Google Data Studio vs Looker Studio: What's the difference?

Google Data Studio vs Looker Studio

Since October 12, Google announced that Google Data Studio became Looker Studio !

• What’s changed ?
• Is there any impact on reports ?
• Do I have to do something ?

Here is the link to the official release.

The quick answer :

Nothing changes for users. All of your reporting are still there and available and the service is still free to use with Google connectors and partner connectors are still available.

Operation is always the same, you create a data source with a connector (from Google or partner), you associate it to a report and you can access your data and create charts.

You do not have to do anything, everything should work as before.

The develop answer :

2 years ago, Google buys Looker in order to include them in their data management/data viz project.

This announces the realization of this purchase and a glimpse of the future project they will realize.

Apart from the announcement of the name and logo change, there is still few relevant information for what will happen next.

Looker Studio :

Google and Looker wish to ease the use of BI tools. Their goal is not to need a developer to play with your data.

They already announced their plan to add a complete user interface for working with data modeled in Looker. This feature is already accessible in preview (you can ask for it here).

You will need a Looker account to access model in order t use them in Looker Studio.

We could have a simplification of the interface for creating mixed data sources, or even better, the ability to merge more than 5 !

Looker Studio Pro :

Google Data Studio was always free with Google tools and you needed a subscription for most of the partner connector. Looker Studio keep the same modus operandi.

But, in a near future, the Looker Studio Pro subscription will be available, similar to Power BI, it allows you to manage a team, offer team collaboration possibilities and SLAs !

Team management could be great to manage data sources at a team level and not at the user’s level as it is now. This means that anyone in the team can create report and data sources, if this person leaves, you still have access to their report and data source as they belong to the organization !

In addition, the organization can manage their assets through a linked Google Cloud Project with a Looker Studio Pro subscription. And Cloud administrators can manage permission with IAM to control access to their project.

And finally, Looker Studio Pro users will have access to a Customer Care services. Decline in 4 different subscription, the first one is automatically included with your Cloud subscription and you can upgrade this plan to match your needs.

TL;DR :

Basically, nothing changes for actual users. We might have some interface update in the future, but the big change coming is Looker Studio Pro. It will provide a reliable solution for big company to store, use and model their data easily without having to worries who can access it.

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Need help with your reporting ?

Here at Catchr, we develop connectors (for Looker Studio and others destination) and create reports for our users, feel free to contact us on our chat to talk about your needs and we will help you =)