Exploring Rill Data, Looker Studio & Visivo

Rill Data Vs. Looker Studio Vs. Visivo

In this article, we'll compare the key features, capabilities, and differentiators between Rill Data, Looker Studio, 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.

FeatureRill DataLooker StudioVisivo
Deployment ModelCloud service (Managed)Cloud (Google Cloud), Enterprise deployment, Private cloudOpen-source, Cloud Service, Self-hosted
PricingCloud Team plan >$250/mo - Pay by GB of data in dashboards after 1st 10GBFree to use (with Google account); Pro version for enterprise (Looker Studio Pro) introduced with SLAs.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.

ToolDeployment ModelPricingCost
Rill DataCloud service (Managed)Cloud Team plan >$250/mo - Pay by GB of data in dashboards after 1st 10GB$$$
Looker StudioCloud (Google Cloud), Enterprise deployment, Private cloudFree to use (with Google account); Pro version for enterprise (Looker Studio Pro) introduced with SLAs.$
VisivoOpen-source, Cloud Service, Self-hostedOpen 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.

Rill Data

Operations TeamsAnalytics Engineers

Looker Studio

Business usersMarketersGoogle ecosystem users

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.

Rill Data

Looker Studio

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.

Rill Data

Integrates with data lakes (Parquet/CSV) and DBs via importSlack integration for alertsCustom Code Based Integration

Looker Studio

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

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.

ToolAI Features
Rill Data
Looker Studio
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.

Rill Data

Focus on metrics dashboards; limited chart types optimized for fast slice-and-dice; styling is opinionated (less custom code)

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.

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.

Rill Data

+ Embedded DuckDB engine – co-locates data & compute for speed. True 'metrics store' approach (define metrics once) for consistency.
− Still maturing feature set; requires data to be loaded into Rill, and fewer visualization options than full BI suites.

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).

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.

Rill Data

DB Access: Not required at runtime (data is ingested into Rill's engine) – queries run in-memory. Virtualization: Data stays in engine (no live DB hits). Push: Data must be loaded (push ETL to Rill). Security: Supports read-only embedded DB; role-based dashboard access (authentication via service).

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).

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.

$ curl -fsSL https://visivo.sh | bash
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Jared Jesionek (co-founder)
Jared Jesionek (co-founder)
Jared Jesionek (co-founder)
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How can I help? This connects to our slack so I'll respond real quickly 😄
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