Looker vs Yellowfin BI

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Our analysts compared Looker vs Yellowfin BI based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Business Intelligence Tools, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Looker Software Tool
Yellowfin BI Software Tool

Product Basics

Looker is a web-based analytics solution that offers businesses the ability to explore, discover, visualize and share data insights. Enterprises can view data sources and drill down into data to better understand their business and metrics.

Using a simple proprietary modeling language, this system helps define data relationships while bypassing SQL. It facilitates data literacy and accessibility, irrespective of technical skill levels. It was acquired by Google on June 6, 2019, for $2.9 billion.
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Yellowfin BI is an integrated platform that helps users transform their business through data by combining automated data analysis, interactive dashboards and storytelling. It also enables intuitive filtering of large amounts of data in real time. It facilitates organization-wide understanding through data sharing and collaborative action. It has a customizable architecture and has the ability to add an organization’s branding, such as its logo.

It offers either enterprise or embedded analytics and is deployable in the cloud or on-premise.
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$2,900 Monthly
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$50/User, Monthly, Freemium
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Product Assistance

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Live Online
Videos
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Email
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FAQ
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
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24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Real-Time Data: Keep up to date on the most recent numbers through real-time updates to dashboards and other visualizations.
  • Local Database: Uses an organization’s proprietary database to collect data — no need to rely on parallel data pipelines or data extracts.
  • Self-Service BI: Explore data through the self-serve function and then refine the automatically generated visualizations. Create custom dashboards to reflect specific KPIs based on the business’ specific needs.
  • Virtual Schema: Create live connections to over 35 SQL databases through a code-based virtual query-time schema. Keeps data visualizations secure and up-to-date.
  • Embedded Analytics: Embeddable through SSO, it can deploy into third-party solutions like a CRM or ERP as an embedded iframe or through Javascript. Empowers other software solutions with BI capabilities including reliable data, self-service analytics, actionable insights and intuitive dashboards.
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  • End-to-End BI Stack: Its complete BI suite provides solutions to multiple data analytics problems. Businesses are equipped with critical tools such as automated insights, action-based dashboards and collaborative BI tools. Its robust enterprise governance tool allows businesses to integrate their platform with existing security features. 
  • Convenient Adoption: Its single, integrated platform is user-friendly and easy to adopt. It is deployable either on the cloud or on-premise. 
  • Engaging Data Stories: Users can share their data insights with dynamic, compelling reports and storyboards. 
  • Data Transparency: Yellowfin BI can present data in multiple ways and assimilate into business operations. It's built with various dashboards, including analytical, operational and strategic setups, that link interactive data, allowing users to understand information in real time and allow for the monitoring of crucial metrics. It also ensures data accuracy and can create timelines. 
  • Automated Insights: It combines machine learning with human insights to make use of the company’s data effectively. Its algorithms automatically scan through the company’s data and provide strategically relevant results. 
  • Explore Data With Ease: Its smart visualizations enable easy data discovery and exploration. It has over 50 chart types built-in, which helps users understand their businesses better. It also helps in spotting patterns, trends and outliers. 
  • Open Source Freedom: As a 100% open platform, it has no proprietary lock-in, which allows analysts to use their existing skills and knowledge to develop their own capabilities within the platform. It is open-source in nature, which makes the Yellowfin Marketplace, a digital catalog of many free or low-cost plug-ins, extend the suite’s capabilities even further. 
  • Scalability: It offers a scalable architecture that can adapt according to the growth of a business. Users can scale their data usage, without compromising on performance aspects. 
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  • Automated Modeling: Connects to relational databases and automatically generates models from the database schema.
  • Intuitive Visualizations: Generates visualizations in real time directly from the specified data source. Choose from an expansive library of visualization options like bar graphs, pie charts, Sankey diagrams, spider web charts, sunburst graphs, chord diagrams, heatmaps, funnels, treemaps and many more.
  • Time Zone Handling: Incorporates data seamlessly into the visualization, regardless of what time zone it is coming from.
  • LookML Data Modeling Language: Create scalable, reusable data models through the proprietary SQL-based data modeling language LookML.
  • Pre-Built Analytics Code: Use its Blocks feature as a starting point for building data analytics models with customizable code blocks. Includes optimized SQL patterns, custom visualization options, pre-built data models and more.
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  • Automated Data Monitoring: Yellowfin Signals provides machine-based automated monitoring of live data. It highlights anomalies and data outliers, and its proactive warning systems keep business owners informed of changes as they happen and deliver insights faster.  
  • Data Storytelling: Yellowfin Stories and Yellowfin Present help users create data stories and presentations that add context to numbers. These presentations enable clear and concise understanding throughout the organization with accessible insights sourced from one centralized, automatically refreshed database. Data stories can be authored in blog format and supplemented with external media and attachments. 
  • Connectivity to Various Data Sources: It facilitates connection with numerous data sources, including Web APIs, spreadsheets and relational databases as either on-premise or hosted in the cloud. Data is then transformed and merged so that it is accessible by any analytics platform without proprietary lockouts. 
  • Data Analysis: It helps businesses accelerate the analysis of large chunks of data using databases, spreadsheets or online applications. 
  • Data Discovery: The Insight Wizard feature is a unique inclusion that helps users cut down on discovery times with the help of assisted insights. It comes packed with features that provide automated answers with the use of algorithms. 
  • Dashboards: Its customizable, interactive dashboards enable users to keep track of key performance indicators in real time. They drive action and let users make data-driven decisions for their companies. They can be customized with the company’s branding and their open-source code lets users create their own application experience. 
  • Embeddable Workflows: Out-of-the-box, Yellowfin action buttons allow users to integrate workflows to third-party applications, or develop their own custom workflows that allow users to take direct action from their dashboards. 
  • Mobile App: It comes with a mobile application that helps users track changes to their data on-the-go. The app is curated for a mobile-specific experience, which allows users to track changes and respond to them from internet-enabled devices. 
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Product Ranking

#4

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Business Intelligence Tools

#346

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Business Intelligence Tools

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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 1836 reviews
Great User Sentiment 182 reviews
88%
of users recommend this product

Looker has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 1836 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

85%
of users recommend this product

Yellowfin BI has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 85% when considering 182 user reviews from 6 recognized software review sites.

5.0 (20)
4.2 (14)
4.4 (1070)
4.4 (90)
4.6 (141)
4.59 (17)
n/a
4.6 (16)
4.4 (371)
4.1 (10)
4.1 (234)
3.5 (35)

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Reporting: Looker features strong reporting features that offer a degree of granularity and scheduling that 100% of users who mention reporting evaluate as a strong benefit.
Support: Of the users who say they’ve contacted customer support, 95% say the team’s quick and informative responses are a plus.
Data Accessibility: All users who mention accessibility to data say Looker does this well, distributing insights to employees across departments and teams with ease, with 100% of users mentioning this feature believing it is a benefit.
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Intuitive Interface: Users praise Yellowfin for its user-friendly design, making it easy to navigate and build reports without extensive training.
Powerful Data Visualization: Yellowfin offers a wide array of charting and visualization options, allowing users to present data in a clear and compelling way.
Strong Customer Support: Users appreciate the responsive and helpful customer support provided by Yellowfin, ensuring they can get assistance when needed.
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Learning Curve: About 74% of users who touch on the platform’s ease of use say that the confusing documentation, lack of training opportunities and difficulty of using programming language make Looker a tough tool to pick up as a beginner.
Setup: Of the users who mention implementation, 81% say that setting up the platform is difficult, with integrations not being as plug-and-play as competitors and assistance from IT necessary to the setup process.
Speed: Approximately 87% of users who comment on the platform’s speed say that it is slow to render certain queries and often takes a while to load.
Functionality: About 78% of users who talk about Looker’s features say that they are left wanting many functions and find the ones that it does have limited in customization or too complex to use easily.
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Difficult to Learn: Some users find the platform's interface and features difficult to learn and navigate, especially compared to other BI tools.
Limited Customer Support: Users have reported experiencing slow or unhelpful customer support, making it challenging to resolve issues quickly.
Data Visualization Limitations: While Yellowfin offers data visualization capabilities, some users find them less intuitive and flexible compared to other BI tools, limiting their ability to create compelling reports and dashboards.
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Looker is a forerunner in the business intelligence field for a reason; it generates reports that include easy sharing via link, automatic scheduling and a level of granular detail that allows for deeper analysis below the surface. It excels in its filter and drill-down features and creates unique URLs when users make changes to data, leading to enhanced sharing. However, one of its biggest strengths could also be considered one of its biggest weaknesses: its proprietary programming language, LookML which is used to construct SQL queries in the platform. While a flexible and powerful data querying language, of course, LookML isn’t the most accessible to non-technical users, which means that Looker requires an IT or data team to access its full capabilities and has a steep learning curve. Users also note that its data visualizations, while simple and easy to understand, are quite basic and lacking in customization options, particularly in comparison to competitors. Some users say that it may be more appropriate for internal reporting than presentation to shareholders and end-users because of its bare-bones visualization options. However, Looker truly shines when used by enterprises, with its scalability and data accessibility making it a stellar solution that can align departments and provide thousands of users access to data insights. Its price point reflects this, with its pricing being prohibitive to startups as about 88% of users who comment on its cost remark. Overall, Looker is a solid pick for larger businesses that have a team of power users who can maximize its functionality and set it up to deliver to employees across an entire organization.

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Is Yellowfin BI the "gold standard" for your business intelligence needs? Recent user reviews suggest that Yellowfin BI is a capable business intelligence platform that shines in its user-friendly interface and robust feature set, making it a good fit for businesses of all sizes. Users praise its intuitive design, which allows even non-technical users to easily navigate and utilize the software. The platform's comprehensive suite of features, including data visualization, reporting, and automated insights, empowers businesses to gain a holistic understanding of their data. However, users also point out some drawbacks. A common gripe is the cost, which can be a barrier for smaller businesses or those with limited budgets. Some users find the software's learning curve steeper than expected, particularly when it comes to advanced features. Despite these weaknesses, Yellowfin BI differentiates itself through its focus on data storytelling and its ability to seamlessly integrate with a wide range of data sources. The platform's storytelling feature allows users to present data insights in a compelling and engaging way, facilitating better decision-making. Its broad data source compatibility ensures that businesses can connect and analyze data from various sources, providing a unified view of their operations. Overall, Yellowfin BI is best suited for businesses that prioritize user-friendliness and a comprehensive feature set in their business intelligence solution. Its intuitive interface and robust capabilities make it a valuable tool for organizations looking to leverage data for informed decision-making. However, businesses with budget constraints or those seeking a platform with a shallower learning curve may need to consider alternative options.

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