Looker vs ThoughtSpot

by Gralio Mar 14, 2025

Looker and ThoughtSpot are robust BI platforms with strengths for different needs. Looker is ideal for Google-centric businesses prioritizing seamless integrations and interactive dashboards. ThoughtSpot's AI-powered search caters to users who prefer natural language queries, but potential performance hiccups and customization limitations should be considered.

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Logo of Looker
Logo of ThoughtSpot

About

Looker, a Google Cloud product, is a business intelligence platform that helps you understand your company's data. It organizes your data so you can easily analyze it, create dashboards and reports to visualize the information, and then share these insights with colleagues. Looker aims to provide a user-friendly experience for exploring data without needing technical expertise.
ThoughtSpot is a business intelligence platform that makes it easier for non-technical users to get insights from company data. Using AI and search functionality, you can ask questions in plain English and quickly visualize results without needing IT support. It connects with your existing data sources and allows you to create reports and dashboards to track key metrics. ThoughtSpot aims to eliminate manual reporting processes and empower employees to make data-driven decisions.

Summary

Main difference
Looker excels in its seamless integration with the Google ecosystem and offers robust, interactive dashboards suitable for technical and non-technical users. ThoughtSpot stands out with its AI-driven search functionality, enabling users to query data using natural language, but its limited customization and occasional performance issues may be drawbacks.

Relative strengths of Looker (compared to ThoughtSpot)

  • Strong Google Workspace integration simplifies data sharing and collaboration within organizations heavily reliant on Google products.

  • Interactive dashboards and robust data visualization capabilities cater to both technical and non-technical users.

  • Looker's pre-built integrations and API coverage provide extensive connectivity options for diverse data sources and tools, surpassing ThoughtSpot's more limited integrations

Relative weaknesses of Looker (compared to ThoughtSpot)

  • Looker's pricing model lacks transparency, which can be a concern for cost-conscious mid-sized businesses.

  • Performance can be sluggish with large datasets, impacting real-time analysis capabilities, while ThoughtSpot's performance, though sometimes inconsistent, is generally better in this aspect.

  • Limited customization options for visuals and dashboards compared to ThoughtSpot restrict flexibility in tailoring reports to specific business needs

What companies are using Looker and ThoughtSpot?

No data
Comcast is a customer
Comcast
Afterpay is a customer
Afterpay
PNC is a customer
PNC
Capital One is a customer
Capital One
T-Mobile is a customer
T-Mobile
Coca-Cola HBC is a customer
Coca-Cola HBC

Who is using Looker and ThoughtSpot?

Elric Legloire
The Outbound Kitchen Chef
Parikh Financial
Streamline Your Finances, Elevate Your Business.
John Short
CEO at Compound Growth Marketing
No data

Who should use Looker VS. ThoughtSpot

Looker, a Google Cloud product, empowers data-driven businesses to easily analyze and visualize their data. Users praise its user-friendly interface and seamless Google integrations, enabling non-technical teams to access key insights. However, some users have reported challenges with large datasets and third-party integrations.

ThoughtSpot empowers non-technical users to analyze data through an intuitive search interface. Users praise its real-time insights and user-friendly design, while some note slow loading times and limited customization. Ideal for medium to large companies across various industries seeking to democratize data access and analysis.

  • Ideal for data-driven businesses of all sizes, especially those in the Google ecosystem.

  • Strong fit for Healthcare, Finance, E-commerce, Retail, and other data-rich industries.

  • Best fit for medium to large businesses (101+ employees) seeking to empower non-technical users with data insights.

  • Suitable for various data-driven industries, including Finance, Retail, Manufacturing, Transportation & Logistics, Media & Entertainment, and Software.

Looker and ThoughtSpot features

Supported
Partially supported
Not supported
Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

  • Custom data app development
    Supported

    Looker supports custom data app development using APIs, SDKs, and embedding.

    Supported

    ThoughtSpot enables custom data app development using APIs, SDKs, and pre-built components.

  • Robust API coverage
    Supported

    Looker offers extensive API coverage for programmatic control, custom experiences, and integrations.

    Supported

    ThoughtSpot offers robust REST APIs, enabling programmatic control over various platform aspects and custom integrations.

  • Pre-built integrations
    Supported

    Looker offers pre-built integrations with various tools and platforms.

    Unknown

    Sorry. We were unable to determine if this feature is supported.

  • Interactive dashboards
    Supported

    Looker allows users to create interactive dashboards with features like drilling down and filtering data.

    Supported

    ThoughtSpot allows the creation of interactive dashboards with features like drill-downs, filters, tooltips, and real-time data updates, enabling users to engage with data dynamically.

  • Interactive charts and graphs
    Supported

    Looker supports interactive charts with filters, drill-downs, and tooltips.

    Supported

    ThoughtSpot allows creation of interactive charts and graphs. Users can apply filters, drill down into details, and leverage tooltips for deeper data exploration. The platform offers various customizable chart types and supports features like adding labels and adjusting colors.

  • Data visualization
    Supported

    Looker, especially through Looker Studio, excels in data visualization, offering diverse chart types, customization, interactivity, and easy sharing, making data understandable and visually appealing.

    Supported

    ThoughtSpot excels at data visualization, offering various charts, interactive dashboards, and easy sharing options.

Qualities

  • Value and Pricing Transparency
    +0.06
    Neutral sentiment
    No data
  • Customer Service
    -0.08
    Neutral sentiment
    +1
    Strongly positive sentiment
  • Ease of Use
    +0.7
    Strongly positive sentiment
    +0.88
    Strongly positive sentiment
  • Reliability and Performance
    -0.12
    Neutral sentiment
    +0.33
    Rather positive sentiment
  • Ease of Implementation
    +0.07
    Neutral sentiment
    +0.67
    Rather positive sentiment
  • Scalability
    -0.23
    Neutral sentiment
    +0.5
    Rather positive sentiment

Looker and ThoughtSpot Pricing

No data

User sentiment

Neutral
+0.07

See full Pricing page

ThoughtSpot offers flexible pricing for different usage needs, with options for annual billing and custom pricing available. They provide a free trial for Essentials, Pro, and Developer plans, while a demo is available for the Enterprise plan. More detailed pricing information is available by contacting the ThoughtSpot sales team.
Plans

User sentiment

Strongly negative
-1

See full Pricing page

Looker and ThoughtSpot review insights

1930 reviews analysed from and

Users love

  • Seamless integration with Google products.
  • User-friendly interface, making it accessible for non-technical users.
  • Real-time data monitoring capabilities.
  • Powerful data visualization and reporting features.
  • Intuitive search functionality is highly praised
  • Real-time data analysis and insights are valuable
  • User-friendly interface makes it easy to explore data
  • AI-powered insights (SpotIQ) help discover hidden trends

Users dislike

  • Connecting to other social media platforms can be difficult.
  • Occasional bugs can disrupt the creation of charts.
  • Performance can lag when handling large datasets.
  • Third-party integrations, particularly for social media, need improvement.
  • Slow loading times are a frequent complaint
  • Limited customization for visuals and dashboards
  • Occasional bugs and glitches disrupt the user experience
  • Data loading and setup can be time-consuming and complex

Looker and ThoughtSpot Ratings

  • G2
    4.4/5
    (1394)
  • Capterra
    4.6/5
    (225)
  • Glassdoor
    3.5/5
    (2)
  • G2
    4.4/5
    (311)
  • Glassdoor
    3.5/5
    (333)

Company health

Employee growth

69% increase in the last year
3% decrease in the last year

Web traffic

2% decrease in the last quarter
28% decrease in the last quarter

Financing

July 2018 - $16M
October 2023 - $664M

How do Looker's pre-built Google integrations compare to ThoughtSpot's customizability?

Looker emphasizes pre-built integrations, especially with other Google products, offering a more seamless experience within that ecosystem. ThoughtSpot, while offering some integrations, focuses more on customizability and allows for deeper tailoring to specific needs through its APIs and SDKs, though this may require more technical expertise.

Which product better empowers non-technical users, Looker's dashboards or ThoughtSpot's search?

ThoughtSpot's search functionality better empowers non-technical users. Its natural language processing allows users to ask questions in plain English, eliminating the need for complex query building or technical expertise. While Looker provides interactive dashboards that are user-friendly, ThoughtSpot's search-driven approach simplifies data exploration further, making it more accessible for non-technical users to quickly gain insights.

What are the advantages of Looker?

Looker's advantages include seamless integration with other Google products, a user-friendly interface suitable for non-technical users, real-time data monitoring capabilities, and robust API coverage for custom integrations and applications. It also offers strong data visualization features within Looker Studio. Users praise Looker's ease of use and real-time data capabilities.

What are the disadvantages of Looker?

Looker's disadvantages include occasional bugs affecting chart creation, performance issues with large datasets, and difficulties connecting to some social media platforms. Users also report that third-party integrations, especially for social media, could be improved.

Alternatives to Looker and ThoughtSpot

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Page co-authored by
MK
Michal Kaczor
CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

TT
Tymon Terlikiewicz
CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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