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Looker Studio vs TIBCO Spotfire comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Reporting (12th)
TIBCO Spotfire
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
74
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Business Intelligence solutions, they serve different purposes. Looker Studio is designed for Reporting and holds a mindshare of 2.7%, up 2.5% compared to last year.
TIBCO Spotfire, on the other hand, focuses on BI (Business Intelligence) Tools, holds 1.1% mindshare, up 1.1% since last year.
Reporting Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Looker Studio2.7%
Microsoft Power BI17.3%
Tableau Enterprise15.6%
Other64.4%
Reporting
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
TIBCO Spotfire1.1%
Microsoft Power BI8.9%
Tableau Enterprise6.2%
Other83.8%
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Heron Ziegel - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
reviewer2774796 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Governance System Specialist at a energy/utilities company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Clinical teams have transformed trial data into real-time, governed insights for faster decisions
Our client was a biotech company whose clinical pipeline was expanding with teams across clinical operations, biometrics, safety, and translational sciences. All these organizations and departments were drowning in data. Every week, teams stitched together different PowerPoint decks, SAS listings, spreadsheets, and extracts from central labs, CTMS, and warehouses. The problem was not a lack of data but a lack of timely insights. We were constantly asked which sites were falling behind, whether there was any worrying safety drift, or which biomarkers were correlating with response. Analysts would manually rerun scripts or pull static listings, which resulted in delays ranging from two weeks to a month. There were also many inconsistencies in definitions between ORR, PFS censoring rules, and protocol deviation categories, causing confusion and rework. Our client wanted a single analytic environment to serve as a one-stop place where their teams could explore, visualize, and collaborate in real time while maintaining security and regulatory expectations. TIBCO Spotfire became their live analytics workspace. Previously, teams had to collect emailed spreadsheets and various documents. By having one combined place, teams could open dynamic dashboards that were directly governed by curated datasets. The data canvas showed every transformation step, which helped the client maintain traceability for audits. Data functions written in R or Python allowed statisticians to encode and have approved analytic methods that could be used everywhere. Before implementing the tool, we built a framework and strategy. First, we mapped their high-value pain points including trial enrollment forecasting, safety drift monitoring, protocol deviation detection, and biomarker response analysis. Based on these priorities, we defined common language and common rules by aligning calculations with CDISC standards and creating shared data functions for lab shift rules and biomarker classifications. This prevented inconsistent interpretations across studies. We then built the technical foundation by connecting TIBCO Spotfire securely to their EDC, R environment, data lake, and row-level security to ensure adherence to PHI, PII, and regulatory compliances. Clinical operations dashboards provided real-time insights into enrollments and deviations. Safety dashboards were deployed to visualize patterns, biomarker distributions, and tumor burden changes for their cancer-related drug studies. The business validated the dashboards based on GxP principles, and we trained the study teams and built new templates so that trials could launch analytics much faster.

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."
"Data Studio integrates seamlessly with other Google products, and we can use it with other APIs if we like."
"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."
"The ability to integrate with a great variety of data sources."
"This has improved our organization by allowing people to see their data and develop visualizations themselves."
"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."
"What I appreciate about Looker Studio is mostly the clean visuals, which is good, as I prefer a dashboard with a clean aesthetic rather than feeling sort of an old Windows type of dashboard."
"This solution allows us to integrate data from across all client departments, for effective reporting via a single dashboard."
"It's scalable."
"The product's initial setup phase was simple."
"The ability to create a real-time data mark, using just one piece of software, is the best feature of this product."
"The two features that I have found most valuable are its ability to customize the dashboards when it comes to the evaluation. The second feature is its ability to handle a large amount of data, which is also something very unique about it."
"R and automation services."
"The out-of-the-box features are simple and easy to use across the board."
"From a scalability standpoint, I would say it's pretty fantastic."
 

Cons

"There are issues with integration and I encountered limits and warnings, especially with my pivot table size."
"Stability and scalability an be improved for a full ten."
"Panels are not as easy to use as other data extraction UIs."
"It's not yet a replacement for a complete BI tool."
"The challenges with Google Data Studio are associated with the security part, making it an area where improvements are required."
"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."
"The tool should come up with data modeling layer features that are present in other products like Power BI."
"The way TIBCO Spotfire is designed, in my opinion, is the reason why it lags a bit, especially compared to other BI tools like Qlik."
"One aspect where Spotfire could improve is its global recognition, especially in terms of support."
"The solution might be generic."
"We would like an easier way to get the product to the cloud. Right now, we have the on-premise version, and we would like to find a way to make it easier to migrate it over to the cloud."
"Personalising Spotfire, as a whole, is painful and is something that could be made easier."
"When you do the data loading, it is slow."
"The initial setup can be difficult."
"Compared to competitors, the UI is quite dated."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is free."
"The cost is quite affordable based on feature analysis."
"The product is available for 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 solution is free but the Google Looker is expensive."
"The ROI is nearly impossible to calculate."
"I would describe TIBCO Spotfire as an averagely-priced product."
"In comparison to other solutions such as IBM Cognos, TIBCO Spotfire is more affordable."
"The Tibco sales teams have been very difficult to work with - ignoring requests, misrepresenting level of demand, etc."
"The cost of TIBCO Spotfire could improve. It should be less expensive. It's the most expensive visualization tool in our company."
"This product carries a monthly licensing charge, with the amount depending on the features that are to be included. This costs also covers the use of technical support."
"The solution is affordable one."
"The pricing seems competitive and reasonable. The value delivered by the product far exceeds the cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise42
 

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...
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...
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...
What do you like most about TIBCO Spotfire?
TIBCO Spotfire is easy to use. We initiated Spotfire as POC, with support from a tech team based in South Africa. While they assisted with the setup, we conducted the POC ourselves.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TIBCO Spotfire?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for TIBCO Spotfire appears fair, and I think they are fairly priced as far as the features are concerned.
What needs improvement with TIBCO Spotfire?
The web client of TIBCO Spotfire lacked the full authoring capabilities available in the analyst client. Source control for DXP files was limited compared to a Git-style workflow. For regulatory su...
 

Also Known As

Data Studio
Spotfire
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Genesys, Shueisha
Allergan, ASSS de Montreal, Avantium, Blue River, Bank of Montreal, Citibank, FrieslandCampina, Hellmann Logistics, Merck, Novartis
Find out what your peers are saying about Looker Studio vs. TIBCO Spotfire and other solutions. Updated: March 2020.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.