Looker vs ThoughtSpot comparison

Read 12 ThoughtSpot reviews

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Looker

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Looker and ThoughtSpot based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Embedded BI solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Looker vs. ThoughtSpot Report (Updated: January 2025).

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Looker vs. ThoughtSpot

January 2025

Helped 845,040 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:

Categories and Ranking

Looker

Ranking in Embedded BI

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

ThoughtSpot

Ranking in Embedded BI

8th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (18th), Data Visualization (14th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Embedded BI category, the mindshare of Looker is 9.3%, down from 11.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ThoughtSpot is 5.1%, down from 6.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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.

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Sushma Polavarapu

Sr Data Analytics Consultant at Capgemini

Creates user-friendly analysis environments for large datasets

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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."

"It is a pretty stable solution because it is a cloud-based product."

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

"Looker allows you to generate the most optimal SQL queries in a DC through UI actions. We had signed a contract with Google Cloud to use BigQuery. That was the primary reason we adopted Looker. It works better with BigQuery than any other BI platform. We also like how this tool was developed. It was designed with an eye toward microservices architecture."

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

"The product is easy to use."

"The stability of Looker has been good since I have been using it. However, it depends on what components are being used."

More Looker pros

"The ability to do ad hoc explorations of data has been most valuable."

"It is easy to set up the solution."

"The scalability is good."

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

"I like ThoughtSpot's search capabilities. You can also create custom analytics even if you aren't an experienced data analyst. We have users with no data analytics experience making some of the dashboards we've created, copying components, and customizing them to their specific use cases."

"The self-service analytics capabilities are unrivaled, making it a top-notch solution."

"The initial setup was very straightforward."

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

More ThoughtSpot pros

Cons

"Integrations with other BI tools could be better."

"The visualization capability of the product is limited."

"Stability needs improvement."

"It needs to be more user-friendly."

"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 product does not have documented material."

"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."

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

"The support team gets a six out of ten. They are not as proactive."

"I would like to see more flexibility in adding the pins. Currently, we have four different sizes in which I can add pins, but I would like to be able to resize my pins."

"A crucial feature we needed is missing, which involves restricting views of certain KPIs when users select conflicting parameters. We had to create a workaround, which impacted performance by loading pinboards slowly."

"I encountered limitations mainly around UI and dashboard configuration."

"Some areas for improvement include the pixel-perfect dashboards, which are not as refined as those in Tableau."

"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."

"A customized visualization is lacking in this product."

More ThoughtSpot cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"It is cheap."

"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."

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

"I give the pricing a six out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

33%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Looker?

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 advanced users who have experience with BI tools use Looker, then they may find it t...

What needs improvement with Looker?

The visualization capability of the product is limited. From an improvement perspective, the product should have more visualization capability. I can't clean data in Looker, and if I try to do it, ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ThoughtSpot?

ThoughtSpot is expensive. When compared with Tableau and Sisense, it is around seven or eight on the expense scale.

What needs improvement with ThoughtSpot?

The visualization customization needs improvement. Currently, it is not as customizable as the options available on Power BI or Tableau. It mainly offers basic chart options.

What is your primary use case for ThoughtSpot?

I use ThoughtSpot as one of the visualization tools. I mainly create some live boards and provide access to the data sources and worksheets to users so they can create their own analyses and answer...

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 24% of the time

Tableau vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 19% of the time

Databricks vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 7% of the time

TIBCO Spotfire vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Download Looker product report

Looker

March 2025

Download ThoughtSpot product report

March 2025

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

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.

Sample Customers

Yahoo!, Etsy, Kohler, Hipcamp, Hubspot, Kickstarter, Venmo, Dollar Shave Club, 600+ customer

Primary Capital Mortgage, Sterling Backcheck, RichRelevance, Rambus, Batteries Plus Bulbs