Looker Studio vs Microsoft Power BI vs Qlik Sense comparison

Why PeerSpot?

The compared Google and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. Google is ranked #10 in RT , with an average rating of 7.8, and holds a 2.5% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #1 in BIT , with an average rating of 8.3, and holds a 7.1% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Looker Studio

Read 16 Looker Studio reviews

3,979 Views
2,547 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Microsoft Power BI

Read 332 Microsoft Power BI reviews

39,361 Views
16,925 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Qlik Sense

Read 126 Qlik Sense reviews

13,106 Views
7,208 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Looker Studio

Microsoft Power BI

Qlik Sense

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Looker Studio, Microsoft Power BI, and Qlik Sense based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Salesforce, Plotly and others in Reporting.

To learn more, read our detailed Reporting Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Reporting

September 2026

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Helped 912,788 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Mindshare comparison

Reporting Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Looker Studio	2.5%
Tableau Enterprise	13.7%
Microsoft Power BI	12.7%
Other	71.1%

Reporting

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Power BI	7.1%
Tableau Enterprise	5.8%
SAP Business Data Cloud	3.0%
Other	84.1%

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

Data Visualization Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Qlik Sense	4.7%
Tableau Enterprise	9.3%
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence	3.8%
Other	82.2%

Data Visualization

Featured Reviews

Heron Ziegel

Project Engineer at Quartz Consulting Group

Has supported quick dashboard creation and data sharing but lacks tools for managing multiple reports efficiently

We integrated Looker Studio with other platforms in our data ecosystem; we tried integrating with Sheets, and that went okay, but it could have been better. It could have been better because it needed a very specific format to read the data, so we had to reformat the sheet file. Looker Studio was mostly just helpful in that it provided live updating charts for tracking performance indicators in the organization. Integrating with a database was very difficult because there wasn't a lot of feedback for what was going wrong with the connection. I don't remember if we reached out to support. I didn't personally reach out, but my boss may have. I didn't reach out to support, so I do not have experience with it to rate it. We worked with the free version of Looker Studio initially, and we upgraded at some point to the pro version; I don't remember if we actually paid for it or if it was just a free trial. The pricing was reasonable. I remember doing a price comparison, and it was pretty reasonable, but it did have fewer features than a lot of other software, which was okay for a comparable price but a little cheaper.

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Hemanthreddy Vakiti

Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Interactive dashboards have transformed restaurant data into faster daily business decisions

Microsoft Power BI has many features and there is not a lot to improve. However, the licensing can be confusing. When deciding between Pro and Premium, I find it difficult to distinguish what features are offered by Pro and what features are offered by Premium, including the particular differences to choose between both licensing models. Additionally, some features such as DAX, which I mentioned previously, involve DAX calculations and complex data modeling, which are somewhat advanced and not easily understandable. Prior knowledge is required or you need to go through the documentation. If the documentation is made comprehensive so that anyone with no knowledge on DAX can easily use it by going through the documentation, it would be really helpful. Additionally, if the integration with non-Microsoft tools is improved and performance is optimized, then Microsoft Power BI can become a top-ranked visualization tool. The user experience with Microsoft Power BI is quite good. The intuitive user interface makes it easy for both technical and non-technical users to create reports. However, only the advanced features are somewhat complex, and if the documentation is improved, it can be easily accessible.

Read full review

Saranya Deepthi

Project Engineer at Wipro

Improved AI-driven dashboards have accelerated decisions but still need better visuals and faster refresh

Absolutely, nothing is entirely positive, and everything has both advantages and disadvantages. When I worked with Qlik Sense, circular charts were not available, which meant I had to look for alternative solutions that would be reliable or make the functionality work. There are some features that need to be added. Additionally, there is a limit to the number of fields that can be added in Qlik Sense, and I believe it would be beneficial if they increased the count for fields and columns. There might be requirements where an Excel file contains many columns that need to be displayed as visual representations to clients, and in those situations, it becomes very difficult and I have to use alternative approaches. When this problem arose, I used HTML code to write a solution and make it work. Qlik Sense should avoid these types of limitations in future updates. Another issue is page resolution. If a client wants to view the dashboard on a single page without scrolling, bar charts appear small and the values in KPIs, bar charts, scatter plots, and line graphs cannot be seen very clearly. Adding more extensions to make the job easier would also be beneficial. Improvements to reporting would be helpful as well, because working with large datasets makes reporting very difficult. Additionally, when data is refreshed, it cannot be completed in a short timeframe. Refreshing very large datasets can take one, two, or even three hours, so reducing the refresh time would be very useful for customers.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"This solution is a powerful way to have several tools integrated at one location and convert data into beautiful reports that can be easily edited and viewed."

"The ability to design complex data models and equations."

"What I appreciate about Looker Studio is mostly the clean visuals, which is good, as I prefer a dashboard with a clean aesthetic rather than feeling sort of an old Windows type of dashboard."

"I find it favorable regarding speed of development, ease of building, and flexibility."

"We previously used Microsoft Power BI, but Google is better."

"The company dashboard is useful because we could share it via a link as a reminder for everyone to check it weekly. We observed the progress of our portfolio from last week to the current week, allowing us to compare revenues."

"The fact that Looker Studio is free and has a free tier was probably the biggest benefit; it is very accessible and not too difficult to use."

"Looker's ability to perform aggregation before visualization allows for effective data slicing and dicing."

More Looker Studio pros

"The solution is very easy to use."

"Microsoft BI was very helpful for me because I had a huge variety of connections."

"When we are introducing Microsoft BI to our clients, if they're familiar with Excel, the transition phase will be much easier for them. They can easily switch from Microsoft Excel to Microsoft BI. The core foundation or the base technology is the same in both tools. There are a few limitations in Microsoft Excel, and this is where Microsoft BI comes in."

"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"We have found the product to be scalable."

"The most valuable feature of Power BI is its ability to provide customized visualizations and insights tailored to specific business needs."

"The querying capabilities are the most valuable because they allow me to build many automations. We have many workflows and many databases that we work on a daily basis. They need to be updated quite quickly. In order to not to take much of our time doing these updates manually, I have set up these automations using the systems. The process is just to ingest the data and reprocess it. Every time I click a button, everything is updated in almost real time. It is by far the easiest system not only for querying but also for data modeling, data visualization, and deployment. It is light years ahead of Tableau and even Microsoft Excel to do these kinds of things. It is very easy to use and set up, and it has a lot of videos on the internet."

More Microsoft Power BI pros

"We have found the use of AI to be the most valuable feature."

"Qlik Sense has given us visibility into our data to make informed decisions."

"The most valuable feature is that all pieces work together as a platform that allows you to easily provide BI solutions."

"Some of the valuable areas of this solution include producing individual reports and closing the gap."

"The fast and intuitive interactivity of charts and dashboards and the ability to create your own stories in a report."

"The most valuable feature is the user experience."

"We have been using Qlik Sense to generate reports that have taken hours to prepare before that we are now able to update in a couple of minutes and are available to users on a centralized platform where they are able to get the required reports."

"Fast implementation, easy to use and allows users to make their own analysis in a very simple way."

More Qlik Sense pros

Cons

"Stability and scalability an be improved for a full ten."

"The performance of Looker needs improvement, particularly the report loading time, which is critical for business users."

"It's not yet a replacement for a complete BI tool."

"Other tools might be worth considering if you need more advanced features or support for a larger user base."

"The tool has a lot of room for improvement. It's not very professional and allows for only simple tasks like indicating KPIs or quick calculations. It lacks a good calculation-based language like Power BI's DAX, making it less suitable for professional use. Additionally, the variety of visualization tools is limited, and customization options are restricted."

"Insisting on forums, blogs and community outreach in communications, and posting videos on an established calendar would be useful."

"There is a significant degree of sophistication required to compete with Tableau or Cognos."

"Looker Studio did not fit our needs for scalability."

More Looker Studio cons

"The setup took a lot of tinkering with InfoSec to allow us to do stuff."

"The few things I mention below constitute very strong reasons why Microsoft has essentially abandoned the platform and why I agree with them."

"Whenever you work on the same dashboard or on the same code, Microsoft Power BI doesn't have a good architecture that allows multiple people to work on the same project."

"There is no column-level security in Microsoft BI, and this is a feature that most of our customers are looking for. That is something that should be implemented."

"I face performance issues with Microsoft Power BI, which are unsolvable. There is a lack of features between the on-premises and cloud version, which poses a challenge for me."

"It would be better if they had some video tutorials. Most people from an Excel background may struggle with measures in Microsoft BI."

"The UI looks awkward once the graphs have been generated in the console. They should make the graphs more user-friendly, because other parts of Microsoft Power BI are user-friendly, but the graphical representations aren't."

"The solution's documentation needs improvement."

More Microsoft Power BI cons

"As we are a very process-oriented company, we would like to see more extensions maintained from Qlik, because it's a huge budget problem to choose the right one."

"We have faced some issues with NPrinting, so I feel there is some improvement needed such that it would allow the use of variables and calculative fields from Qlik."

"Qlik Sense should have a conversion tool which automatically converts QlikView to Qlik Sense, so customers can easily migrate between the products of Qlik."

"The user experience needs to be improved."

"Being able to share and modifying on the fly can be improved."

"Qlik dashboards are not friendly with end-users, but they have been enhancing this shorted in some recent releases and next releases hopefully."

"Power BI is more user-friendly than Qlik Sense."

"There is room for improvement in the learning curve when getting started, but training resources have been growing."

More Qlik Sense cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is quite affordable based on feature analysis."

"The product is available for free."

"I think the tool is cheap because you don't need to pay anything for using the tool. However, when connecting and analyzing other data sources, you should consider where to analyze this information because Google Data Studio doesn't handle much data well. You must also consider how you will connect this data to it. In this case, you might need to hire DevOps or a data team to help with these issues."

"The solution is free but the Google Looker is expensive."

"The tool is free."

"I would rate them 4 out of 5 for their current pricing. There are no additional costs to the standard licensing fees."

"The solution is priced well for what they offer. However, the premium version is very expensive."

"I very much recommend the free trial mode."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"It's straightforward licensing."

"I think it's a good price, from what I've heard. I know it's competitive with other Power BI tools."

"We pay for users who are publishing on the cloud. The desktop version is free. Its licensing is on a yearly basis."

"The price for this solution is reasonable. However, there is an additional cost if you want to publish the dashboard privately."

More Microsoft Power BI pricing and cost advice

"For personal use, the desktop version of Qlik Sense is absolutely free, and you can share visualizations with others and to a personal cloud space, though limited with storage space."

"QlikSense offers a Hybrid environment architecture, which is very cost effective based on where the enterprise data resides."

"Currently, our ROI is clear and concise decision-making. This timely addition will easily add $15 million to our bottom line in 2017."

"Qlik Sense pricing and licensing is like that of QlikView. It's on the high side for a small company, but it’s competitive among its peers. Use of licenses (referred to as tokens) is a bit confusing. There is a login access pass for infrequent or anonymous access."

"It is a little expensive for the Italian market. Normally, Qlik Sense has two types and costs. The medium cost is around 700 euros per year."

"Know your needs when going into the purchasing decision."

"The cost is not bad considering the flexibility and support you receive from Qlik. I believe it is worth the cost."

"The new licensing model is much better."

More Qlik Sense pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user79932

Senior Manager - BI Head with 5,001-10,000 employees

Feb 4, 2015

Comparison of SAP BO, Tableau, QlikView, Cognos, Microsoft, OBIEE and Pentaho

1. SAP BO/BI Enterprise scalability Security Ease of use Semantic layer 2. Tableau Visualization Data discovery Turnaround time 3. IBM Cognos Enterprise scalability Security In-memory feature 4. MS BI - Flexibility 5. Pentaho - Open source but still enterprise grade 6. QlikView Data…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

14%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

18%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	137
Midsize Enterprise	59
Large Enterprise	171

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	34
Midsize Enterprise	40
Large Enterprise	89

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Google Data Studio?

I would appreciate improvements in the data modeling features, as it's not straightforward, and it's not what people ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Google Data Studio?

I used Looker Studio mainly for reporting, where I created multiple dashboards on it. I wouldn't say I made the most ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Google Data Studio?

I confirm that we have a call regarding my experience with Zoho. Looker Studio is a good visualization tool, but I wo...

See all answers

Seeking lightweight open source BI software

There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I wou...

See all answers

Is Power BI a complete platform or only a visualization tool?

Power BI is an advanced visualization tool oriented to big data with a very complete set of widgets to visualize info...

See all answers

How does Oracle OBIEE compare with Microsoft BI?

Oracle OBIEE is great in allowing design and creativity per the individual needs of the organization. Dashboards are ...

See all answers

Seeking lightweight open source BI software

It depends on the Data architecture and the complexity of your requirement. Some great tools in the market are Qlik ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qlik Sense?

It is not about performance. It is just about how expensive it is to implement.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Qlik Sense?

Everything depends on the use case, but I would prefer Power BI because of how mainstream it is. There is not much in...

See all answers

Comparisons

Tableau Enterprise vs Looker Studio

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs Looker Studio

Compared 8% of the time

RStudio Connect vs Looker Studio

Compared 7% of the time

Zendesk vs Looker Studio

Compared 6% of the time

Knowage vs Looker Studio

Compared 2% of the time

More Looker Studio Competitors

Amazon QuickSight vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 15% of the time

Tableau Enterprise vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 10% of the time

Domo vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 6% of the time

IBM Cognos vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 2% of the time

Oracle Essbase vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 1% of the time

More Microsoft Power BI Competitors

Tableau Enterprise vs Qlik Sense

Compared 6% of the time

Apache Superset vs Qlik Sense

Compared 5% of the time

OpenText Intelligence vs Qlik Sense

Compared 4% of the time

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence vs Qlik Sense

Compared 3% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs Qlik Sense

Compared 3% of the time

More Qlik Sense Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Looker Studio

September 2026

Download Looker Studio product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI

August 2026

Download Microsoft Power BI product report

Buyer's Guide

Qlik Sense

August 2026

Download Qlik Sense product report

Also Known As

Data Studio

SSRS, SSAS, MSBI, MS Reporting Services, Microsoft BI Tools, Microsoft Big Data, Power BI Pro, MS BI

QlikSense, Qlik Analytics Platform

Overview

Looker Studio offers seamless integration with Google products, supporting business visualization and collaboration through efficient data management and analytics, catering to teams aiming for quick analytics solutions.

Looker Studio combines diverse data source integration including SQL and MongoDB with powerful visualization and custom filter creation. Users find its visuals clean and its platform user-friendly, enhanced by collaboration features and pricing. It aids decision-making and is popular for tracking metrics and analyzing sales funnels. Despite its strengths, users seek faster report loading, simpler data modeling, and better interface usability. Advertising system limitations, delayed data reflections, and integration challenges affect performance. Security and stability improvements alongside a richer data modeling layer are desirable, with pricing impacting large organizations.

What are the most important features of Looker Studio?

Google Integration: Easily integrates with Google products for efficient workflow.
Diverse Data Sources: Connects to databases like SQL and MongoDB.
Custom Filters: Offers flexible filter options for tailored analyses.
Data Visualization: Enables powerful, clear visual data representation.
Collaboration: Supports team collaboration for shared insights.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Ease of Use: Accessibility and user-friendly operation for teams.
Decision-Making Support: Facilitates informed business decisions.
Flexibility: Adapts to different business analytics needs.
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive pricing for budget-conscious teams.

Looker Studio supports business visualization for different industries, creating dashboards and reports for sales and marketing analysis. It's used to track metrics and sales funnels from sources like Google Sheets and BigQuery. Many companies integrate Looker Studio within web apps, providing data insights tailored to sectors such as e-commerce, finance, and more.

Google

Microsoft Power BI is a powerful tool for data analysis and visualization. This tool stands out for its ability to merge and analyze data from various sources. Widely adopted across different industries and departments, Power BI is instrumental in creating visually appealing dashboards and generating insightful business intelligence reports. Its intuitive interface, robust visualization capabilities, and seamless integration with other Microsoft applications empower users to easily create interactive reports and gain valuable insights.

Microsoft

Qlik Sense offers drag-and-drop dashboard creation, multi-data source integration, and self-service analytics. Users benefit from associative data modeling and real-time insights. The platform enhances quick deployment across any device with its flexibility and ease of use.

Qlik Sense provides rapid dashboard creation and seamless multi-data source integration, supporting real-time analytics and high-speed ETL capabilities. Users enjoy advanced visualizations and natural language processing within an intuitive interface. The solution's in-memory engine ensures fast data processing while offering flexibility and quick deployment on all devices. Its open API facilitates extensive customization and integration with chatbots and third-party extensions.

What are the key features of Qlik Sense?

Rapid Dashboard Creation: Enables quick creation of insightful dashboards using a drag-and-drop interface.
Multi-Data Source Integration: Supports seamless integration across various data sources for comprehensive analysis.
Self-Service Analytics: Empowers users with intuitive tools for independent data exploration and insights generation.
Associative Data Modeling: Enhances understanding of complex datasets and relationships.
Advanced Visualizations: Offers sophisticated visual options to present data clearly and engagingly.
Real-Time Insights: Provides up-to-the-minute data analysis capabilities.
Open API Integration: Allows extensive customization and integration with third-party tools.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Fast Deployment: Enjoys rapid setup and integration across devices, facilitating immediate data access.
Enhanced Flexibility: Customization options allow tailored solutions that meet specific user needs.
Comprehensive Integration: Capable of integrating multiple data sources, improving analytical scope.
Improved Data Accessibility: Offers easy access and understanding of complex data.
Automation Efficiency: Streamlines reporting and analytics tasks, boosting productivity.

In industries such as finance and sales, Qlik Sense enables interactive data analyses and dashboard creation across departments. It supports business intelligence for financial reporting, sales analysis, and decision-making. By automating reporting and combining data from multiple sources, it facilitates users in generating insights and enhancing data accessibility for informed business decisions.

Qlik

Sample Customers

Genesys, Shueisha

Accenture Adidas Aetna AIG Airbus Alibaba Allstate Amazon American Express Aon AT&T Audi Bank of America BASF Bayer Berkshire Hathaway Boeing Coca-Cola Comcast Cisco Coca-Cola Dell Disney Emirates Equinix FedEx Ford GE Google H&M Home Depot Honda IBM Intel JPMorgan Chase Kellogg's Kroger L'Oréal McDonald's Merck MetLife Microsoft Nike Oracle P&G PepsiCo Procter & Gamble Prudential Financial SAP Siemens Snapchat Spotify Starbucks Target Toyota T-Mobile Unilever Visa Walmart WeWork World Bank Xerox

Abbvie, Airbus, Barclays, BT Openreach, BMW, Daimler AG, HSBC, IKEA, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Mail Group, Sanofi, Siemens, Wendy'', Vodafone, Volvo

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Salesforce, Plotly and others in Reporting. Updated: September 2026.

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