Looker Reviews & Product Details

I really appreciate Looker's ability to make data easier to understand and act on. It stands out because it helps transform large amounts of information into dashboards and reports that are clear, structured, and useful for day-to-day decisions. I also value how it improves collaboration by making insights easier to share across teams. The biggest advantage for me is that it reduces manual effort while providing a better overall view of business performance. Additionally, it improves visibility into key metrics and helps teams make more informed decisions with greater consistency. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Looker offers strong analytical capabilities, but there are a few areas where it could work better. The platform can have a learning curve, especially for users who are new to BI tools or need to create more advanced reports and dashboards. The features are capable, but not always intuitive to use at first, which means users may need additional time or support to become fully comfortable with the platform. It would help if certain customization and reporting functions were simpler to manage for non-technical users. At times, working with complex datasets or detailed inquiries can feel less straightforward than expected. Enhancing visibility, streamlining navigation, and reducing the dependence on technical knowledge in some areas would make the overall experience more efficient and accessible. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I use Looker for digital ads reporting for platforms like Google Analytics, Google Ads, and DV360. I like that it creates dynamic and live reports, especially for Google platforms, which is great for sharing with clients and managers. The best part is, once set up, it can show reports in real-time to anyone who needs it, and the initial setup is easy, though it takes time when blending reports. Once done, it can be used forever. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It is not very efficient for non-Google products and sometimes it's paid for certain platforms. Setup is easy though it takes time especially when I need to blend the reports. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like most about Looker is how flexible it feels once you're inside a dashboard. Creating charts, applying filters, and adjusting dimensions happens visually, which makes experimentation easy. I can quickly compare metrics like sales, quantity, and cost without rebuilding reports from scratch. The ability to mix controls and charts on the same canvas makes insights feel interactive rather than static. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

For more complex use cases, it takes some time to understand how dimensions and metrics interact, especially when blending data or creating calculated fields. Beginners may need patience before everything clicks. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I love the ability to visualise our data in Looker, as opposed to searching through spreadsheets for answers. Being able to add pie charts, bar charts, and line graphs helps us to spot trends and dips visually, and act quickly to address these changes. I also appreciate that we can filter by date ranges, which we use a lot to report on how well each store did. For example, we've been trying to push customers to shop in our retail stores on Saturdays rather than online, so we use Looker to filter by Saturday to assess and compare how much money each store made. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

My biggest issue with Looker is that it's so difficult to learn at first. I struggled to create a dashboard from scratch. I didn't know what its capabilities were and wasn't sure how to set up this dashboard effectively. I didn't know that you could connect it to GA4 and Google Ads rather than exporting the data out of those programs and then uploading it to Looker (which I was doing for a while). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like how its interactive dashboards provide real-time drill-downs, ad-hoc queries, and access to row-level details on governed data. This enables us to gain quick insights and make decisions directly within our applications through embedded analytics. The graphical representations also help us clearly understand the details of our data. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Looker is a great app, but it uses its own modeling language, which can make it somewhat complex for new or non-technical users to learn. If Looker offered an easier learning guide, it would help users overcome this challenge. Aside from that, Looker is impressive overall. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What impressed me first is how Looker let us model our metrics once (using LookML) and the let everyone, from engineers to product leads to content folks use those same canonical definitions. The consistency cut down "which report has the right number?" arguments. The "self-service" fron-end and business users was a win: Once the data team defined the model, product/marketing folks could explore and build their own dashboards without needing to learn SQL - accelerating insights. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

While self-service aspect is strong onboarding non-technical users still required training: concepts like "views", "explores", "joins" are slightly abstract and some stakeholders got frustrated with what does this drop-down actually mean, moments. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like Looker because it's very user-friendly and straightforward. It lets me easily create any kind of chart based on the data I have. If a chart isn't relevant, Looker won't give the data properly, which helps ensure accuracy. I can also easily modify reports, put tests, do comparisons between previous and current data, and add color coding. I can even put themes to align with brand guidelines, and those features are really helpful. Once reports are completed, I can download them into PDF format, which is great because it includes our brand guidelines, reports, charts, and everything. Overall, Looker has multiple features that I like and use regularly in my daily work. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I didn't see any major gaps so far, but one improvement I'd like is with handling screenshots. We often have to manually input them into Looker reports. If there could be a process to pull all screenshots into Looker and filter them like data, it would be great. I'm not sure if it's possible, but improving this aspect would help, especially for campaign reports where we need to show creative stats along with metrics. Automating the inclusion of images and screenshots would be a big help. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like that Looker makes it easy to explore and understand data. LookML helps keep reports and metrics consistent, and the connection with Google Cloud makes managing data smoother. I also like that you can dig into the details right from dashboards to find insights quickly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Looker can be hard to learn at first, especially with LookML. Some charts and visuals are limited, and it can slow down with big datasets. The interface isn’t always friendly for beginners, and setup usually needs help from a developer. Better self-service guides would also make it easier to get started. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like best about Looker is its powerful semantic modeling layer (LookML), which allows centralized and consistent metric definitions across the organization. It enables self-service analytics while maintaining data governance, reducing discrepancies in reporting. I also appreciate its seamless integration with modern data warehouses and its ability to create interactive, real-time dashboards that support data-driven decision-making. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

While Looker is powerful, its reliance on LookML can have a steep learning curve for new users, especially those without a technical background. Customizing complex dashboards sometimes requires developer support, which can slow down quick changes. Additionally, performance can depend heavily on the underlying data warehouse optimization. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Looker's semantic modeling layer through LookML provides excellent governance for our SaaS analytics. The ability to define metrics centrally and have them consistently used across dashboards reduces errors and saves significant development time. Integration with our PostgreSQL database on AWS is seamless, and the API access enables us to embed analytics directly into our product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The learning curve for LookML can be steep for non-technical team members. While powerful, it requires SQL knowledge and understanding of data modeling concepts. The visualization options are more limited compared to dedicated tools like Tableau. Initial setup and deployment complexity can be challenging for smaller teams without dedicated data engineering resources. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.