Looker Studio vs XLCubed comparison

Google and Fluence Technologies are both solutions in the Reporting category. Google is ranked #11 with an average rating of 7.6, while Fluence Technologies is ranked #29. Google holds a 2.7% mindshare in RT, compared to Fluence Technologies’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 50% of Fluence Technologies users who would recommend it.

Looker Studio

Read 12 Looker Studio reviews

1,051 Views
1,158 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

XLCubed

Read 2 XLCubed reviews

195 Views
139 Comparison Views

50% willing to recommend

Looker Studio

XLCubed

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

XLCubed and Looker Studio compete in the analytics and business intelligence tools category, providing data visualization and reporting solutions. Looker Studio holds the advantage due to its modern data exploration capabilities and extensive feature set, appealing to organizations needing comprehensive BI solutions.

Features: XLCubed provides tight Excel integration for enhanced data modeling and analysis, powerful data grid functionality, and custom formula applications. Looker Studio connects to numerous data sources, provides in-depth visualization, and supports advanced analytics features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: XLCubed deploys using existing Excel infrastructure, minimizing learning curves and offering direct Excel-centric customer service solutions. Looker Studio offers cloud-based deployment for flexibility and scalability, supported by robust customer service for wider data integration issues.

Pricing and ROI: XLCubed presents competitive pricing with a lower setup cost, offering quick ROI by requiring minimal workflow changes. Looker Studio, while having a higher initial setup cost, provides a comprehensive BI platform with extensive data transformation capabilities, often resulting in superior long-term ROI for larger data projects.

To learn more, read our detailed Looker Studio vs. XLCubed Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Looker Studio vs. XLCubed

April 2025

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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

11th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

XLCubed

Ranking in Reporting

29th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Looker Studio is 2.7%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of XLCubed is 0.3%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Reporting

Featured Reviews

Srini-Dhanaraj

Founder & CEO at imfine.club

Available for free and can help businesses resolve their data migration problems

It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten. Google Data Studio is a cloud-based tool. With cloud-based tools, there can be two challenges, the first one being associated with the bandwidth of your data strength. If I run a report from my home because of the wi-fi connection, it may give an excellent response. When I run the reports, Google Data Studio develops reports from my home, and because of wi-fi, it works in an excellent manner. When I am on the road or at the wheel, if I use the internet data from my mobile to browse my reports, the performance may not be good, and this issue is not because of the product but because of the bandwidth. The second issue arises when you connect Google Data Studio to a source system to extract the data to do the visualization. If the source system is not responding as quickly as expected, it could be the reason why the report may be printed slowly. Considering the aforementioned aspects, the problem may not be because of Google Data Studio but because of the source system.

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it_user1391316

Head of Finance Systems at NHS

Cost effective with great capability, performance, flexibility and visuals

In general, we're happy with the solution but we're always looking to see what else is out there. The thing we've struggled with is our partnership with Tagetik UK, the consultants, and the issue we had gaining access to consultants to develop the solution on our behalf. Thankfully we connected directly with XLCubed and now have a pretty close and good relationship with them so the earlier problem we had of actually getting resources to help us develop has now been solved. One of the things that we've been asking for and would like as an additional feature is a sort of benchmarking functionality. The ability to be able to benchmark, directly against the company digital corporate numbers. That said, there seems to be improved functionality within the latest release that could help us develop that further.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

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

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

"Valuable features include advanced integrated analysis and easy implementation."

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

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

"The ability to integrate with a great variety of data sources."

"Data Studio integrates seamlessly with other Google products, and we can use it with other APIs if we like."

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

More Looker Studio pros

"I am looking forward to testing their full graphics that are available, as they looked very interesting in the demo."

"Great capability, performance, flexibility, visuals, and the solution is also very cost effective."

Cons

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

"When you physically install a product on one machine instead of the cloud, you have a better visibility, best icon quality, etc.. It's more of an issue with how we are adapting to the transition. We are still in the early moments of using this tool, and we need to go deeper to discover some improvements."

"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."

"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."

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

More Looker Studio cons

"Would like the ability to be able to benchmark."

"There should be a better or an easier way to establish that connection to external sources."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The tool is free."

"The product is available for free."

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

"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."

"14,000 Pounds per year for licensing."

"I am still using the two-week trial, but at first sight, the price is reasonable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Educational Organization

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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...

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What needs improvement with Google Data Studio?

The tool should improve on live data integration for quicker data reflection. Currently, changes in Google Sheets take about three to five minutes to reflect in Looker Studio. Overall, the interfac...

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What is your primary use case for Google Data Studio?

I use Looker Studio primarily for dashboard creation and data analytics. I have integrated it with Google Sheets, and I use it for project plan maintenance and data tracking.

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Comparisons

Amazon QuickSight vs Looker Studio

Compared 43% of the time

Microsoft Power BI vs Looker Studio

Compared 19% of the time

Tableau vs Looker Studio

Compared 8% of the time

IBM Cognos vs Looker Studio

Compared 6% of the time

Qlik Sense vs Looker Studio

Compared 4% of the time

More Looker Studio Competitors

Microsoft Power BI vs XLCubed

Compared 100% of the time

More XLCubed Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Looker Studio

April 2025

Download Looker Studio product report

Buyer's Guide

Reporting

April 2025

Download XLCubed product report

Also Known As

Data Studio

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

Produce insightful, interactive reports on, company-wide metrics for any business audience. Now all in Excel.
Pixel-perfect financial reporting with the skill sets you already have. No IT required.
Meet XLCubed: The data-connected Excel add-in for all your reporting needs.

Fluence Technologies

Sample Customers

Genesys, Shueisha

Marshalls Ltd, BP Exploration and Production, Thorntons, Ted Baker, Bristol-Myers, Rank Group, ING Bank Genve, Cargill Value Investment, Chloride Power, Auchan, Erste, UEFA, Novartis, Porsche Informatik, Raiffeisen Bank International

Buyer's Guide

Looker Studio vs. XLCubed

April 2025

Free Report: Looker Studio vs. XLCubed

Find out what your peers are saying about Looker Studio vs. XLCubed and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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