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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
16th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Data Science Platforms (18th)
Qlik Sense
Ranking in Data Visualization
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
125
Ranking in other categories
Embedded BI (3rd), AI Data Analysis (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Data Visualization category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Datalab is 1.2%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qlik Sense is 4.8%, down from 8.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Visualization Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Qlik Sense4.8%
Google Cloud Datalab1.2%
Other94.0%
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.
PawanSingh3 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Data visualization has become faster and flexible and now enables quick multi-source reporting
Qlik Sense is very easy to use, but sometimes integration is a bit challenging. In our case, we wanted to integrate the cloud version of Qlik Sense, and Qlik Sense is not supporting the on-premises version, so we moved to the cloud version. We had a lot of challenges when integrating Qlik Sense SSO with the reports that we wanted to show on our web app or mobile app. There were a lot of challenges along with that, but eventually, we overcame those challenges, and things are working fine now. The integration part is one point for improvement; it could be more simple because I found some complexities with it. The single sign-on part is a little tricky and is not straightforward. We have done multiple rounds with their technical team, and although it got resolved later on, I think that it could have been better.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Google Cloud Datalab is very customizable."
"The infrastructure is highly reliable and efficient, contributing to a positive experience."
"The APIs are valuable."
"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."
"All of the features of this product are quite good."
"Our primary use case for this solution is focused on the pharmaceutical business, and we deploy it on-premises, typically for dashboards, sales charts, and cost of production for marketing with solutions like Salesforce."
"From siloed reports, we went to a centralized knowledge hub, combining cross-functional data, and helping decision-makers see the data as a whole, therefore making more informed decisions."
"Provides self-service capabilities for inexperienced users using the free desktop version."
"Now, their reporting can be done in a more ad hoc fashion with almost instantaneous results."
"Qlik Sense helped us with extracting insight from our data more quickly than before."
"Data collection, cleaning, transforming, and visualization become convenient, easy, and quick, consequently business users can make use of data by the fastest way and transform into better data-centric mindsets."
"The number of visualizations that are present in Qlik is very useful for our developers to help our business partners tell stories with their data. Qlik continues to add to and enhance these visualizations with each release. We are also very excited to leverage the integration between Qlik Sense and Qlik Catalog as we roll that out soon."
"It automates recurring processes to save time and money."
 

Cons

"The interface should be more user-friendly."
"The product must be made more user-friendly."
"Even if your application is always connected to its database, the processing can be cumbersome. It shouldn't be so complicated."
"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."
"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."
"I would like to see Qlik add more DevOps functionality to their product. Currently, we have to turn to 3rd party products to handle things like Source Control, Code Deployment through environments, etc."
"The user experience needs to be improved."
"There is no downside."
"Qlik Sense (as for ver 3.1) is still missing some key functionality that QlikView has."
"More options for the layout."
"I wish the product had the ability for slightly more customization. The out-of-the box charts and visualizations are fantastic, but I want to be able to tweak it without having to add outside extensions and widgets."
"A valuable improvement for this solution would be the enabling of us to host dashboards for our customers."
"Qlik Sense is very easy to use, but sometimes integration is a bit challenging."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is affordable for us because we have a limited number of users."
"The product is cheap."
"The pricing is quite reasonable, and I would give it a rating of four out of ten."
"The solution is worth it."
"The license mechanism of Qlik is quite complicated and not exchangeable. Such as 2016, they charge licenses by token, 1500$ for a token / 1 user. 2018: they change to 2 kinds of licenses: professional 1500$ / user, analyzer 800$ / user. 2019: they support subscription with 70$ Monthly for professional, 40$ monthly for analyzers, but for those you’re using perpetual licenses, they don't support acquiring more subscription licenses. The maintenance fee yearly are also high, 20% of the perpetual license."
"I would rate Qlik's pricing four out of five."
"Qlik Sense and its pricing model can follow any scalability."
"Licensing can start to get expensive, but compared to other tools in this space it is about average."
"Currently, our ROI is clear and concise decision-making. This timely addition will easily add $15 million to our bottom line in 2017."
"For personal use, the desktop version of Qlik Sense is absolutely free, and you can share visualizations with others and to a personal cloud space, though limited with storage space."
"You will spend more time on educating your staff than licensing the product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Construction Company
18%
University
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise40
Large Enterprise88
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
What advice do you have for others considering Google Cloud Datalab?
Overall, I would rate it a nine out of ten. Google Cloud is very good. Once you go through the features of Google Cloud, it's a good idea to get a GCP certification so you have an idea of how it ca...
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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qlik Sense?
It is not about performance. It is just about how expensive it is to implement.
 

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: June 2026.
899,645 professionals have used our research since 2012.