Business Intelligence Software
Looker: features, pricing and who it fits
Google Cloud's Looker rests on the LookML modeling layer and is sold by quote, combining a platform fee with licences for viewers, standard users and developers. A data engineer and a BigQuery or Google Cloud setup make it shine. Without LookML skills it is hard going.
Who Looker is for
Best for
- Data teams that want a central semantic layer (LookML)
- Google Cloud / BigQuery customers
Look elsewhere if
- Small teams without a data engineer
- Buyers wanting published self-serve pricing
Fit by company size
| Category | 1-10 people | 11-50 people | 51-500 people | 500+ people |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Intelligence Software | Poor fit | Poor fit | Strong fit | Strong fit |
Strong fitWorkablePoor fitNo data from the vendor
Looker features
- Pricing model
- Platform fee plus Viewer/Standard/Developer user licences
- Target company size
- Mid-size to enterprise with a data team
- Data modeling and governance
- LookML semantic layer (core product concept)
- Embedded analytics
- Embed edition
Looker pricing
| Plan | Price | Unit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard / Enterprise / Embed editions | Contact sales | platform fee plus user licences | Each platform includes 10 Standard users and 2 Developer users per Google page |
Third-party estimates, unofficial: Viewer about $400 per user per year (AWS Marketplace data per a Toucan/Knowi style source); platform fee from about $60,000/yr to $132,000/yr per sources that disagree.
Prices as published by Looker on the date above. Quotes for larger teams often differ, which is what a request on SaaSBid surfaces.
Pros and cons
What users like
- Consistent metrics through the semantic layer
- Good Google Cloud fit
Common complaints
- Needs LookML skills
- Pricey and opaque
Integrations, security and hosting
- Data residency
- Instance region choice on Google Cloud
Worth knowing before you buy
- No list prices: platform fee plus per-user licences by quote
- Platform includes 10 Standard and 2 Developer users
- SAML, LDAP and OpenID supported, with Cloud Logging for audit per Google docs
- Customer-managed encryption keys and VPC Service Controls available on Google Cloud core
- Looker and Looker Studio are separate products with different pricing
