Exploring Looker Studio, Hex & Visivo

Looker Studio Vs. Hex Vs. Visivo

In this article, we'll compare the key features, capabilities, and differentiators between Looker Studio, Hex, Visivo. This comprehensive comparison will help you make an informed decision about which platform best suits your data visualization and analytics needs.

Quick Comparison

A high-level overview of key features and capabilities across these BI tools. This comparison helps you quickly identify which platform best matches your needs.

Feature	Looker Studio	Hex	Visivo
Deployment Model	Cloud (Google Cloud), Enterprise deployment, Private cloud	Cloud (SaaS), Private cloud, Enterprise VPC	Open-source, Cloud Service, Self-hosted
Pricing	Free to use (with Google account); Pro version for enterprise (Looker Studio Pro) introduced with SLAs.	SaaS subscription (free tier with limited projects; paid for teams). Closed-source.	Open source (GPL-3.0)
Cost	$	$$$	$
Git Integration	❌	❌	✔️
CI/CD & Testing	❌	❌	✔️
Real-time	❌	❌	❌
AI	❌	❌	✔️
Visual to Code	❌	❌	✔️
DAG-Based	❌	❌	✔️

Deployment & Pricing

Understanding the deployment options and pricing structure is crucial for making an informed decision. Here's how each platform handles deployment and what you can expect in terms of costs.

Tool	Deployment Model	Pricing	Cost
Looker Studio	Cloud (Google Cloud), Enterprise deployment, Private cloud	Free to use (with Google account); Pro version for enterprise (Looker Studio Pro) introduced with SLAs.	$
Hex	Cloud (SaaS), Private cloud, Enterprise VPC	SaaS subscription (free tier with limited projects; paid for teams). Closed-source.	$$$
Visivo	Open-source, Cloud Service, Self-hosted	Open source (GPL-3.0)	$

Target Users & Use-Cases

Each BI tool is designed with specific user personas in mind. Understanding the target audience helps ensure you choose a platform that aligns with your team's skills and needs.

Looker Studio

Business usersMarketersGoogle ecosystem users

Hex

Data scientistsAnalytics engineersData teams collaborating on notebooks

Visivo

Analytics EngineersData teamsBusiness usersEngineers

Ease of Development & Deployment

The development experience can significantly impact your team's productivity. This section compares how easy it is to build, deploy, and maintain dashboards in each platform.

Looker Studio

Hex

Visivo

Key Integrations & Ecosystem

A robust ecosystem of integrations is essential for modern BI tools. Here's how each platform connects with other tools in your data stack.

Looker Studio

500+ data connectorsGoogle products (Analytics, Ads)SQL databases via Simba drivers

Hex

Cloud data warehouses (Snowflake, BigQuery, etc.)dbt models and Git reposPython/SQL data sources

Visivo

dbt coreAll major databasesCustom connector frameworkSlack for alertsGithub

AI & Advanced Features

Artificial intelligence is transforming how we interact with data. Compare the AI capabilities and advanced features offered by each platform.

Tool	AI Features
Looker Studio	❌
Hex	❌
Visivo	✔️

Visualization Capabilities

The ability to create compelling and insightful visualizations is a key differentiator between BI tools. Here's how each platform handles data visualization.

Looker Studio

Drag-and-drop report editor. Offers charts like time series, bar, geo maps, tables. Customization is decent (colors, labels), though not as fine-grained as Tableau. Supports community visualizations (bring custom JS charts). Layout is canvas-style – good for dashboards and infographics.

Hex

Hybrid UI: notebook-style cells that can contain Pandas dataframes, SQL, or Python code, and separate 'app' view for interactive visual output. Visualizations can be created by pointing and clicking on a dataframe result (common chart types), or fully custom via Python libraries. Can add input widgets for interactivity.

Visivo

Highly custom UI with easy defaults

Detailed Differentiators

Each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses. Here's a detailed breakdown of what sets each tool apart, including both advantages and limitations.

Looker Studio

+ Completely free for most use-cases. Extremely easy for simple needs – non-tech users can create a shareable dashboard in minutes. Being Google, sharing and embedding is seamless.

− Lacks advanced analytics (no calculated fields beyond basic formulas, limited data shaping). Performance can suffer on large data sets unless using aggregated extracts. No row-level security (one report = one set of credentials or extracted data).

Hex

+ Mix of code and no-code: data pros can write Python or SQL, then non-tech stakeholders can use the polished published app with interactive controls. Strong collaboration (multiple users can edit same notebook).

− Geared towards data team usage – not a pure drag-and-drop BI for end users. To fully utilize, one needs coding ability.

Visivo

+ BI-as-code approach enables version control, collaboration, and CI/CD workflows. DAG-based architecture provides powerful data transformation capabilities and dependency management. Seamless visual-to-code workflow allows both technical and non-technical users to build dashboards effectively.

− Requires understanding of data concepts; not a pure drag-and-drop tool like Tableau. Initial setup requires technical knowledge for optimal configuration.

Security & Architecture

Security and architecture are critical considerations for enterprise deployments. Here's how each platform handles data security and system architecture.

Looker Studio

DB Access: Yes, live connects to sources using provided credentials (or OAuth tokens). Option to cache query results in Google's cache for performance. Virtualization: Data remains in source or cache – Data Studio doesn't store data persistently (except cached). Push: No, it pulls data when rendering charts. Other: Uses Google account auth for access; you can manage view/edit permissions on reports. Lacks fine security on data level (you'd need separate reports or filters per audience).

Hex

DB Access: Yes, connects directly using provided credentials to sources. Virtualization: No separate semantic layer; queries are run in notebooks. Push: No, though can output results to external sinks via code. Other: Offers granular access controls on projects (who can view/edit). Supports OAuth for data sources so credentials aren't exposed.

Visivo

No db access required. Very strong security features due to the DAG-based access controls and the push based deployment model.

Why Visivo Stands Out

While each platform has its strengths, Visivo offers unique advantages that make it an excellent choice for modern data teams.

DAG-Based Architecture: Enables complex data transformations and dependencies
Visual to Human-readable Code: Seamlessly switch between visual and code-based development
Ease of Development: Multiple approaches to build for both technical and non-technical users
AI-Powered Development: Leverage AI to accelerate dashboard creation
Git Integration: Full version control and collaboration capabilities

Ready to experience the power of modern BI? Try Visivo today and see how it compares to other tools in your stack.

$pip install visivo