Looker Studio vs SAP Crystal Reports comparison

Google and SAP are both solutions in the Reporting category. Google is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.6, while SAP is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.0. Google holds a 2.5% mindshare in RT, compared to SAP’s 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of SAP users who would recommend it.

Looker Studio

Read 16 Looker Studio reviews

2,763 Views
1,575 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

SAP Crystal Reports

Read 52 SAP Crystal Reports reviews

3,115 Views
2,617 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Looker Studio

SAP Crystal Reports

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

SAP Crystal Reports and Looker Studio compete in the enterprise reporting tools category. Looker Studio has the upper hand due to its ease of use, cloud availability, and cost benefits, making it a favorite among users for functionality and user satisfaction.

Features: SAP Crystal Reports provides flexibility through sub-reports, formula creation, and diverse data source connections, allowing users to produce standardized reports. Supported data sources include DB2, MySQL, MS SQL, Oracle, and more, which make creating complex reports possible. Looker Studio excels with seamless integration with Google Sheets, enabling effective data aggregation, and offers the ability for custom filter creation.

Room for Improvement: SAP Crystal Reports can be challenging due to its complexity in understanding inherited reports and advanced features like graphing and formulas. Enhancing user interface intuitiveness could benefit users. Looker Studio may improve by enhancing real-time data reflection and lifting visualization limits.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP Crystal Reports requires on-premises deployment, often leading to complex setups, while relying on community support. Looker Studio offers greater deployment flexibility as a cloud-based tool, benefiting from feedback integration with Google's systems.

Pricing and ROI: Looker Studio stands out for its cost-effectiveness, being free for basic use, though complex data connections may incur additional costs. SAP Crystal Reports can be costly, which may deter smaller organizations, but offers significant ROI due to enterprise-focused functionalities. Looker Studio is valued for affordability and ease of use, though users might face extra costs for advanced features.

To learn more, read our detailed Looker Studio vs. SAP Crystal Reports Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Looker Studio vs. SAP Crystals

April 2026

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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

12th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SAP Crystal Reports

Ranking in Reporting

13th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Looker Studio is 2.5%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Crystal Reports is 2.4%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Reporting Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Looker Studio	2.5%
SAP Crystal Reports	2.4%
Other	95.1%

Reporting

Featured Reviews

Heron Ziegel

Project Engineer at Quartz Consulting Group

Has supported quick dashboard creation and data sharing but lacks tools for managing multiple reports efficiently

We integrated Looker Studio with other platforms in our data ecosystem; we tried integrating with Sheets, and that went okay, but it could have been better. It could have been better because it needed a very specific format to read the data, so we had to reformat the sheet file. Looker Studio was mostly just helpful in that it provided live updating charts for tracking performance indicators in the organization. Integrating with a database was very difficult because there wasn't a lot of feedback for what was going wrong with the connection. I don't remember if we reached out to support. I didn't personally reach out, but my boss may have. I didn't reach out to support, so I do not have experience with it to rate it. We worked with the free version of Looker Studio initially, and we upgraded at some point to the pro version; I don't remember if we actually paid for it or if it was just a free trial. The pricing was reasonable. I remember doing a price comparison, and it was pretty reasonable, but it did have fewer features than a lot of other software, which was okay for a comparable price but a little cheaper.

Read full review

Salman Mukhtar Baig

SAP Technical Manager at VS Furniture Middle East

Unlock data insights with seamless integration and robust reporting features

I assess the impact of SAP Crystal Reports' dynamic parameters on the customization and flexibility of my reports as very good. Sometimes it creates a problem when it suddenly closes during work due to improper shutdowns, but most of the time it's beneficial since I can fetch the data in one report very efficiently, which is great for the company. The sub reports in SAP Crystal Reports help me enhance the depth and detail of my reports by allowing me to use multiple sets of records, especially when I have very large requirements, such as company dashboards that show what sales, purchases, productions, and HR are doing. Using sub reports as the main report is very beneficial because I can pull multiple department data into the main report. Over the years, SAP Crystal Reports has had a very positive impact and benefits. It's a powerful tool to design any kind of report if you have knowledge of the database, and it can attach to both HANA and SQL databases. I can also connect this data with Excel, which makes it a very powerful tool for me.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product's initial setup phase is very simple."

"The ability to design complex data models and equations."

"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."

"I would rate this solution eight or nine out of ten."

"We previously used Microsoft Power BI, but Google is better."

"The fact that Looker Studio is free and has a free tier was probably the biggest benefit; it is very accessible and not too difficult to use."

"This solution is a powerful way to have several tools integrated at one location and convert data into beautiful reports that can be easily edited and viewed."

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

More Looker Studio pros

"If you want a full package of collecting, analyzing and presenting, then this is the package for you."

"Pixel-perfect formatting is extremely customizable."

"Using SAP Crystal Reports had a strong impact on our organization; it saves significant time by automating routine reporting tasks and reduced manual effort in preparing customer letters and reports."

"Pixel perfect static reporting."

"Creative formula construction is just one of the many tools in Crystal Reports that allows this tool to be so flexible and robust."

"Over the years, SAP Crystal Reports has had a very positive impact and benefits; it's a powerful tool to design any kind of report if you have knowledge of the database, and it can attach to both HANA and SQL databases."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is a fantastic way of generating reports."

"The overall environment is the best. Data management, graphs, and layout – everything is the best, in my opinion."

More SAP Crystal Reports pros

Cons

"Looker Studio did not fit our needs for scalability."

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

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

"The tool should come up with data modeling layer features that are present in other products like Power BI."

"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."

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

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

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

More Looker Studio cons

"I would like to have horizontal paging like crosstabs."

"It needs better integration with Hadoop as well as enhancements for more analytical usage."

"I had an issue where if I had the main application in one Window and a fly out menu on another monitor, it would crash."

"Crystal Reports makes too many assumptions, causing odd results, which can sometimes be corrected by altering the SQL or changing the links (providing you understand the link options)."

"It needs better support for child reports."

"If at all possible, a little bit of improvement on the analytical side is needed."

"A real improvement would be a simpler system that allows users to play with the visualization without needing specialized skills and code."

"The functionality is not evolving much over newer releases."

More SAP Crystal Reports cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"The tool is free."

"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."

"I feel that SAP Crystal Reports is a reasonably priced product."

"SAP Crystal Reports is a very expensive solution."

"We pay fifteen hundred dollars as licensing fee."

"The cost of licensing can be a significant factor to consider when upgrading or transitioning to a new version of SAP Crystal Reports. It's important to evaluate the benefits and features offered by the new version against the associated costs to ensure it aligns with your organization's needs and budget."

"This product costs a lot of money."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

15%

Government

Outsourcing Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	22

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...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Data Studio?

I would appreciate improvements in the data modeling features, as it's not straightforward, and it's not what people in analytics are used to. Specifically, most people using this visualization too...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Google Data Studio?

I used Looker Studio mainly for reporting, where I created multiple dashboards on it. I wouldn't say I made the most of the usage of the connections because all the connections were based on flat f...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP Crystal Reports?

SAP Crystal Reports could be improved with more modern user-friendly interfaces and better integration with cloud platforms and AI tools. It would be beneficial to have easier integration with Azur...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP Crystal Reports?

I have been using SAP Crystal Reports for six months. I am using SAP Crystal Reports to develop data-driven reports and use customer data printing. When I use SAP Crystal Reports for customer data ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Crystal Reports?

I am aware that the pricing of SAP Crystal Reports gradually changes. When I bought it last time, I don't remember the exact price, and I need to check the current price on the portal. SAP Crystal ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Amazon QuickSight vs Looker Studio

Compared 15% of the time

Microsoft Power BI vs Looker Studio

Compared 11% of the time

Tableau Enterprise vs Looker Studio

Compared 9% of the time

RStudio Connect vs Looker Studio

Compared 7% of the time

Zendesk vs Looker Studio

Compared 5% of the time

More Looker Studio Competitors

Microsoft Power BI vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 11% of the time

Windward Core vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 10% of the time

Tableau Enterprise vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 8% of the time

Syncfusion Report Platform vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 7% of the time

OZ Report vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 7% of the time

More SAP Crystal Reports Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Looker Studio

May 2026

Download Looker Studio product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP Crystals

April 2026

Download SAP Crystal Reports product report

Also Known As

Data Studio

No data available

Overview

Looker Studio offers seamless integration with Google products, supporting business visualization and collaboration through efficient data management and analytics, catering to teams aiming for quick analytics solutions.

Looker Studio combines diverse data source integration including SQL and MongoDB with powerful visualization and custom filter creation. Users find its visuals clean and its platform user-friendly, enhanced by collaboration features and pricing. It aids decision-making and is popular for tracking metrics and analyzing sales funnels. Despite its strengths, users seek faster report loading, simpler data modeling, and better interface usability. Advertising system limitations, delayed data reflections, and integration challenges affect performance. Security and stability improvements alongside a richer data modeling layer are desirable, with pricing impacting large organizations.

What are the most important features of Looker Studio?

Google Integration: Easily integrates with Google products for efficient workflow.
Diverse Data Sources: Connects to databases like SQL and MongoDB.
Custom Filters: Offers flexible filter options for tailored analyses.
Data Visualization: Enables powerful, clear visual data representation.
Collaboration: Supports team collaboration for shared insights.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Ease of Use: Accessibility and user-friendly operation for teams.
Decision-Making Support: Facilitates informed business decisions.
Flexibility: Adapts to different business analytics needs.
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive pricing for budget-conscious teams.

Looker Studio supports business visualization for different industries, creating dashboards and reports for sales and marketing analysis. It's used to track metrics and sales funnels from sources like Google Sheets and BigQuery. Many companies integrate Looker Studio within web apps, providing data insights tailored to sectors such as e-commerce, finance, and more.

Google

SAP Crystal Reports provides flexible report generation with strong data connectivity, dynamic parameters, and customizable design features, facilitating interactive, insightful reporting. Users benefit from its comprehensive formula capabilities and seamless integration to create detailed reports.

SAP Crystal Reports stands out for its robust functionalities, including dynamic parameters and extensive formula capabilities, which offer flexibility in report customization. It connects efficiently to SQL, Excel, XML, and other formats, ensuring ease of data interaction. The tool's ability to handle sub-reports and customizable design options enhance its usability for diverse reporting needs. Clients appreciate the option to export in multiple formats and its seamless integration with business software. However, improvements in analytics, memory usage, finance features, and visualization are needed. There is a demand for advanced graphical options and a desktop version for editing references, better integration with Hadoop, and improved formula debugging. Enhancements in chart capabilities, report consistency across upgrades, and cross-tab interfaces are also anticipated. Efforts to support modern file formats, cloud platform integration, and a more intuitive interface akin to modern BI tools would be beneficial.

What are the key features of SAP Crystal Reports?

Dynamic Parameters: Offers flexibility in report customization:
Robust Data Connectivity: Connects to SQL, Excel, XML, and more:
Sub-report Handling: Facilitates complex, detailed reports:
Customizable Design Features: Enhances report personalization:
Extensive Formula Capabilities: Allows complex calculations and formatting:

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Ease of Report Creation: Streamlines the reporting process:
Precise Formatting: Ensures detailed, accurate presentation:
Seamless Business Integration: Integrates smoothly with existing systems:
Multiple Export Formats: Enhances flexibility for sharing and analyzing:

Industries utilize SAP Crystal Reports for designing layouts, templates, dashboards, and fixed reports. It is employed for financial and management reporting, including profit and loss and administrative purposes. Businesses opt for SAP Crystal Reports to integrate with other SAP applications, generating customer invoices, conducting business analysis, and facilitating data interaction and backend reporting through multiple report merging and customized dashboards.

SAP

Sample Customers

Genesys, Shueisha

City of Buenos Aires, ASR Group, Citrix, EarlySense, Usha International Limited, Automotive Resources International (ARI), LivePerson, Coelba (Grupo Neoenergia), RZD Russian Railways, National Basketball Association - NBA, TALLY WEiJL, El Machetazo, Young Heroes, Mozzart, Mitsui Knowledge Industry (MKI) , Surgutneftegas Open Joint Stock Company, The VELUX Group, AOK Bundesverband, AL-KO KOBER GROUP

Buyer's Guide

Looker Studio vs. SAP Crystals

April 2026

Free Report: Looker Studio vs. SAP Crystal Reports

Find out what your peers are saying about Looker Studio vs. SAP Crystal Reports and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

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