Gather objective knowledge about Looker Studio, LookML, and Looker API
Below, we show a concise summary of our recently updated, independent BI & Analytics research on the software vendor Looker and its portfolio of products (such as Looker Studio, LookML, and Looker API). Looker BI & Analytics scores better in our survey than GoodData but quite worse than Hitachi Vantara. Of all the categories in our research, Looker has the best performance in data discovery and has a poor performance in multidimensional models. Within the context of BI & Analytics, we have put together the main advantages and disadvantages of Looker Data Analytics, and present them by component (BI, big data, data analytics, AI, and data science). We also point out the highlights of the main products such as Looker Studio, LookML, and Looker API et cetera.
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 2025. 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 6,060 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.Looker in our BI & Analytics Guide 2025 
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 Looker Studio, LookML, 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 visualization
- embedded analytics
- Google Analytics
- real-time
- SQL
Are you curious about all the functionalities (100+) of Looker Data Analytics? Download directly our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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 Looker Studio?
In this paragraph, we portrait Looker Studio, including some of its features and any related products. This product/group of products can be characterized by the following functionalities:
- analytics
- cloud computing
- dashboards
- data visualization
- Google Analytics
- interactive dashboards
- interactive reports
- pivot tables
- R
- reporting
Do you want to know everything about all elements (100+) of Looker Studio? Download the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 here.
What is LookML?
Under this heading, we report the (main) characteristics of LookML, including some of its features and any related products. This product/group of products can be best defined by the following characteristics:
- analysis
- analytics
- dashboards
- data modeling
- interactive dashboards
- native
- real-time data
- repository
- SQL
- SQL database
Are you curious about all characteristics (100+) of LookML? Download directly our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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:
- analytics
- API authentication
- authentication
- big data
- big data analytics
- dashboards
- JSON
- JSON data
- repository
- SDK
Are you now curious about all properties (100+) of Looker API? In that case, open the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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:
- analysis
- analytics
- analytics platform
- business intelligence
- caching
- dashboards
- real-time
- repository
- Single Sign-On
- SQL
Do you want to know the intricacies of all characteristics (100+) of LookML Dashboards? Then download our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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
- dashboards
- data modeling
- Google Analytics
- machine learning
- retail analytics
- revenue analysis
- Salesforce
- SDK
Do you want to know everything about all elements (100+) of Looker Blocks? Then download our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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
- big data analytics
- business intelligence
- dashboards
- embedded analytics
- real-time
- real-time data
- SDK
- SQL
Are you now curious about all the functionalities (100+) of Looker Server? Download the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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
- analytics platform
- Android
- authentication
- business intelligence
- dashboards
- iOS
- iPad
- iPhone
- share insights
Are you curious about all the functionalities (100+) of Looker mobile? Then order the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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
- business intelligence
- cloud computing
- dashboards
- embedded analytics
- high availability
- interactive dashboards
- real-time
- share insights
- Single Sign-On
Are you now curious about all properties (100+) of Looker Embedded Analytics? Open the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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
- authentication
- business intelligence platform
- CRM
- dashboards
- data discovery
- data modeling
- reporting
- retail analytics
- web analytics
Do you want to know the intricacies of all features (100+) of Looker Retail? In that case, order the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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:
- analytics
- analytics platform
- business intelligence
- business intelligence platform
- caching
- dashboards
- data modeling
- SQL
- SQL database
Do you want to know the intricacies of all the functions (100+) of Looker Data Modeling? Download the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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
- business intelligence
- dashboards
- data visualization
- embedded analytics
- Google Analytics
- Google BigQuery
- marketing analytics
- reporting
- share insights
Are you now curious about all elements (100+) of Looker Marketing Analytics? Download directly our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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
- analytics platform
- big data
- big data analytics
- business intelligence
- dashboards
- data science
- Google Analytics
- web analytics
Do you want to know the intricacies of all the functions (100+) of Looker Web Analytics? Then order the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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
- cloud computing
- dashboards
- marketing analytics
- reporting
- SQL
- web analytics
Are you curious about all characteristics (100+) of Looker Digital Marketing? Download directly our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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 hub > central data hub, analytics > pricing analytics, and AI > conversational AI.
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 Business Intelligence: 1
- Looker Data Analytics: 2024 2023 2022 192 25 24.18 24.16 24.10 24.0 24 23.14 23.12 23.6 23.4.1 23.2 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
- Looker Studio: 2025 2024 june 2024
- LookML: 01
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 Looker Studio, LookML, and Looker API?
It is difficult to determine exactly what a license of Looker Studio, LookML, 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 Looker Studio, LookML, 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: BlinkDB, average trend line, cartesian charts, central data hub, and cognitive computing.
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, Looker Studio, LookML, 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 learning algorithms, advanced analytics, streaming, artificial intelligence, IIS, predictive models, OLAP cubes, customer analytics, prescriptive analytics, and logistic regression). 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 64%, relative to other vendors. The following criteria were used: time series, standard deviation, data storytelling, and share insights. In total, we examined 402 criteria in this category. Would you like to delve further into the topic ‘Data Discovery’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide 2025.
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 57%, relative to other vendors. We used the following selection criteria: reporting and business intelligence platform. In doing so, we looked at the following four products: Looker Data Modeling, Looker Web Analytics, Looker Data Analytics, and Looker Marketing Analytics. 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 2025. 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 50% 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 2025.
4. Looker BI Infrastructure
Looker has a moderate rating in our independent BI & Analytics survey on the subject ‘BI Infrastructure’ with a score of 48%, 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 2025. Or take a deep dive in the following content:
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 2025.
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 38%, 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. Or take a deep dive in the following content:
7. Looker Data Governance
Looker has a moderate performance in our 100% vendor-independent BI & Analytics survey of the theme ‘Data Governance’ with a score of 37%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: data management, data quality, and data catalog. In total, we examined 91 criteria in this category. Would you like to delve further into the topic ‘Data Governance’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide 2025.
8. Looker Real-time Analytics
The company has a moderate performance in our independent BI & Analytics survey on the subject ‘Real-time Analytics’ with a score of 36%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: real-time, real-time data, real-time insights, near real-time, real-time big data, and real-time data warehousing. In total, we examined 19 selection criteria within this main theme. Would you like to learn more about the topic ‘Real-time Analytics’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide 2025. 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 34%, 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 2025.
10. Looker Data Integration
The vendor Looker has a moderate rating in our current BI & Analytics survey on the section ‘Data Integration’ with a score of 33%, relative to other vendors. The following criteria were used: data warehousing, data virtualization, data integration platform, data wrangling, cross-database joins, and Extract-Transform-Load. 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 Guide 2025. Or take a deep dive in the following content:
11. Looker Mobile Business Intelligence
The vendor Looker has a moderate performance in our objective BI & Analytics survey on the section ‘Mobile Business Intelligence’. The score amounts to 31%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: iPad and iPhone. In total, we examined 10 criteria in this category. Would you like to learn more about the topic ‘Mobile Business Intelligence’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Study 2025.
12. Looker Analytics
The vendor Looker has a poor score in our objective BI & Analytics survey on the subject ‘Analytics’ with a score of 29%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: 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: LookML, Looker Data Modeling, Looker Web Analytics, Looker Data Analytics, and Looker API. In total, we examined 130 criteria in this category. Would you like to go into more depth with the topic ‘Analytics’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Study 2025. 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 26%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: performance management, decision support, decision-making platform, real-time decision-making, and enterprise decision management. 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 Big Data
The company has a poor performance in our 100% vendor-independent BI & Analytics survey on the section ‘Big Data’ with a score of 24%, relative to other vendors. We looked at the following criteria, among others: streaming, unstructured data, sensors, Blob storage, and sensor data. In total, we examined 59 criteria in this category. Would you like to delve further into the topic ‘Big Data’? Then download here our BI & Analytics Guide. Or take a deep dive in the following content:
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 20%, 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 2025.
Want to know more? Then order the BI & Analytics Guide™ 2025 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. This is the sector where Looker is (very) popular: health care.
Looker software is most used by…
The BI & Analytics software from Looker is most often mentioned in combination with the following functions/roles: data scientists, Database Administrators, and product manager.
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 Looker Studio, LookML, 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 a 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.
