Exploring Looker Studio, ThoughtSpot & Visivo

Looker Studio vs. ThoughtSpot vs. Visivo

Compare key features, capabilities, and differentiators between Looker Studio, ThoughtSpot, Visivo. This comprehensive analysis will help you make an informed decision for your data visualization needs.

Quick Comparison

Key features and capabilities at a glance

Feature	Looker Studio	ThoughtSpot	Visivo
Deployment Model	Cloud (Google Cloud), Enterprise deployment, Private cloud	Cloud (SaaS), On-prem appliance, Private cloud	Open-source, Cloud Service, Self-hosted
Pricing	Free to use (with Google account); Pro version for enterprise (Looker Studio Pro) introduced with SLAs.	Commercial (Proprietary); enterprise pricing (by user and/or data volume)	Open source (GPL-3.0)
Cost	$	$$$$$	$
Git Integration
CI/CD & Testing
Real-time
AI Features
Visual to Code
DAG-Based

Target Users & Use-Cases

Each BI tool is designed with specific user personas in mind.

Looker Studio

Business usersMarketersGoogle ecosystem users

ThoughtSpot

Business users (especially C-suite)Data teams for scalable analyticsSearch-driven analytics users

Visivo

Analytics EngineersData teamsBusiness usersEngineers

Ease of Development & Deployment

Development experience directly impacts team productivity and time-to-value.

Looker Studio

2/5

ThoughtSpot

4/5

Visivo

5/5

Key Integrations & Ecosystem

A robust ecosystem of integrations is essential for modern BI tools.

Looker Studio

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

ThoughtSpot

Cloud data warehousesdbt metadata syncEmbedding API for apps

Visivo

dbt coreAll major databasesCustom connector frameworkSlack for alertsGithub

Visualization Capabilities

The ability to create compelling visualizations is key to data storytelling.

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.

ThoughtSpot

Search-driven analytics UI: users type questions in natural language and ThoughtSpot generates charts/tables as answers. Dashboards (pinboards) can be created from these answers. Visualizations are generally standard (bar, line, scatter, etc.) and auto-chosen by the engine (with ability to change chart type). Emphasis on simplicity – limited custom formatting beyond basic styling.

Visivo

Highly custom UI with easy defaults

Detailed Differentiators

Each platform's unique strengths 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).

ThoughtSpot

Natural language search interface – Googling your data. Extremely scalable architecture (built to handle billions of rows). Strong AI analytics capabilities (SpotIQ automatically finds anomalies/patterns).

Requires well-modeled data and user training to ask the right questions. Expensive at scale. Limited chart customization; not meant for pixel-perfect reports.

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

Critical considerations for enterprise deployments.

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).

ThoughtSpot

DB Access: If using live query (Embrace), it requires direct read access to the DB. If using imported data, queries hit the in-memory engine (no external DB access needed at query time). Virtualization: Yes – Embrace is essentially virtualization (no data copy, live query on external DB). Push: With imported mode, data is pushed into TS's storage from source on a schedule. Other: Robust security – row and column-level security, user and group permissions, and audit logs. Supports SSO and OAuth.

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 for modern data teams.

DAG-Based Architecture for complex data transformations

Visual to Human-readable Code conversion

Multiple development approaches for all skill levels

AI-Powered dashboard creation

Full Git integration and version control

Open-source with enterprise features

Ready to Experience Modern BI?

Try Visivo today and see how it transforms your data analytics workflow.

$ curl -fsSL https://visivo.sh | bash

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