Google Data Studio is now Looker Studio - What Does This Mean for You?

Looker is not a new name

If you’ve been keeping track of Google’s updates, you’ll know that this is not the first time that Looker is mentioned as a name. In fact, Google acquired Looker as a product in February 2020, with the aim to offer data analytics to enterprise companies.

In fact, you could have used Looker as a product within Google until October 2022. The audience for this product was fairly niche, partially because of the entry price of around $2,900 per month.

What does this mean for Google Data Studio users?

The standard version of Google Data Studio has been around since 2016 and among other things, it’s been used to create various types of reports. We’ve talked about this tool extensively in our Google Data Studio review - and we also covered its many connectors and the not-so-transparent pricing.

If you’ve been using the “free” version of Google Data Studio, nothing changes for you except for the name of the product you’re using. 

Looker Studio Pro

The only major change happening with the rebrand is that Google is planning to launch the paid version of the tool called Looker Studio Pro. According to Google, Pro will get enterprise management features, team collaboration capabilities, SLAs and more. It all starts with the Dataplex integration they announced in their blog post.

In short, Looker Studio Pro will be something similar to what Looker was before - a data analytics product for enterprise companies, probably with an enterprise price tag.

Still looking for something better?

Despite the new name, Looker Studio still has some serious limitations. Primarily, its promise of being a free tool - it’s actually anything but free if you need more than the basic integrations. Also, their support is not that great, to say the least.

Try Whatagraph today and enjoy transparent pricing, 40+ data sources included in all plans, easy report creation and a stellar support team to help you out. Sign up for your free trial today!