Reporting & Dashboards
Power BI
Serious business intelligence at an SME-affordable per-seat price
Reporting & DashboardsSoftware
Looker Studio
by Google
Free dashboards with the sharing model of a Google Doc
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Best for: SMEs and marketing teams reporting on Google-ecosystem data (Analytics, Ads, Search Console, Sheets) that want shareable dashboards at zero licence cost.
Looker Studio is Google's free dashboard and reporting tool — and, since April 2026, it is called Data Studio again. Google announced on the Google Cloud blog that the product would return to its original name, keeping "Looker" for the enterprise BI platform; existing reports, data sources and links carried over unchanged. Most people still search for Looker Studio, so this listing uses both names.
What is Looker Studio?
A browser-based report builder that connects to your data, turns it into charts and tables, and shares like a Google Doc: send a link, set view or edit rights, done. Connectors for Google Analytics, Google Ads, Search Console, Sheets and BigQuery are built in. For a small business, a one-page Search Console report is the usual first build — see our guide to the best SEO tools for small business.
How much does Looker Studio cost?
| Edition | Price (Google Cloud documentation, as of September 2026) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 — no seat fees, no expiry | The full report builder and Google connectors |
| Pro | $9 per user per project per month | Team workspaces, organisation-owned reports, Google Cloud support, Gemini assistance |
Note the unit: "project" means a Google Cloud project, not your organisation, so agencies running one project per client pay per client. The real cost for mixed data is third-party connectors (Supermetrics and similar), whose subscriptions can exceed the price of a paid BI tool.
Who is Looker Studio best for?
Small and mid-sized teams in the Google ecosystem that need marketing, web and spreadsheet reporting without a licence fee.
Who should skip it?
Teams that need a governed data model, complex transformations or row-level security across many sources. Data modelling is shallow: blends and calculated fields go a long way, but heavy preparation belongs upstream in a warehouse or a sheet.
What are the alternatives to Looker Studio?
- Power BI — deeper modelling and the natural choice in Microsoft 365 organisations; Pro is $14 per user per month per Microsoft's pricing.
- Built-in reports in your CRM — often enough for sales reporting; compare the three main options in HubSpot vs Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM.
- ERP-native reporting — ERPNext ships its own report builder and dashboards.
To get data in without paid connectors, an automation platform can write rows to Google Sheets on a schedule — see Make vs Zapier. More tools are listed under reporting and dashboards.
Need this implemented?
Digital4All builds reporting for small businesses — sources connected, metrics defined, one page people read. See our dashboards service or tell us what you need to see.
Research-based listing — not hands-on tested by Digital4All; details as of September 2026.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | The full core product — no seat fees, no expiry (verified Aug 2026) |
| Looker Studio Pro | $9 per user/project/month | Team content management, Cloud support, Gemini features; billed per Google Cloud project — 30-day trial (verified Aug 2026) |
| Third-party connectors (optional) | Custom | Non-Google sources mostly need paid partner connectors (Supermetrics class) — the hidden line item in a "free" stack |
Key features
- Native Google connectors — Analytics, Ads, Search Console, Sheets, BigQuery — free and first-party
- Google Doc-style sharing — Link sharing with view/edit rights; no viewer licences
- Blended data sources — Join sources in-report for simple cross-channel views
- Calculated fields — Formula-level transformation without a warehouse
- Scheduled delivery — Email dashboards on a cadence to stakeholders
- Report templates — A large gallery of community and partner templates
Pros and cons
What we like
- Genuinely free — the core product, not a trial
- Easiest sharing model in the category
- First-party connectors for the whole Google stack
- Zero-install, browser-based, familiar to anyone who uses Google tools
What could be better
- Shallow data modelling next to Power BI
- Non-Google connectors are mostly paid third-party subscriptions
- Pro’s per-project billing is awkward for agencies
Integrations
Our verdict
Appears in
- HubSpot vs Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM (2026): Pricing, Features and Verdictarticle
- Make vs Zapier (2026): Pricing, Features and Which One to Choosearticle
- Webflow vs WordPress (2026): Cost, SEO, Ease of Use and Which to Choosearticle
- Best SEO Tools for Small Business in 2026: Free, Paid and AI Optionsarticle
Alternatives to Looker Studio
Guides featuring Looker Studio
CRM & Sales
HubSpot vs Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM (2026): Pricing, Features and Verdict
HubSpot vs Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM compared as of September 2026: free plans, real per-seat pricing, automation, AI and ease of use — verdict by use case.
AI & Automation
Make vs Zapier (2026): Pricing, Features and Which One to Choose
Make vs Zapier compared as of September 2026: credits vs tasks pricing at real volumes, ease of use, 3,000+ vs 9,000+ apps, AI features and a verdict.
Websites
Webflow vs WordPress (2026): Cost, SEO, Ease of Use and Which to Choose
Webflow vs WordPress compared as of September 2026: real three-year cost, SEO, ease of use, e-commerce and maintenance — and which platform suits you.