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Looker Studio vs SAP Analytics Cloud 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 (10th)
SAP Analytics Cloud
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
71
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (4th), Predictive Analytics (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Business Intelligence solutions, they serve different purposes. Looker Studio is designed for Reporting and holds a mindshare of 2.6%, up 2.3% compared to last year.
SAP Analytics Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on BI (Business Intelligence) Tools, holds 2.6% mindshare, down 5.0% since last year.
Reporting Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Looker Studio2.6%
Microsoft Power BI23.3%
Tableau Enterprise20.1%
Other54.0%
Reporting
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP Analytics Cloud2.6%
Microsoft Power BI12.7%
Tableau Enterprise9.2%
Other75.5%
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Heron Ziegel - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
RamasamyTelungupalayam - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless integration, collaborative features, and enhances data exploration
There are several areas for improvement in SAP Analytics Cloud. Firstly, features available in SAP Lumira are missing in SAP Analytics Cloud. Secondly, the predictive analytics functions, although promising, are currently only suitable for Proof of Concepts (POCs) and not for industrial-scale use. Lastly, the pricing model for the planning functionality is quite high and presents an entry barrier.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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 product's initial setup phase is very simple."
"I would rate this solution eight or nine out of ten."
"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 solution is free so that is a good feature."
"The ability to design complex data models and equations."
"Data Studio integrates seamlessly with other Google products, and we can use it with other APIs if we like."
"I am impressed with the tool's scheduling mechanism, refresh mechanism, and different types of charts."
"It is a comprehensive BI solution that provides reporting, planning, and predictive analytics in one solution. You don't have to buy three different products. It is very flexible. It can be implemented very quickly. It has a lot of out-of-the-box scenarios that you can use for quick deployment."
"The ease of use of the solution is its most valuable feature. We haven't tried all of the features yet. The graphing and the ease of using the analytics tools have been great. It's all drag and drop; you don't need to code anything."
"We mainly use Analytics Cloud because it integrates with other SAP solutions. Our ERP is an SAP product, and our back-end is SAP Business Warehouse, so integration is an essential factor."
"SAP Analytics Cloud is superior to other tools in terms of planning and forecasting."
"In my opinion, it is good for analytics. Everything is in the cloud."
"One of the most outstanding features is being able to use the dashboard with a touch screen."
"SAP Analytics Cloud is very easy to use, and you don't require much technology. It has a very good library and analytics. It is easy to configure and offers good visualization."
"The solution is stable."
 

Cons

"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."
"The tool should improve on live data integration for quicker data reflection."
"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."
"There are issues with integration and I encountered limits and warnings, especially with my pivot table size."
"Other tools might be worth considering if you need more advanced features or support for a larger user base."
"There is a significant degree of sophistication required to compete with Tableau or Cognos."
"Insisting on forums, blogs and community outreach in communications, and posting videos on an established calendar would be useful."
"They need more support for more languages, Python for example."
"We need to know that we are using the latest and greatest, and SAP appears as if it has lost some credit in the market.​"
"I am not happy with the predictive analytics features and smart features offered by the product, making them areas where improvements are required."
"What could be improved in SAP Analytics Cloud is integration, particularly in terms of extracting data from the source system. Currently, its data extraction mechanism doesn't have good integration and needs improvement."
"Custom visuals is another area of improvement. There are also some mobile features that are missing. There are features that aren't available on the mobile."
"Could have more tabular reporting capabilities."
"The security, authorization, and live connection to the back-office system features can be improved. A business analyst colleague who creates complex financial management reports has mentioned that he wants to see more fact and visualization features. It would be helpful to have more visualization features to be able to prepare more stories or reports for executives. For example, Tableau has some visualization features that are not present in this solution."
"The solution should include other scripting languages as well, such as Python."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is quite affordable based on feature analysis."
"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 product is available for free."
"The tool is free."
"The tool's pricing is medium, and licensing costs are yearly."
"I don't have the exact price for SAP Analytics Cloud, but it could be improved and made cheaper, especially when compared to Power BI."
"The price is competitive. There is a power user license and normal user license, but the normal user license is reasonable."
"It is a bit expensive, but really worth it, especially if you are already using other SAP tools."
"The platform is about 50% more expensive than Power BI."
"The pricing is based on an annual license and is rated a four out of ten."
"Compute and storage features should be sold separately."
"It Wasn't directly involved in the pricing discussions, but when I joined the organization, they had already purchased the SAP Analytics Cloud solution. The organization faced challenges due to its perceived expense, leading to restrictions on granting access to many users."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
University
7%
Manufacturing Company
18%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Retailer
7%
 

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 Business23
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise39
 

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...
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 ...
What do you like most about SAP Analytics Cloud?
In the data warehouse, you're free to make changes. You can make everything text, meaning it's always a string. Even numbers appear as text, giving you the flexibility to work with all columns.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Analytics Cloud?
I normally do not deal with the commercials, so I am not aware of the pricing part of it.
 

Also Known As

Data Studio
SAP BusinessObjects Cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Genesys, Shueisha
Live Oak Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about Looker Studio vs. SAP Analytics Cloud and other solutions. Updated: March 2020.
872,837 professionals have used our research since 2012.