Alternatives · BI suites
Looker is Google Cloud's enterprise business intelligence platform. It suits organisations that want one governed set of metric definitions shared across teams and tools. If the question on your desk is why a number moved, and your data arrives as exports, there is a lighter way to answer it.
Looker is Google Cloud's enterprise business intelligence platform. Data teams describe their database in LookML, Looker's modelling language, and Looker then generates SQL from that model and runs it against the connected database to power Explores, dashboards, scheduled deliveries and embedded analytics. It is separate from Google's free report builder, formerly Looker Studio and now called Data Studio.
None of these is a fault in Looker. They are situations where a team needs something narrower, sooner or lighter than what it is built to do.
| The situation | How Covirage approaches it |
|---|---|
| Business users see value once LookML developers have modelled the data | The measures for your desk ship with the product; we map your columns once and set it up |
| It assumes a SQL database or warehouse is in place | Covirage reads the files you already export; no warehouse is needed |
| Pricing is agreed on annual commitments with Google Cloud sales | Three tiers on one sheet, with set up included |
| Dashboards show the variance; explaining it is a new Explore someone builds | The explain block answers why, with a bridge that sums to the change |
| Looker | Covirage | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Organisations that want one governed set of metric definitions shared across teams and tools; Companies with a SQL data warehouse, particularly BigQuery users already on Google Cloud | The person waiting for the answer: one desk, then the next |
| How it gets data | Live query: Looker generates SQL from the LookML project and submits it to the customer's database connection (BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle and many other dialects). SQL Runner also allows direct SQL against those connections. | Files and sheets now; scheduled delivery by API, S3, Azure, SFTP or email on Business; connections built with your team on Enterprise |
| Needs before the first answer | A SQL database or warehouse holding the data; LookML developers to model tables, joins and measures before business users explore; Looker administrators to manage connections, users and, for AI features, the Gemini in Looker setting | The exports your systems already produce. No warehouse, no modelling language, no data team |
| Typical setup | Not published | Minutes on a file you already export; set up for you within a week |
| AI | Conversational Analytics uses Gemini for Google Cloud to interpret a natural-language question, map it to fields in the LookML model, and compose a Looker query through the model's Explores rather than writing free-form SQL. It then analyses the query results to answer the question and can create visualisations. Administrators must enable the Gemini in Looker setting. | The AI model chooses a measure and writes the explanation; our tools do the arithmetic and check every total |
| Published pricing | Platform editions (Standard, Enterprise and Embed) and user licences (Developer, Standard and Viewer) are sold on annual commitments priced through Google Cloud sales; no list prices are published. Conversational Analytics is metered in data tokens, with monthly allowances included per platform tier (for example 60M input and 1.2M output tokens on Standard); overage is listed at $3.00 per 1M input and $20.00 per 1M output tokens, though Google states billing is not yet enforced during a promotional period. Data Studio (formerly Looker Studio) is free, with a paid Pro tier offering a 30-day trial. | Three tiers on one sheet, shared in a conversation |
| Getting data out | The Scheduler can send Looks and Explores as a data table, visualisation, CSV, XLSX, JSON, text or HTML, and dashboards as PDF, visualisation or a zip of CSVs, to email, webhooks, Amazon S3, SFTP or admin-enabled integrations. The Looker API interfaces provide programmatic access, and because Looker queries the customer's own database the underlying data already sits outside Looker. | Export every table as a workbook or JSON at any time |
Many teams use both: Looker for what it is built for, and Covirage for the recurring question a desk would otherwise hand to an analyst.
No. Data Studio, formerly Looker Studio, builds reports you design yourself. Covirage answers a desk's recurring questions with measures that ship with it, computed and checked by our code, and set up for you.
Sometimes, and often not. Looker is built for organisations that want one governed set of metric definitions shared across teams and tools. Covirage answers one desk's questions from the files that desk already exports, set up for you in a week. Many teams keep Looker for what it is built for and use Covirage for the question it would otherwise leave to an analyst.
It starts with the exports those systems already produce: files and sheets now, scheduled delivery by API, S3, Azure, SFTP or email on Business, and connections built with your team on Enterprise. We never hold credentials to your systems.
No. The AI model chooses which measure answers the question and writes the explanation. Our tools do the arithmetic, and every total is checked before it is shown. If a question needs a measure we do not have, the assistant says so.
Bring an export you already produce. The data map opens next, every column mapped once, and the first question is answered in minutes. Free, in your browser, no account. Or talk to us and we will set it up for you.
Facts about other products on this page were checked on 24 September 2026 from the pages below. Product names are trademarks of their owners, used here only to identify them. Covirage is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.