Looker and Microsoft Power BI are two popular business intelligence software solutions. Each software has robust features so companies can make better decisions based on their data.
Here, we compare Looker and Power BI on several factors.
What is the Difference Between Looker and Power BI?
- While both software solutions are deployed in the cloud, Power BI is only available in the Microsoft Azure environment. Looker, on the other hand, can be deployed in multiple cloud environments (e.g., Azure, Google Cloud, AWS).
- Looker has premium support offerings, while Power BI does not.
Product Overviews
The following excerpts from our Looker and Power BI reviews summarize each software solution:
Looker
Google Cloud’s Looker Data Platform is a data-discovery platform that helps companies make better business decisions through real-time access to data. Data, no matter the size, can be analyzed within Looker’s 100% in-database and 100% browser-based platform. Looker analytics integrate with any SQL database or data warehouse, such as Amazon Athena, Greenplum and Microsoft Azure SQL Data Warehouse.
The platform is accessible on any browser as well as on mobile devices – reports and data can be shared via email or URLs. Data can be integrated into different applications such as Google Docs, Excel, and even customer and third-party applications. It can also be manually exported in .csv or text files.
Power BI
Microsoft Power BI is a cloud-based business intelligence and analytics service that provides users with a full overview of your most critical data. Connecting to all of your data sources, Power BI simplifies data evaluation and sharing with scalable dashboards, interactive reports, embedded visuals and more.
There are several versions. Power BI Desktop is an on-premise solution that connects to a cloud-based service to easily upload and share data and information across the company. Power BI Mobile has the same capabilities, but in an app, so you can have a 360-degree view of your company anytime, anywhere.
Power BI has two additional versions with advanced features: Power BI Pro and Power BI Premium. Power BI Pro allows users to share insights with collaborators. They can analyze data by using conversational language (the Q&A feature) and get insights from pre-built visualization and reporting templates. Users can share data in other Microsoft platforms like Teams or Dynamics 365. Power BI Premium allows an organization’s internal or external users (e.g., clients) to view Power BI reports without a license. It also empowers users to prepare and transform big datasets.
Features Comparisons
Data Preparation
Looker
Looker connects with over 50 SQL-compliant databases (e.g., Google BigQuery, Amazon RedShift, Snowflake). Its proprietary LookML data modeling tool lets users develop custom data models. After connecting with a SQL database, Looker automatically creates a basic LookML model. Users can then build on that model by adding in their own code or by selecting from over 100 pre-built Looker Blocks, as well as customizing the model with unique metrics. The LookML model can be saved for future use, so users won’t need to write SQL queries each time. LookML can also perform any data transformations at the time of the query, so users won’t need to manually store the data elsewhere.
Power BI
Power BI connects with over 100 cloud-based and on-premise data sources (e.g., Excel, Salesforce, Azure SQL database). It includes automated daily refreshes, so data stays up to date. Note that the amount of daily refreshes depends on the tier: Power BI Pro performs up to eight refreshes per day, while Power BI Premium refreshes data up to 48 times daily. Users can prepare their data with the Power Query tool. Power Query has prebuilt transformation functions (e.g., removing columns, filtering rows) that users can simply select from within the interface. If a user needs to add a new transformation function, Power Query automatically adds in an M code, so the user doesn’t need to write any new code.
Bottom Line
Both software solutions connect with a variety of data sources. However, their data transformation features are different. Users won’t need to perform any data transformation within Looker as the software handles that automatically. But there’s minimal data transformation work that Power BI users will need to perform manually.
Data Visualizations and Dashboards
Looker
Looker has interactive visualizations and dashboards that let users drill down into the data at row-level detail. It includes a library of visualization templates in different formats (e.g., timelines, funnel, combined charts, treemaps), but users can build their own visualizations, too. It also includes a drag-and-drop functionality for users to explore and ask questions in their data. Users can also take action or complete a task directly in their data, such as sending an email or a Slack chat, with the Actions feature that has prebuilt integrations for third-party software systems.
Power BI
Users can create visualizations using the drag-and-drop tool by choosing from many templates from Microsoft and third-party providers or by creating their own. They can create mobile-optimized reports by selecting the Phone Layout button, and then adjusting the chart or graph. The Power BI Pro tier lets users share the reports with their external or internal colleagues. Those colleagues can add comments to the visualization, as well as subscribe for updates or alerts.
Bottom Line
Both software solutions have robust visualization and dashboard options, but Looker currently doesn’t offer the ability for other users to add their comments to the visualization, while Power BI does. We do want to note that due to its Actions features, Looker users can perform tasks in their data without logging onto their third-party system account, while Power BI doesn’t have this functionality.
Embedded Analytics
Looker
Companies can offer their clients and employees the opportunity to analyze data within their existing third-party application. Developers can build their app with Looker’s native integrations and public APIs, and they can also collaborate using Git version-control and workflow features. Companies can grow their revenue streams by offering product tiers that feature customization, ad hoc analysis, data granularity and admin reporting functionalities.
Power BI
With Power BI Embedded on Azure, developers and software vendors can insert Power BI into their software application using JavaScript SDK, and monitor performance and automations with REST APIs. Some of its features include custom-built visuals, the ability for end users to create and edit dashboards, and single- and multi-tenant deployment with row-level security.
Bottom Line
Looker has a multi-cloud data platform, but Power BI can only be deployed in the Microsoft Azure environment.
Pricing
Looker
Google Cloud offers pay-as-you-go pricing for the Standard edition of Looker (Google Cloud core), which costs $5,000 per month. Pricing for the Enterprise and Embed editions are available by quote.
Google Cloud also provides user licenses. A Developer user license costs $125 per user, per month, a Standard user license costs $60 per user, per month and a Viewer user license costs ($30 per user, per month).
Power BI
Power BI Desktop is free to individual users. Here’s the pricing for Power BI Pro and Power BI Premium:
- Pro – The Pro version costs $10 per user, per month and includes a mobile app, the ability to publish and share reports, a 1 GB model size limit, eight data refreshes daily, the ability to connect to over 100 data sources, embedded APIs and controls, AI visuals, data security and encryption, metrics for content creation and publishing and up to 10 GB per user maximum storage. Pro is available for free for companies that have the Microsoft 365 E5 solution.
- Premium (per user) – The Premium per user plan costs $20 per user, per month. It includes all of the features of the Pro plan, plus paginated reports, a 100 GB model size limit, 48 data refreshes daily, advanced AI features, XMLA endpoint read/write connectivity, data flows, the ability to analyze data stored in Azure Data Lake Storage, application lifecycle management and up to 100 TB of maximum storage.
- Premium (per capacity) – This version starts at $4,995 per month, per dedicated cloud compute and storage resource. It includes all of the features of the Premium per user plan, plus on-premise reporting, a 400 GB model limit, multi-location deployment management, Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) and autoscale add-on.
Bottom Line
We’d like to note that in the past, Looker’s pricing has been only available by quote. That has recently changed as Google Cloud now displays pricing info for the Looker Standard edition and its user licenses. Prospects interested in the Enterprise and Embed editions will need a tailored quote.
Customer Support
Looker
Google Cloud provides basic support that’s included in the subscription price, such as documentation, a community forum, Active Assist Recommendations (tools that generate insights and recommendations to help optimize customer’s usage of Google Cloud products) and access to billing specialist for payment/billing questions. Then, Google Cloud Customer Care offers a range of support services for additional fees. Those services are:
Standard – The Standard support costs $29 per month plus 3% of monthly charges. It includes:
- Initial response times: Priority 2 cases within four hours; Priority 3 cases within eight hours; Priority 4 cases within eight hours
- 8/5 service for high-impact issues
- Unlimited individual access to support
- Multi-channel billing and tech support
- Active Assist Recommendations API
Enhanced – The Enhanced support costs $500 per month plus 3% of monthly charges. It adds on:
- Initial response times: Priority 1 cases within one hour; Priority 2 cases within four hours; Priority 3 cases within eight hours; Priority 4 cases within eight hours
- 24/7 response for critical-impact and high-impact issues
- Availability in English, Japanese, Mandarin, Chinese and Korean (Standard support is only available in English)
- Technical support escalations
- Cloud support API
- Third-party technology support
Premium – The Enhanced support costs $12,500 per month plus 4% of monthly charges. It adds on:
- Initial response times: Priority 1 cases within 15 minutes; Priority 2 cases within two hours; Priority 3 cases within four hours; Priority 4 cases within eight hours
- Google Cloud Skills Boost
- Event management service
- Operational health reviews
- Customer aware support (learning about and maintaining information about customer’s architecture, partners, and Google Cloud projects in order to provide efficient support)
- Technical account management
Power BI
Microsoft offers several resources:
- FAQs
- In-depth documentation on tools and features
- Guided learning courses
- A community forum
- Samples of Power BI reports and dashboards
In addition, Power BI Pro users can submit a support ticket.
Bottom Line
Google Cloud provides premium support offerings, while Microsoft does not.
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