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Google Cloud Datalab vs Qlik Sense comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

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

Google Cloud Datalab
Ranking in Data Visualization
17th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Data Science Platforms (19th)
Qlik Sense
Ranking in Data Visualization
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
125
Ranking in other categories
Embedded BI (2nd), AI Data Analysis (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Data Visualization category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Datalab is 1.1%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qlik Sense is 5.6%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Visualization Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Qlik Sense5.6%
Google Cloud Datalab1.1%
Other93.3%
Data Visualization
 

Featured Reviews

LJ
System Architect at UST Global España
dashboards are good and data visualization is more meaningful for the end-user
Access is always via URL, and unless your network is fast, it would be a little tough in India. In India, if we had a faster network, it would be easier. In a big data environment, like when forcing your database with over a billion records, it can be tough for the end-user to manage the data. You need to have a single entity system in each environment. It's not because of GCP, but it would be great to have options like MongoDB or other similar tools in GCP. Then, we wouldn't always need to connect to the cloud and execute SQL queries. Even if your application is always connected to its database, the processing can be cumbersome. It shouldn't be so complicated. Once the data is collected, it should be easily sorted.
reviewer2592669 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director Software Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
In-memory data storage boosts performance
The advantages compared to other BI tools show architectural differences. The main feature is that it keeps all the data in memory. It doesn't retrieve the data from data sources when I need it on the dashboard; instead, it quickly provides the desired data, making it very fast compared to other BI tools. The ROI is very high using Qlik Sense. It offers many benefits of BI. It is flexible from a developer's point of view, allowing me to accomplish many tasks compared to other BI tools. From an end-user perspective, it's convenient and performance-oriented, providing something meaningful from all the organization's data.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The infrastructure is highly reliable and efficient, contributing to a positive experience."
"In MLOps, when we are designing the data pipeline, the designing of the data pipeline is easy in Google Cloud."
"For me, it has been a stable product."
"Google Cloud Datalab is very customizable."
"All of the features of this product are quite good."
"The APIs are valuable."
"It is simple to develop, which is good."
"The solution offers good performance."
"The UI is very easy to use, with drag and drop self-service analytics."
"Business users have been able to use the BI self-serve model."
"The time it takes to deliver a dashboard is real quick."
"What I found most valuable in Qlik Sense is its flexibility. It's a very flexible tool, and it has a lot of capabilities compared to Tableau and Power BI. In Qlik Sense, you can take data from any of the systems, and you can do data transformation, prepare the data, then present your KPIs. Data transformation isn't present in Tableau, Power BI, and other tools. In Qlik Sense, you're able to get the data and directly present that data. The presentation layer is also very good in Qlik Sense. My company is very happy with this tool."
"This tool not only allows for consumption of the data in a visual way, but also allows the user to modify the question to get new answers."
"The most valuable feature is flexibility."
 

Cons

"We have also encountered challenges during our transition period in terms of data control and segmentation. The management of each channel and data structure as it has its own unique characteristics requires very detailed and precise control. The allocation should be appropriate and the complexity increases due to the different time zones and geographic locations of our clients. The process usually involves migrating the existing database sets to gcp and ensure data integrity is maintained. This is the only challenge that we faced while navigating the integers of the solution and honestly it was an interesting and unique experience."
"The interface should be more user-friendly."
"There is room for improvement in the graphical user interface. So that the initial user would use it properly, that would be a good option."
"Connectivity challenges for end-users, particularly when loading data, environments, and libraries, need to be addressed for an enhanced user experience."
"Even if your application is always connected to its database, the processing can be cumbersome. It shouldn't be so complicated."
"The product must be made more user-friendly."
"As we are a very process-oriented company, we would like to see more extensions maintained from Qlik, because it's a huge budget problem to choose the right one."
"The solution needs to make improvements to the licensing model. They need to make it more affordable at scale, and to make it more affordable for those companies at the low end of the market as well."
"Qlik application automation needs additional work and features."
"We want the next version of this solution to be cloud-based so that each user can access it from anywhere in the world with their phone, tablet, or computer without a VPN connection."
"Qlik Sense could include additional features for data preparation and integration, making it easier for users to clean, transform, and integrate data from various sources."
"They should generally focus more on the evolution of current capabilities rather than doing everything but only at 50% effectiveness."
"It's going to take 20 to 30 minutes to refresh sometimes."
"What needs improvement in Qlik Sense is the support. It could be faster. My organization had already talked to Qlik management and has escalated multiple times, so management is looking into the support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is quite reasonable, and I would give it a rating of four out of ten."
"It is affordable for us because we have a limited number of users."
"The product is cheap."
"We have 20 licenses for Qlik Sense, and it is a special license that allows people in the whole company to use it over time. You buy this license and there are some minutes that can be used. For example, for the users that used only a few minutes in a month, we use this license. All the people have the ability to work with Qlik Sense. However, the number of licenses is not the number of users. The number of users that uses Qlik Sense is approximately 35 people."
"The cost is not bad considering the flexibility and support you receive from Qlik. I believe it is worth the cost."
"For on-premise enterprise users, a number of additional features come at a premium cost."
"I'm not able to reveal the licensing cost for Qlik Sense, but because it was a huge deal, the cost was less than the usual cost. The license wasn't that costly. It was the infrastructure that was very costly."
"The solution is worth it."
"Understand the break over price point for switching to the Enterprise license."
"QlikSense offers a Hybrid environment architecture, which is very cost effective based on where the enterprise data resides."
"I would rate Qlik's pricing four out of five."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
26%
Computer Software Company
10%
University
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise40
Large Enterprise87
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Cloud Datalab?
Google Cloud Datalab is very customizable.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Datalab?
Access is always via URL, and unless your network is fast, it would be a little tough in India. In India, if we had a faster network, it would be easier. In a big data environment, like when forcin...
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Datalab?
It's for our daily data processing, and there's a batch job that executes it. The process involves more than ten servers or systems. Some of them use a mobile network, some are ONTAP networks, and ...
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...
Seeking lightweight open source BI software
There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows: 1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle - look for SAP...
What do you like most about Qlik Sense?
The most valuable features of Qlik Sense are its speed and seamless development of web technologies.
 

Also Known As

No data available
QlikSense, Qlik Analytics Platform
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Abbvie, Airbus, Barclays, BT Openreach, BMW, Daimler AG, HSBC, IKEA, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Mail Group, Sanofi, Siemens, Wendy'', Vodafone, Volvo
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Cloud Datalab vs. Qlik Sense and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
880,745 professionals have used our research since 2012.