Looker vs Tableau Enterprise vs ThoughtSpot comparison

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Looker

Tableau Enterprise

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Looker, Tableau Enterprise, 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 868,229 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

As of September 2025, in the Embedded BI category, the mindshare of Looker is 8.2%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tableau Enterprise is 27.4%, down from 34.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ThoughtSpot is 5.1%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Embedded BI Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Tableau Enterprise	27.4%
ThoughtSpot	5.1%
Looker	8.2%
Other	59.3%

Embedded BI

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.

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

"We can centralize all our data models."

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

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

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

"The product is easy to use."

"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."

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

More Looker pros

"This service is the combination of very pleasant, interactive graphical visualizations along with the application of advanced statistical models (in some cases)."

"A valuable feature of Tableau is that it is a useful tool for small setups. I shuffle between Tableau and MicroStrategy, so I use Tableau for personal purposes more than enterprise. I like the light version of Tableau for personal usage and doing some use cases on my own. When it comes to something small, I use Tableau for setups, rather than any other tool."

"Tableau has comprehensive, insightful charts, which allow you to build stunning dashboards and enrich your support decision-making."

"The drill-down approach and interactivity in Tableau are highly effective."

"I really like the interactivity of the dashboards."

"It's very easy to visualize data with this product. The visualization maps of and frames that we have been able to cross-reference has been excellent."

"The ease of presenting findings is very helpful."

"The best part about Tableau is the visualization."

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

"It is easy to set up the solution."

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

"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."

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

"The initial setup was very straightforward."

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

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

More ThoughtSpot pros

Cons

"Stability needs improvement."

"The integration with different databases must be improved."

"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 visualization capability of the product is limited."

"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."

"It needs to be more user-friendly."

"Integrations with other BI tools could be better."

"The product does not have documented material."

"The tool's OpenAI integration was announced last year. However, it is late. Tableau is a good solution for end customers. However, there are some concerns regarding the stability and performance of its server architecture, including SaaS services. The server side appears unstable, and performance issues are noticeable, often accompanied by unclear error messages."

"The cost of owning the solutions from Tableau is much higher compared to any other analytical solutions."

"The data entered into Tableau must be clean. Otherwise, it won't work properly."

"We would like a report model, because currently there is no schema that we can create in the tool."

"There's no mature ETL tool in Tableau, which is quite a negative for them."

"We have products like Tableau, Power BI, Cognos, and QlikView in the data visualization segment. Compared to those, Tableau is quite costly."

"Tableau could be more intuitive. It has all the features, but it is difficult to find them."

"Formatting controls could use some improvement."

More Tableau Enterprise cons

"The one area of the solution that I do hear needs improvement is on the visualization front."

"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 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."

"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 dashboards could give you more ability to fine tune the appearance. You get a great deal more control over how something looks in Power BI than you do in ThoughtSpot."

"The visualization customization needs improvement."

More ThoughtSpot cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"It is cheap."

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

"Its price is reasonable. Everything is included in the license."

"For our organization, the cost hasn't been an issue."

"Basically, we prefer a permanent license. A one-time charge is much better."

"Cost is where tools like MicroStrategy, Power BI, or Spotfire come into play. Cost-wise, Tableau is a little bit costlier than other tools such as Power BI. I have been using Tableau all these years, but about four years ago, Power BI came out at a very low cost. Their desktop version was free from the beginning. Power BI Desktop has always been free, whereas Tableau Desktop is costly. When it comes to cost, people prefer Power BI because it integrates very well with Office 365. You don't have to worry about integration with Teams or SharePoint."

"The pricing for Tableau is the same as the other products in the market."

"The cost is high."

"For data extraction and analysis, Tableau is better than any other tool I have used with the same pricing model."

"The price of Tableau could improve. The license is too expensive."

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 Looker?

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Retailer

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

University

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	117
Midsize Enterprise	66
Large Enterprise	182

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

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...

Microsoft Power BI vs Looker

Comparisons

Databricks vs Looker

Compared 15% of the time

Compared 13% of the time

Qlik Sense vs Looker

Compared 9% of the time

IBM Cognos vs Looker

Compared 8% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs Looker

Compared 6% of the time

More Looker Competitors

Microsoft Power BI vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 19% of the time

Domo vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 10% 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 6% of the time

Julius AI vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 6% of the time

TIBCO Spotfire vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 6% of the time

More ThoughtSpot Competitors

Product Reports

Download Looker product report

Looker

September 2025

Download Tableau Enterprise product report

Tableau Enterprise

August 2025

Download ThoughtSpot product report

August 2025

Also Known As

No data available

Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server, Tableau Online

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

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.