Looker vs Microsoft Power BI vs ThoughtSpot comparison

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Looker

Microsoft Power BI

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Executive Summary

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

Find out what your peers are saying about Salesforce, Qlik, MicroStrategy and others in Embedded BI.

To learn more, read our detailed Embedded BI Report (Updated: August 2025).

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Embedded BI

August 2025

Helped 868,759 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

Embedded BI Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Looker	8.0%
Tableau Enterprise	26.6%
Qlik Sense	12.2%
Other	53.2%

Embedded BI

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Power BI	14.1%
Tableau Enterprise	10.3%
Amazon QuickSight	4.9%
Other	70.7%

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ThoughtSpot	1.5%
Microsoft Power BI	14.1%
Tableau Enterprise	10.3%
Other	74.1%

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

Featured Reviews

Kishore Jhunjhunwala

Sr Analytics Consultant at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

A cloud solution for operational reporting but is expensive

Some basic feature that is available in other reporting tools is missing. Looker has the ability to show more than 5,000 rows for operational reporting. Some reporting tools allow users to scroll down to see more than 5,000 rows, but in Looker, you have to download the entire dataset. Looker should consider adding a scroll-down option to allow users to view large datasets on screen without downloading them. Looker has some options for granting users access as viewers. However, viewers cannot download the entire dataset. Only superusers can download the whole dataset on the Explore screen. This is a big limitation, as you cannot give any user viewer access. You can give access to superuser access, which is a cost to the company.

Facilitates seamless data aggregation with some outdated visual elements hindering user appeal

Shoury Priyanshu

Senior Manager, Strategy & Consulting at Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd

Real-time data integration is an area for improvement. Although I've worked on several solutions involving real-time integration, it's not very user-friendly and often lags, especially with over a million data rows. This makes Power BI difficult to manage as loading times can reach one or two minutes, which is problematic today. There are challenges with scalability, requiring multiple pages in dashboards to manage these issues. Visualization could be improved as it appears outdated. Users, especially newcomers, find it unappealing and not user-friendly.

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 Microsoft Power BI pros

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Looker allows you to generate the most optimal SQL queries in a DC through UI actions. We had signed a contract with Google Cloud to use BigQuery. That was the primary reason we adopted Looker. It works better with BigQuery than any other BI platform. We also like how this tool was developed. It was designed with an eye toward microservices architecture."

"From a developer's perspective, the way the functionality's being handled is great."

"It's quite effortless to navigate through various applications and review their updated data in real-time."

"It is a pretty stable solution because it is a cloud-based product."

"The stability of Looker has been good since I have been using it. However, it depends on what components are being used."

"I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. I didn't face any issues with stability."

"We can centralize all our data models."

"The product is easy to use."

More Looker pros

"The initial setup is easy."

"MS SQL & SQL Server Analysis Services."

"I like the fact that Power BI lets me use Excel data. At least 90% of my state data is in Excel spreadsheets. Having the ability to just attach a spreadsheet as a data source is very, very important. It's also good for training and teaching. Sometimes you don't always have access to a live production database, so having a spreadsheet with sample data is always nice."

"Microsoft BI allows us to connect to any database or any dataset."

"It has provided customer purchase patterns and great visualization."

"Its ease of use is most valuable."

"Its seamless integration with Microsoft products, such as Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft Excel, is the most valuable."

"It is good for us for onboarding the data. We can connect to multiple data sources, do transformations to make the data usable, and then model it within the transformation. Someone who has come from a Microsoft Excel environment will easily be able to use this solution. Power query and report modeling are easy to understand in this solution. Their technical support is very good. They are extremely responsive, helpful, and hands-on."

"The self-service analytics capabilities are unrivaled, making it a top-notch solution."

"The scalability is good."

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

"The ability to do ad hoc explorations of data has been most valuable."

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

"ThoughtSpot is much easier to work with and maintain than other BI solutions, and it significantly reduces costs related to manual labor."

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

"It's easy to drill down or expand data to get more details right out of the box."

More ThoughtSpot pros

Cons

"Integrations with other BI tools could be better."

"Stability needs improvement."

"It needs to be more user-friendly."

"Looker doesn't connect to Excel, which is a huge disappointment because a lot of data is presented in Excel. Also, it can't consume data directly from REST APIs, which is necessary. Looker needs to expand its horizons when it comes to data sources. The inability to connect to different data sources is hampering our use cases. Currently, it only has an ODBC connection that connects to a database. It needs to connect to other data sources, such as Excel, APIs, and different platforms."

"The main area of concern in Looker is probably related to blending the data from the different sources, including the data present internally in the company and on the cloud."

"The product does not have documented material."

"The integration with different databases must be improved."

"The visualization capability of the product is limited."

"I'm looking for something that can make it much easier to incorporate Power BI visuals or dashboards into, let's say, Power Apps – custom Power Apps or anything like that. The most important thing would be to seamlessly embed reports in applications. For example, to have buttons that can be navigated through multiple solutions – from Power Apps to Power BI to SharePoint – via links or something like that."

"The solution could improve the mobile application design. It is difficult to use compared to the desktop version."

"Sluggish performance when handling large amounts of data."

"I cannot comment on the stability as we haven't yet used it for a big project."

"The solution could improve the extraction and transformation of data. For example, you transform the data and then send it to Microsoft BI without having to use your own API. We are only providing the API to Power BI, and then Power BI is doing the job."

"Microsoft BI can improve some of the visual level filters or visual functionality, that are available in other BI tools, such as Tableau or Qlik Sense."

"From any improvement perspective, I want the product to be made available to users free of cost...The stability and scalability of the product can be better."

"The default parameters of the prompt could be improved by including a dynamic option."

More Microsoft Power BI cons

"A customized visualization is lacking in this product."

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

"The visualization customization needs improvement."

"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."

"If I want to order columns, this feature is not there."

"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."

"ThoughtSpot is a fairly new product, so some usability aspects aren't as mature as we'd like them to be. One example is their organizational methodology, like how objects are organized in their dashboards inside the product. They're all on a flat list, which works if you've got five or 10 dashboards. However, it's insufficient when you're a large enterprise with multiple groups looking at the same dashboards. It isn't organized well."

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

More ThoughtSpot cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's not cheap, but it's not expensive for big companies."

"The price of Looker usually depends on the solution's provider, but it is usually cheaper than the other products in the market. Looker is offered at different prices for different companies."

"It is cheap."

"Looker is expensive and could be made better by reducing it."

"I do not have to make any payments to use the solution."

"It is somewhere in the middle in terms of price. Licensing is quite clear."

"All in all, for the price, this is an excellent tool for helping your organization turn mounds of data into useful insights."

"Once the trial period for the BI service is over, the cost is approximately $10 USD per user, per month, so it's quite reasonable."

"We are end-users, and we don't take care of the prices and accounting. We get a product and pay the fee to our internal service provider, but its price should be reasonable. Otherwise, they wouldn't have bought it."

"The only other cost, besides the licensing fee, would be to cover support."

"Their price is good."

"Paid for itself in the first month."

"For my primary use case, i.e. teaching students, the free version of Power BI is adequate."

More Microsoft Power BI pricing and cost advice

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

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Comparison Review

it_user79932

Senior Manager - BI Head at NVidia

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…

What do you like most about Looker?

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Retailer

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

19%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	134
Midsize Enterprise	57
Large Enterprise	165

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Large Enterprise	12

Questions from the Community

With Looker, I have experienced benefits in terms of usability and shareability.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Looker?

I do not have to make any payments to use the solution. In the beginning, Looker may work fine for its users. If adva...

What needs improvement with Looker?

The visualization capability of the product is limited. From an improvement perspective, the product should have more...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

Tableau Enterprise vs Looker

Comparisons

Databricks vs Looker

Compared 13% of the time

Compared 11% of the time

Qlik Sense vs Looker

Compared 10% of the time

MicroStrategy vs Looker

Compared 8% of the time

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform vs Looker

Compared 5% of the time

More Looker Competitors

Tableau Enterprise vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 12% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 11% of the time

Databricks vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 7% of the time

Domo vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 5% of the time

KNIME Business Hub vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Power BI Competitors

Databricks vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 14% of the time

Tableau Enterprise vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 10% of the time

Napkin AI vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 7% of the time

Julius AI vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 7% of the time

QlikView vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 5% of the time

More ThoughtSpot Competitors

Product Reports

Download Looker product report

Looker

September 2025

Download Microsoft Power BI product report

Microsoft Power BI

September 2025

Download ThoughtSpot product report

September 2025

Also Known As

No data available

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

No data available

Overview

Looker is a powerful data analytics platform that empowers businesses to explore and analyze their data in real time.

With its intuitive interface and robust features, Looker enables users to easily create and share interactive dashboards, reports, and visualizations.

The product's advanced data modeling capabilities and seamless integration with popular data sources make it a top choice for organizations looking to gain valuable insights from their data.

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

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.