Looker Studio vs Tableau Enterprise vs ThoughtSpot comparison

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Looker Studio

Tableau Enterprise

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Looker Studio, Tableau Enterprise, and ThoughtSpot based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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Reporting

July 2025

Helped 865,295 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:

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Reporting

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

Featured Reviews

Vijay Subramanyam

Delivery Head at cblsolutions

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.

Ease of developing dashboards and receiving strong technical support have enabled efficient data visualization

Uzair Faruqi

Head Of Analytics at Mjunction Services

Introducing custom features, such as NLP-based reports, is not very good in Tableau. My MD has been asking us for a way to write in natural language to request reports that the system should generate, but that isn't very effective with Tableau. As a developer, I can develop an on-demand report in Python quite easily, but exposing a REST API on the Tableau platform is not a very easy task. AI enablement is an area for improvement for Tableau, and that is something they might have to work upon. I have heard that ThoughtSpot is quite better in this regard, but the cost of ThoughtSpot is much higher. ThoughtSpot has lots of natural language-based report generation features that Tableau lacks.

Creates user-friendly analysis environments for large datasets

Sushma Polavarapu

Sr Data Analytics Consultant at Capgemini

The tool is user-friendly for the end users. It is primarily a search-based tool. Users do not need a technical background to work directly on the dataset. Its compatibility with most databases, including the latest from FlexMovely and Redshift, allows users to create joins and worksheets easily. ThoughtSpot is fast, even with one to ten terabytes of data.

More Tableau Enterprise pros

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This has improved our organization by allowing people to see their data and develop visualizations themselves."

"I am impressed with the tool's scheduling mechanism, refresh mechanism, and different types of charts."

"The solution is free so that is a good feature."

"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 ability to design complex data models and equations."

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

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

"The integration with Excel and Google Sheets is a valuable feature, making it easy to access and visualize data."

More Looker Studio pros

"Easy for beginners to use"

"The action feature which Tableau has is very useful for us. If we click on one visualization, it will pass the value to another visualization. That interactivity within different visualizations is the most valuable feature of Tableau."

"Analysis is now more visual than in the past."

"I have found many of the self-service features valuable."

"Self-service is most valuable. Users can pick up quickly and do the resolution. There are a lot of out-of-the-box features, and it satisfies most of the needs. If users are properly trained, they can deal with any situation."

"Data Interpreter: Which can identify issues or potential errors with your imported data."

"The best use case for us is the solution's integration with Salesforce because we are also partners of Salesforce."

"It is a complete solution allowing a lot of integrations, different graphics, multiple operations and analyzes our date and gives us meaning from it."

"ThoughtSpot saves a significant amount of time compared to other tools and is very user-friendly."

"The tool is user-friendly for the end users."

"The initial setup was very straightforward."

"ThoughtSpot excels in being self-service oriented, allowing users who aren't developers to easily create their own reports and visualizations, making it very intuitive."

"ThoughtSpot takes the modifying of existing reports out of our hands."

"Stability is very important, and ThoughtSpot performs well."

"It is easy to set up the solution."

"The main core of ThoughtSpot is to create models, connect data pipelines, and create business models and dashboards on top of them."

More ThoughtSpot pros

Cons

"Panels are not as easy to use as other data extraction UIs."

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

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

"The challenges with Google Data Studio are associated with the security part, making it an area where improvements are required."

"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."

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

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

"There are issues with integration and I encountered limits and warnings, especially with my pivot table size."

More Looker Studio cons

"Tableau is a company that does not respect partners."

"Formatting controls could use some improvement."

"The look and feel of the tool itself, including the dashboard features and data visualization, could be improved. The graphs in Tableau also have room for improvement."

"Its price is a concern. It is more expensive than Power BI. The other thing that I never liked about Tableau is its ability to handle large sets of data. To present the data in the dashboards, we have to stage it up exactly like it is going to come into the dashboard. We use another tool called Alteryx that does that for us. So, we manipulate the data, get it staged, and then push it into Tableau. Tableau is terrible at handling large data sets, and we knew right away that we couldn't use Tableau to do data manipulation."

"The charting is overly complex in comparison with Power BI's"

"Many things have to be improved in Tableau. Right now, we make the calculation, and then we get that information. It would be better if business users could do that. I would ask the people at Tableau to provide that option to business users to get that information in one click. It would be better if they automated some calculations. There should be more automation in Tableau. However, there are many things in automation mode, but it is very limited at the moment. We need automation for people who do not know much about Tableau. It would also be better if there were good community support like in Alteryx."

"I would like to have the product be more flexible in terms of creating online shared dashboards."

"There have been issues where suddenly the site will not respond, requiring a restart."

More Tableau Enterprise cons

"In terms of features, I'd like to be able to pivot data - for example, going from rows to columns. It's not easy to do."

"ThoughtSpot lacks an intermediate layer for data loading, unlike Qlik, which affects dashboard stability when the database has issues."

"The support team gets a six out of ten. They are not as proactive."

"I would like to see more flexibility in adding the pins. Currently, we have four different sizes in which I can add pins, but I would like to be able to resize my pins."

"I encountered limitations mainly around UI and dashboard configuration."

"A crucial feature we needed is missing, which involves restricting views of certain KPIs when users select conflicting parameters. We had to create a workaround, which impacted performance by loading pinboards slowly."

"The most difficult thing I found is that it only deals with the files and does not have direct connectivity to databases."

"The customer service and support are not good. I stopped opening tickets due to insufficient and untimely responses."

More ThoughtSpot cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 product is available for free."

"The tool is free."

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

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

"Tableau can be costly (but this can be indefinable, such as user experience vs. cheaper etc.)"

"It is a bit difficult for some people when they hear $70.00 per month, as some solutions are available for less than $10.00 or for free."

"It is more expensive than other solutions."

"The product's price is relatively inexpensive and manageable for enterprise-level companies."

"It is reasonable based on what it offers."

"It is a bit overpriced."

"Its price is higher than Power BI and QlikView. Tableau costs around $70 per user per month, whereas Power BI is around $8 to $9. QlikView is around $30. Tableau has various prices for various models such as Creator, Designer."

"Tableau has core-based and user-based licensing, and it is tied to scalability. The core-based licensing is about you buying a certain number of cores, and there is no restriction on the number of users who can use Tableau. The restriction is only on the number of cores. In user-based subscription licensing, there is a restriction on the number of users. Big companies and government organizations with a lot of users typically go for core-based licensing. User-based subscription licensing is a more common model. It has user roles such as creator, explorer, and viewer. A creator is someone who does the groundwork or development work. An explorer is someone who is into middle management but is not technically savvy, such as a category head. A viewer is like a typical decision-maker in senior management. For each role, Tableau is priced differently. The viewer role has the minimum price, and the creator role has the highest price. This pricing is available on their website. Everybody can see it."

More Tableau Enterprise pricing and cost advice

"I give the pricing a six out of ten."

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Comparison Review

it_user6330

Product Manager at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

May 2, 2013

MicroStrategy vs. Tableau

After a recent presentation, several attendees asked me about the applications of Visual Insights and Tableau. Many companies are investing in both tools and are trying to figure out the right tool for specific applications Tableau has found its sweet-spot as an agile discovery tool that analysts…

What do you like most about Google Data Studio?

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

University

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

University

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

The company dashboard is useful because we could share it via a link as a reminder for everyone to check it weekly. W...

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 opti...

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 u...

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 ...

Tableau vs. Business Objects - Which is a better solution for visualization and analysis?

Both tools have their positives and negatives. First, I should mention that I am relatively new to Tableau. I have be...

Which would you choose - Tableau or SAP Analytics Cloud?

Tableau is easy to set up and maintain. In about a day it is possible for the entire platform to be deployed for use....

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ThoughtSpot?

The pricing is on the higher end but reasonable for what ThoughtSpot offers.

What needs improvement with ThoughtSpot?

I do not think there is anything that needs improvement at the moment. It is being improved continuously. They are co...

What is your primary use case for ThoughtSpot?

Clients use ThoughtSpot because of its search facility. It is easy for searching and does not require analysts to pro...

Amazon QuickSight vs Looker Studio

Comparisons

Compared 43% of the time

Microsoft Power BI vs Looker Studio

Compared 16% of the time

IBM Cognos vs Looker Studio

Compared 4% of the time

Databricks vs Looker Studio

Compared 4% of the time

Qlik Sense vs Looker Studio

Compared 4% of the time

More Looker Studio Competitors

Microsoft Power BI vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 18% of the time

Domo vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 6% of the time

Databricks vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 5% of the time

SAP Analytics Cloud vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 4% of the time

More Tableau Enterprise Competitors

Microsoft Power BI vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 15% of the time

Databricks vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 14% of the time

Napkin AI vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 7% of the time

Looker vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 6% of the time

Julius AI vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 6% of the time

More ThoughtSpot Competitors

Product Reports

Download Looker Studio product report

Looker Studio

August 2025

Download Tableau Enterprise product report

Tableau Enterprise

July 2025

Download ThoughtSpot product report

July 2025

Also Known As

Data Studio

Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server, Tableau Online

No data available

Overview

Google Looker Studio is a free tool designed to help users create visually appealing reports and dashboards, making data easier to understand. It allows you to connect to various data sources such as Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, and spreadsheets. With Looker Studio, you can create charts and graphs to showcase trends and comparisons, build comprehensive dashboards that provide an overview of your data, and customize reports to match your brand or preferences. Additionally, you can share your reports online or export them as PDFs for wider distribution.

Google

Tableau Enterprise offers powerful features for creating interactive visualizations, dashboards, and maps, including drag-and-drop functionality and easy integration with multiple data sources, promoting real-time collaboration and self-service analysis.

Tableau Enterprise stands out with its ability to create user-friendly, interactive visualizations, making it pivotal for business intelligence applications. Users benefit from its seamless connectivity and advanced analytical functions, facilitating data blending and storytelling. Despite a complex learning curve and high licensing costs, its features like geospatial analysis and efficient content distribution drive its indispensable value for data-driven insights. Enhancements in predictive analytics and support integration with machine learning tools further its capabilities across industries.

What are the most valuable features?

Interactive Visualizations: Enables users to create engaging reports.
Drag-and-Drop Functionality: Simplifies data analysis processes.
Data Integration: Offers seamless connectivity with multiple sources.
Real-Time Collaboration: Supports synchronous data sharing.
Advanced Analytics: Provides predictive analytics and geospatial analysis.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Informed Decision-Making: Facilitates data-driven insights.
Efficiency in Reporting: Streamlines dashboard and reporting tasks.
Cost-Effectiveness: Despite high licensing, value in robust analytics tools.
Customizable Options: Tailors analytics to specific needs.

Tableau Enterprise is widely used for business intelligence, supporting industries like healthcare, telecommunications, and finance. Organizations utilize it to analyze performance indicators, operational insights, and financial analytics, enhancing decision-making through interactive reports and real-time data integration.

Salesforce

ThoughtSpot is a powerful business intelligence tool that allows easy searching and drilling into data. Its ad hoc exploration and query-based search features are highly valued, and it is easy to set up, stable, and scalable.

The solution is used for reporting purposes, self-service BI, and embedding into other applications for customers to do self-service analytics. It helps businesses with metrics, KPIs, and important insights by sourcing data from various sources into one golden source and visualizing it in an easy way for the business to consume. The pricing model is ideal, charging for data rather than the number of users.