Looker Studio vs Tableau Enterprise comparison

Google and Salesforce are both solutions in the Reporting category. Google is ranked #11 with an average rating of 7.6, while Salesforce is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3. Google holds a 2.7% mindshare in RT, compared to Salesforce’s 16.8% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Salesforce users who would recommend it.

Looker Studio

Read 16 Looker Studio reviews

1,849 Views
869 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Tableau Enterprise

Read 309 Tableau Enterprise reviews

18,144 Views
7,983 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Looker Studio

Tableau Enterprise

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 9, 2025

Tableau Enterprise and Looker Studio are data visualization tools that compete in transforming raw data into interactive dashboards. Tableau Enterprise holds an edge with its comprehensive feature set, performing well in complex data environments.

Features: Tableau Enterprise supports robust data visualization, strong customer support, and extensive training resources. It excels in handling large datasets and creating complex visualizations. Looker Studio offers seamless integration with Google services, making it ideal for organizations within Google's ecosystem. Its interface is intuitive, even for non-technical users, and it includes features like real-time data updates and collaboration tools.

Room for Improvement: Tableau Enterprise is often viewed as complex, requiring significant investment in training for optimal use. Its pricing is a deterrent for smaller businesses. Looker Studio could benefit from enhanced data integration capabilities beyond Google’s ecosystem and improved functionality for handling vast amounts of data.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Tableau Enterprise provides strong customer support and a comprehensive set of training materials, easing deployment challenges. Looker Studio benefits from its integration with Google services, making it a user-friendly option, though direct support is limited to Google’s general support channels.

Pricing and ROI: Tableau Enterprise is a powerful tool but comes with a higher price tag, which may impact small to medium-sized businesses. Conversely, Looker Studio's free access gives it a significant advantage in terms of cost-effectiveness, especially for organizations already invested in the Google ecosystem. Both solutions offer rapid ROI by enabling efficient, data-driven decision-making.

To learn more, read our detailed Looker Studio vs. Tableau Enterprise Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Looker Studio vs. Tableau Enterprise

December 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

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Tableau Enterprise

Ranking in Reporting

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

309

Ranking in other categories

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (2nd), Data Visualization (1st), Embedded BI (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Looker Studio is 2.7%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tableau Enterprise is 16.8%, down from 23.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Reporting Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Tableau Enterprise	16.8%
Looker Studio	2.7%
Other	80.5%

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

Uzair Faruqi

Head Of Analytics at Mjunction Services

Ease of developing dashboards and receiving strong technical support have enabled efficient data visualization

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.

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

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

"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."

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

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

"The integration with Excel and Google Sheets is a valuable feature, making it easy to access and visualize data."

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

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

"The best thing about the tool is that it allows you to share information easily and dashboards with colleagues and teammates because it's all online. No matter where you are, as long as you have the Internet, you can connect and use these dashboards. Google made good documentation for this tool. There are many examples of how to use and create dashboards and videos on YouTube. So, I think it's easy to learn."

More Looker Studio pros

"One of the most valuable features of Tableau is that it's a visual analytics solution, not just a dashboarding solution. Compared to Power BI, which is a dashboarding solution, there are no limitations with Tableau. For example, when you add a chart or a map to Power BI, it has a 3,000-point limitation. When you try to track your whole vehicle on the map, you only see the first 3,000 rows on the map, and Power BI doesn't tell you which part of the data is shown on the map. But Tableau doesn't have any limitations, which means that you can see five million data points on a map. It starts the project by creating the visuals that directly converts to SQLs. In that way, all the components have no limitations. When we compared Tableau to Power BI, we also found Tableau to be more fancy. Fancy means you can create more visual graphics and more visual dashboards. With Power BI, this isn't so—it's just some tables and some simple charts together. Tableau is more for business users who want to analyze data. Tableau can directly connect the analytics systems, like R or Titan, and get the results in screen, so it's a good solution for analytics scientists. It has some predefined capabilities to understand the data."

"Its dashboarding is the most valuable. It is easy to create visualizations and dashboards and import Excel sheets and ESP files in Tableau as compared to other tools."

"It allows us to basically understand and evaluate our numbers in an expedient manner."

"When compared to Power BI, Tableau has more readily available resources."

"It is easy to adapt visualizers to have interactive conversations among decision-makers."

"The dashboards are amazing, with different report types and stunning visuals. Most importantly, Tableau's AI with machine learning automatically predicts features and reports based on historical data. These are the three most valuable features for me."

"While using this solution I have found the valuable features to be ease of use and the visualization. It is a complete solution."

"The ease of presenting findings is very helpful."

More Tableau Enterprise pros

Cons

"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."

"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."

"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."

"There is a significant degree of sophistication required to compete with Tableau or Cognos."

"Stability and scalability an be improved for a full ten."

"From the perspective of infrastructure, I cannot provide a valuable opinion on the ease of use and customization options of Looker Studio."

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

More Looker Studio cons

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

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

"Its price should be improved. Its price is much higher than Power BI and QlikView. Programming is not easy on Tableau. For programming, you have to have a separate model. They should include programming directly on the web portion of the Tableau desktop so that people can write Python or JavaScript code for customizations instead of using a different model. Currently, Tableau Data Prep is a separate application that you have to purchase. It would be helpful if they can include Tableau Data Prep and programming languages such as R, Python in the next version. Tableau Public, which is a community version, doesn't allow you to save your work on your desktop. They should allow it. Currently, you can only upload it in the community."

"Small multiples (a.k.a. Trellis charts) are possible only through very hacky means. Update: Still remains a challenge."

"An advanced type of visualization is a bit tricky to create. It has something called a Calculated field, and that sometimes gets a bit difficult to use when you want to create an advanced type of visualization."

"There could be improvements on the mobile application, it is lacking features."

"It would be nice if we could export more raw data. Currently, there is a limit as to how much data you can export."

"The solution does have scalability issues."

More Tableau Enterprise cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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 tool is free."

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

"The product is available for free."

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

"It is more expensive than other solutions."

"Tableau is an expensive solution."

"Tableau can be costly (but this can be indefinable, such as user experience vs. cheaper etc.)"

"The price is definitely a point because smaller firms don't use Tableau as it's an expensive tool."

"Its licensing cost should be improved."

"One of the biggest drawbacks of Tableau is the price, it is expensive. The price should be reduced."

"For big business, Tableau could be expensive as having a lot of Tableau server users (entering with a browser to reports) could be a bit expensive."

More Tableau Enterprise pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

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May 2, 2013

MicroStrategy vs. Tableau

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

University

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

University

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	117
Midsize Enterprise	67
Large Enterprise	184

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

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 Sense, Power BI, OBIEE, Tableau, etc. I have recently started using Cognos Enter...

See all answers

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 been working on and off Tableau for about a year, but getting to work on it consta...

See all answers

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. This relatively short amount of time can make all the difference for companies ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Amazon QuickSight vs Looker Studio

Compared 31% of the time

Microsoft Power BI vs Looker Studio

Compared 14% of the time

Qlik Sense vs Looker Studio

Compared 4% of the time

IBM Cognos vs Looker Studio

Compared 3% of the time

Databricks vs Looker Studio

Compared 3% of the time

More Looker Studio Competitors

Microsoft Power BI vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 19% of the time

Domo vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 4% of the time

Databricks vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 3% of the time

Julius AI vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 3% of the time

More Tableau Enterprise Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Looker Studio

January 2026

Download Looker Studio product report

Buyer's Guide

Tableau Enterprise

January 2026

Download Tableau Enterprise product report

Also Known As

Data Studio

Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server, Tableau Online

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

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

Sample Customers

Genesys, Shueisha

Accenture, Adobe, Amazon.com, Bank of America, Charles Schwab Corp, Citigroup, Coca-Cola Company, Cornell University, Dell, Deloitte, Duke University, eBay, Exxon Mobil, Fannie Mae, Ferrari, French Red Cross, Goldman Sachs, Google, Government of Canada, HP, Intel, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Macy's, Merck, The New York Times, PayPal, Pfizer, US Army, US Air Force, Skype, and Walmart.

Buyer's Guide

Looker Studio vs. Tableau Enterprise

December 2025

Free Report: Looker Studio vs. Tableau Enterprise

Find out what your peers are saying about Looker Studio vs. Tableau Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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