The Top 7 Looker Studio alternatives for 2025: Our picks

In late 2022, Google rebranded Google Data Studio as Looker Studio, integrating it more closely into the broader Looker ecosystem. For many agencies that had relied on Data Studio for client reporting, this change initially raised questions about functionality, pricing, and long-term direction.

Fast forward to today, and while Looker Studio still provides an accessible way to create visual reports and dashboards, its limitations have become more apparent as agency reporting needs evolve. The platform works well for small teams getting started with data visualization and marketing performance tracking. Still, it can feel restrictive when managing multiple clients, handling real-time data connections, or expecting dedicated customer support.

As agencies scale, they often find that Looker Studio’s self-service design doesn’t always keep up with the complexity of modern marketing analytics workflows or the need for deeper, automated insights.

In the very beginning, the reporting was manual and time intensive. We knew long term this was not a viable option. We tried more automated services such as Google Data Studio and others. These were a bit more automated but cumbersome, difficult to connect with all ad platforms, buggy, and not visually appealing.

Brian Ferritto, Partner, 42connect

Reporting gets complex pretty quickly when you’ve got a growing roster of clients and increased time demands. 

Think about it: What happens when you suddenly end up with 10 times more reports to produce? Or new clients to onboard, and you want to do so seamlessly? Looker Studio gets the job done, but you (and your clients) need more than the bare minimum.

The pros and cons of Looker Studio

As a quick snapshot of what we just discussed, here are the main pros and cons of Looker Studio. 

Why marketing teams look for Looker Studio alternatives

No analytics platform is perfect. And as a growing agency, you’ve probably encountered a couple of Looker Studio hiccups. 

Here are a few reasons why you may be exploring alternatives (and reading this article).

1. To manage multiple clients and scale more effectively

When the end of the month rolls around, you don’t want to spend valuable billable hours toiling over client reports. While Looker Studio is a powerful advanced analytics platform that offers pre-built templates, it gets complicated when you want to pull and explore data from multiple sources. And creating client reports or running ad hoc queries becomes increasingly time-consuming.

This is especially the case when integrating data outside of Google’s ecosystem or creating more complex reports, which can even run into a few glitches. The last thing you want is to spend hours creating a report only to end up with a blank, frozen screen. 

We’ve worked previously with Google Data Studio. It was a good solution for a while but a slower, more complex setup. There were also lower load times, and it was often too overwhelming for our average client. 

Anthony Guilhem, CEO, Momentumm Digital

And to top it off, add-on integrations are priced individually. So if your agency needs to analyze data from many third-party connectors, you’ll incur high costs. That doesn’t sound sustainable if you ask us.  

Drag and drop widgets from a variety of data sources in an easy-to-use interface. All 80+ platform integrations are included on AgencyAnalytics at no extra cost–create reports and dashboards free for 14 days.

2. For customer support

Let’s take our previous example. Say you’ve spent countless hours creating a Looker Studio report, only to have it crash right before your eyes. One logical solution would be to seek customer support. There’s just one problem–it isn’t available on Looker Studio’s free version.

That means you're basically back to square one despite your best efforts to resuscitate that broken report. More time spent fixing standard client reports means less time developing actionable insights.

If a widget breaks or you can't figure out how to navigate a platform update–you're pretty much on your own. We wanted to switch to a platform that would have support available to us should something go wrong, that would be easier to use and more aesthetically pleasing out-of-the-box, and that could be updated more or less with a single click.

Molly Lopez, Founder & CEO, Sparo

And while customer support is available for Looker Studio Pro version, there are wait times of up to 8 hours (depending on the issue's severity). If you’re working on a time-sensitive report, that means added delays or missing your clients’ deadlines altogether. 

Get customer support exactly when you need it. With response times under 3 minutes, access a 24/5 live support chat directly from your AgencyAnalytics dashboard–sign up for a free 14-day trial today. 

3. To get real-time data access

Accurate analytics is one of the cornerstones of client reporting. As marketing campaigns progress, you need to know what’s happening at a moment’s notice. What will you do when a client calls and wants a real-time data update?

Different marketing platforms will have different data freshness (i.e., real-time data accuracy).  And because Looker Studio uses cached data, you may open a dashboard and report inaccurate data to your client on the phone. 

Not only could this skew your clients’ data-driven decisions, but it will also affect your agency’s credibility. 

I was using manual export and import with Google Sheets and feeding it to Google Data Studio. The drawback was no real-time data. 

Matthew Regenie, CEO, Prospect Future 

Our picks: The top 7 Looker Studio alternatives

If you’re ready to mash the gas on a Looker Studio alternative, here we go! To compile this list of some of the top business intelligence platforms, we considered the needs of growing agencies that need:

• Access to highly visual reports and dashboards

• Fast loading times to maximize efficiency 

• Pre-built reporting templates for easy replication

• The ability to create interactive dashboards to provide on-demand business analytics

• Automatic business data retrieval to quickly integrate data from multiple marketing apps 

• Advanced data capabilities (which enterprise-level agencies often seek)

Let’s explore below.

1. AgencyAnalytics

On the hunt for a robust client reporting tool? Look no further. Built specifically for marketing agencies, AgencyAnalytics is a powerful analytics tool that offers valuable features such as:

• Integrate and unify data from over 80 marketing platforms with just a few clicks–and at no additional cost 

• Real-time data population on digital analytics dashboards

• Easy replication of dashboards, reports, and account-level campaigns

• Full white-labeling capabilities from dashboards to emails and custom URLs

• Unlimited staff and client login profiles to control access and manage your entire agency

• In-app chat features for streamlined client messaging

• Annotations to supplement data visualizations and give added context

• Pre-built, fully customizable dashboard templates, and reporting templates 

• 24/5 live chat customer support with a response time of under 3 minutes  (additional e-mail support available at support@agencyanalytics.com) 

Before using AgencyAnalytics, we simply provided reports with no comments and bombarded clients with stats. AgencyAnalytics allows us to break down these stats for clients on all levels. We can customize the reports for each client and tailor them to their individual needs. It has allowed us to communicate their entire digital progress in one comprehensive report that is automatically delivered to their inbox.

Kim Meissenheimer, Ads Specialist, Expand Agency

If you’re ready to give your client reporting an extra edge, pricing starts from $59 per month and a free 14-day trial to get started—no credit card required.

2. Microsoft Power BI

This powerful business intelligence tool pulls information across multiple data sources to create highly visual reports and dashboards. 

If your clients rely on manual Excel spreadsheets for any form of data collection, Microsoft Power BI has the benefit of seamless integration and advanced data analysis of a self-service BI tool.

Some notable features of Microsoft Power BI include:

• Advanced Excel capabilities, such as consolidating multiple worksheets in a single report

• Predictive modeling (predictive analytics is helpful for large-scale exercises like media mix modeling)

• Creation of automated workflows, dashboards, and reports

There’s a free version of Microsoft Power BI that allows personal report creation. The Pro package, which unlocks collaboration and sharing features, starts at US $14.00 per user per month (when billed annually).

3. Qlik Sense

Similar to Microsoft Power BI, Qlik Sense is a business intelligence and data visualization platform that helps agencies and data teams explore data from multiple sources and uncover meaningful relationships across large datasets. Its associative analytics engine and AI-powered insights make it easy to move beyond static dashboards and identify patterns hidden within raw data.

This solution is best suited for agencies or larger teams that manage advanced marketing analytics, work with cloud data warehouses, or need to track key metrics across clients. Some of its standout features include:

• Flexible data exploration that connects insights across multiple tools and sources

• Natural-language search and conversational analytics to help non-technical users quickly generate insights

• Secure on-premises, hybrid, or cloud deployment options for agencies that require control over sensitive client data

Pricing for Qlik Sense depends on your deployment and data-capacity needs, with custom pricing available for enterprise users. You can request a free evaluation or trial directly from Qlik. Paid plans include access to dedicated customer support.

4. Tableau

Have clients that heavily rely on a Salesforce CRM? Their business intelligence tool Tableau provides data visualization for CRM analytics and customer data insights. Additionally, Tableau has the ability to pull data from other sources like Google Analytics and Microsoft Excel.

Tableau’s handy features include:

• Embeddable analytics for data integration on other platforms 

• Streamlined workflows and data cleaning

• Visual and mobile-friendly dashboards

• Enhanced data modeling capabilities

This platform offers a free 14-day trial. The Tableau Creator license starts at around $70 per user per month when billed annually (approximately $840/year), although pricing may vary by region and edition.

5. Metabase

If your agency is looking for a flexible dashboard-building tool that balances ease of use with depth, Metabase is a strong choice. Designed for both non-technical users and data teams, it enables you to visualize data and create dashboards without incurring heavy infrastructure overhead.

The platform is well-suited to agencies that want self-service reporting, need to deliver client-facing dashboards, or prefer a budget-friendly BI tool. Some key features include:

• An intuitive interface that supports data exploration across your clients’ data and helps uncover data relationships through drag-and-drop or query-builder workflows

• Embedding and sharing capabilities so you can share reports with internal teams or clients, and integrate dashboards into portals or apps

• Flexible deployment: Choose the free, open-source, self-hosted edition or opt for Metabase Cloud, which offers complete management.

Cloud pricing starts at $100/month (for five users) for the Starter plan, with higher tiers and custom pricing available for enterprise use.

6. Domo

This cloud-based business intelligence platform provides data visualization, predictive analysis, and unified goals across departments (e.g., sales, marketing, and finance). 

Domo offers useful features such as: 

• Pre-built and fully customizable design themes

• A range of marketing integrations including Google Analytics and Hubspot

• Automated workflows for increased efficiency

Domo offers a free 30-day trial with no credit card required. After the trial, pricing is provided via a custom quote based on usage (data volume, refresh frequency, integrations) rather than fixed published tiers.

7. Zoho Analytics

A powerful business intelligence software with user-friendly drag-and-drop functionality, Zoho Analytics allows marketers to weave compelling, data-driven narratives through visuals. As one of the top alternatives to Looker, Zoho is an intuitive data analytics solution that goes beyond static numbers to tell data stories that truly resonate.

Key Features of Zoho Analytics:

• Easy data visualization using a drag-and-drop interface

• Incorporate multimedia elements, including links, videos, and images 

• Easy-to-use data management interface to enable data-driven decisions

Zoho Analytics offers flexible pricing to cater to a range of budgets. Its paid tiers begin at around $24/month (billed annually) and rise through Premium and Enterprise editions.

Which is the best Looker alternative for client reporting?

We hope you’ve found this list useful! Wondering why AgencyAnalytics is listed as the top choice when it comes to alternatives to Looker? 

The additional tools we’ve mentioned are excellent for in-depth analysis, managing big data, and data visualization. That being said, they may not always provide the exact features that agencies and business users need to grow and thrive.

From platform-specific dashboards to pre-built marketing reports, AgencyAnalytics was created with you in mind. Plus, AgencyAnalytics offers drag-and-drop functionality to create customizable reports and dashboards that are perfect for non-technical users, such as your less tech-savvy clients.

Over 80 built-in platform integrations means not having to pull out your agency's credit card every time you need to add another data source to your business intelligence platform. Plus, AgencyAnalytics offers integrated add-ons for keyword rank tracking, site auditing, and backlink analytics.

Go beyond Looker Studio limits with AgencyAnalytics

There are more than a few reasons why over 7,000 agencies have jumped on the AgencyAnalytics train. After all, it’s built specifically for marketing agencies!

Growing agencies have growing demands. And with a million things on your plate, the last thing you need is a lag in client reporting or wasting billable hours. 

AgencyAnalytics has helped us recoup the time previously spent doing our reporting. We are now able to update reports much more seamlessly. Plus, the team offers support via chat, email, and, if needed, phone–which many other platforms, including our previous platform, GDS, did not.

Molly Lopez, Founder & CEO, Sparo

No more short-term fixes—invest in a sustainable data reporting solution like AgencyAnalytics to complement your scaling goals. From automatic data retrieval to fully customizable dashboards with embeddable widgets, use AgencyAnalytics to streamline client reporting and focus on growing your business.

Add hours back to your agency’s days with robust automation features. Try AgencyAnalytics free for 14 days!