerful Excel user.

Tableau

Tableau is a tool for visualization that helps companies to turn their data into ideas that can lead to action.

This platform enables the relation of data from virtually any source in almost any format. In particular, an interactive visual analytics dashboard can be created with simple drag and drop. And with it, data can be transformed into graphs, maps, charts, and other visualizations.

The Tableau Logo

Who Should Use Tableau?

Data analysts, or anyone needing to make sense of any business data, can use Tableau to read data quickly and gain valuable insights. The tool can be a useful way for companies with many clients to keep track of development.

Using Tableau doesn’t require coding skills. With cloud hosting service, it may also be good option for those who don’t want to have more on-site software installed.

Pros of Using Tableau

Below are the pros of using Tableau:

1. Tableau Offers High Performance

The enormous advantage of having Tableau is the possibility to create different forms of visualization at a single time. Therefore, its performance is high.

2. Extensive Customer Resources:

Tableau has a large percentage of mobile BI users who regularly deploy. It is putting a great deal of effort into building a healthy mobile customer.

3. Quality Customer Service:

Tableau has a user and developer community where the queries are answered quickly. Therefore, it has good quality customer support.

4. Ease of use:

It is easy to use because it is a simple software with a great user interface. The drag-and-drop interface is also simple, which is very easy to learn.

Cons of Tableau

  1. Dashboards can sometimes be a bit slow;
  2. Somewhat limited graphs;
  3. It may take long to load larger data files.

Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio is a free tool for visualizing data. It is designed to help people bring their data to life. Because the app is by Google, it conveniently integrates with other Google apps, such as Sheets and AdWords. In the same way, you can also upload data from many other sources. If you already have a Google Account, setting everything up is quick and simple.

The Google Data Studio Logo

Who Should Use Google Data Studio?

Google Data Studio is an excellent data visualization tool that is free to use, particularly for startups and entrepreneurs. It is also suitable for consumer use, with its ability to create a wide variety of visual reports custom made.

Pros of Google Data Studio

  1. Free to use
  2. Easy for creating simple charts
  3. Data can be loaded from many sources
  4. Clean interface

Cons of Google Data Studio

  1. Based on what you’re trying to do, there may be some learning curve.
  2. Connections can sometimes be disconnected from third-party data sources, which results in data being lost.

Looker

Looker is a business intelligence and data visualization platform that is one hundred percent in-database, capitalizing on real-time results on the fastest and most current analytical datasets.

In other words, users can easily customize and create an array of interactive visualizations from the platform’s variety of charts and graphs.

The Logo of Looker

Who Should Use Looker?

Looker is a useful business intelligence tool for teams across almost all business divisions and, therefore, the tool is a good choice for anyone looking for something easy to use but still offers plenty of informative visual information.

Pros of Using Looker

  1. Good customer support
  2. Easy to use
  3. Databases and big data system integration

Cons of Using Looker

  1. Often larger dashboards take little longer to load;
  2. Not so versatile, because of its simplicity;
  3. Without an external resource, it’s a very manual process to get your marketing data into Looker. You can however either use spreadsheets or build in-house APIs (which is very resource-intensive.)

Conclusion

If you’re in the market for a business intelligence platform with data visualization capabilities to help you make sense of all your data, you will likely want to review this list, comparing Power BI vs. Tableau vs. Google Data Studio vs. Looker.

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