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Looker Studio vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Looker Studio
Ranking in Reporting
9th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft SQL Server Report...
Ranking in Reporting
4th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Looker Studio is 2.9%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is 3.4%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Reporting
 

Featured Reviews

Vijay Subramanyam - PeerSpot reviewer
The ability to perform aggregation before visualization allows for effective data slicing and dicing
Looker's ability to perform aggregation before visualization allows for effective data slicing and dicing. The seamless integration with Excel and Google Sheets and custom filter creation features facilitate detailed trend reports and analysis. Looker has significantly improved productivity by reducing the time spent on creating summary reports from weeks to a day.
MartinSimons - PeerSpot reviewer
Ensures database access and monitoring have been manageable, but batch load analysis needs better support
There are occasions during maintenance runs when the Check Point monitoring system reports a lot of blocked sessions. This is typically due to system processes or maintenance processes that temporarily block themselves. Additionally, a tool within the studio for performing SQL analysis does not provide useful information for batch load processes, often advising not to use an index, which is expected with batch loads.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would rate this solution eight or nine out of ten."
"The product's initial setup phase is very simple."
"Valuable features include advanced integrated analysis and easy implementation."
"This has improved our organization by allowing people to see their data and develop visualizations themselves."
"The solution is free so that is a good feature."
"The integration with Excel and Google Sheets is a valuable feature, making it easy to access and visualize data."
"The ability to integrate with a great variety of data sources."
"The best thing about the tool is that it allows you to share information easily and dashboards with colleagues and teammates because it's all online. No matter where you are, as long as you have the Internet, you can connect and use these dashboards. Google made good documentation for this tool. There are many examples of how to use and create dashboards and videos on YouTube. So, I think it's easy to learn."
"With SQL Server Reporting Services, I can create reports and printable reports, known as paginated reports."
"The solution is known for its robust security features."
"I am impressed with the product's seamless integration. It can work with different databases like Oracle."
"We can create quality reports in real time."
"I'm very satisfied with the customer service. And usually, whenever we have any issue or details, we get to the person for the support. I'm really satisfied with the service. Within a few minutes or within a few hours, the support person will be available."
"I mainly use the solution for the ease of reporting and for executive dashboards."
"The solution's features are all just wrapped up in one nice easy package. I don't need a lot of toolsets to get everything I need done."
"It is scalable."
 

Cons

"Stability and scalability an be improved for a full ten."
"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."
"Other tools might be worth considering if you need more advanced features or support for a larger user base."
"There are issues with integration and I encountered limits and warnings, especially with my pivot table size."
"The challenges with Google Data Studio are associated with the security part, making it an area where improvements are required."
"There is a significant degree of sophistication required to compete with Tableau or Cognos."
"It's not yet a replacement for a complete BI tool."
"The performance of Looker needs improvement, particularly the report loading time, which is critical for business users."
"In this solution, the cost should be reduced for the enterprise edition."
"We have had issues with the refresh interval since we have too many reports scheduled. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is also expensive."
"It is not easy to integrate the product with other tools in the market."
"The product should improve its performance."
"It doesn't have quite the flexibility of a Tableau or something like that. Many users are more comfortable with Tableau and I'm not quite sure why that is right now, but it seems to be the case."
"I would like the solution to add the scheduling feature for reports."
"Technical support is in minor need of improvement so that they can solve problems in a more timely manner."
"I haven't contacted Microsoft technical support because of this tool, but for some other things I have, and I found them quite lacking."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is quite affordable based on feature analysis."
"The solution is free but the Google Looker is expensive."
"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 tool is free."
"The product is available for free."
"The product pricing is reasonable in terms of suitable features for business."
"The price is pretty good."
"The solution is cheaper than its alternatives."
"The solution is free to use for developers."
"The tool's licensing costs are expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"The pricing is high."
"Value-wise, the solution's pricing is good for the price that we pay."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Data Studio?
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, all...
What needs improvement with Google Data Studio?
From the perspective of infrastructure, I cannot provide a valuable opinion on the ease of use and customization options of Looker Studio. I can ask our designers how they feel since they have expe...
What is your primary use case for Google Data Studio?
We use Looker and Looker Studio, as Looker licenses Looker Studio for data presentation and reporting. With GCP, we use Cloud Functions, Cloud Run, Kubernetes, and we utilize BigQuery extensively. ...
What do you like most about Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?
I mainly use the solution for the ease of reporting and for executive dashboards.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?
I would consider it cost effective for our environment, and we don't have to invest in another big tool to generate these reports, making it all integrated and easier. Otherwise, you need to write ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?
I am thinking that with all the Copilot integration within the Microsoft environment, that could be integrated as well, so that you could issue a prompt and it generates designs.
 

Also Known As

Data Studio
SQL Server Reporting Services, Microsoft SSRS, SSRS, MS SQL Server Reporting Services
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Genesys, Shueisha
CMS Wire, The New York Times
Find out what your peers are saying about Looker Studio vs. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
864,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.