clariBI vs. Looker
Looker is Google Cloud's BI platform. Data teams describe their data in LookML models, and everyone else explores it through those models. clariBI connects business apps directly, builds a dashboard for each and answers questions in plain English.
Looker details checked against Looker's public pages on 24 September 2026. Sources are listed at the end.
Looker may suit you better if
you have a data warehouse and people who will maintain LookML, and you want one governed definition of each metric across a large company.
clariBI may suit you better if
you do not have a data team or a warehouse, and you want answers from Stripe, HubSpot, Google Ads or GA4 data at a published monthly price.
Features and pricing
| Capability | clariBI | Looker |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per organization, not per user: Free $0, Lite $19, Starter $99, Professional $199, Enterprise $999 a month. Includes 1, 1, 3, 15 and 100 users. | Platform edition (Standard, Enterprise, Embed) through sales, on 1 to 3 year terms, plus user licenses. |
| Users included | 1 to 100 by plan; extra user packs on paid plans. | Each platform includes 10 Standard and 2 Developer users. |
| Semantic model | No modeling layer. Sources are profiled when they connect. | Yes. LookML models, maintained by developers. |
| Plain-English questions | Yes, on Starter and up and in the trial. Figures come from calculations on your data; a narrated number the chart data cannot back is removed. | Conversational Analytics, with a monthly data token allowance per edition. |
| Generated dashboards | Yes, on every plan. Each connected source gets a generated dashboard. | Dashboards and Looks built on LookML models. |
| SQL | No. Questions are asked in plain English. | SQL Runner for Standard and Developer users. |
| Forecasting | Yes, Starter and up. Picks a method per series by backtest, shows 50/80/95% bands, tests your other metrics as drivers, flags anomalies and trend changes. | Not listed on the pricing page. |
| Data sources | 80 API connectors, 86 MCP apps (Trial, Starter and up), 12 Google, Meta and Atlassian products, file uploads, and PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server and Oracle databases. | Connects to databases and warehouses; check the supported list for yours. |
| Free trial | 14 days, no card, 50 AI credits. Then the account moves to the Free plan. | Not listed on the pricing page. |
"Not compared here" means we did not find it on Looker's pricing page. Plans change, so confirm with Looker before you buy.
Where Looker is stronger
- LookML gives a large company one reviewed definition of each metric.
- Standard, Developer and Viewer licenses let you control who can model, explore or only view.
- An Embed edition exists for analytics inside your own product.
- Google also offers Data Studio free, and Data Studio Pro at $9 per user per project per month, for simpler reporting.
Where clariBI fits better
- No modeling project before the first chart: connect a source and a dashboard is generated.
- SaaS apps connect directly (Stripe, HubSpot and PostHog as MCP apps; Google Ads, GA4 and Meta Ads with OAuth).
- Prices are published and monthly, from $0 to $999.
- Forecasting with prediction bands and driver discovery is built in from Starter.
What each costs
Looker does not publish platform prices, so you need a quote. Google says conversational analytics usage is in a promotional period and will give 90 days' notice before billing and quotas start.
clariBI
- Free: $0. 1 user, 3 data sources, no AI.
- Lite: $19 a month. 1 user, 5 data sources, dashboards you build yourself, no AI.
- Starter: $99 a month. 3 users, 500 AI credits, 10 data sources, forecasting.
- Professional: $199 a month. 15 users, 1,500 AI credits, 50 data sources, workspaces, sharing, scheduled reports, API.
- Enterprise: $999 a month. 100 users, 5,000 AI credits, 100 data sources.
Yearly billing costs ten times the monthly price. Full plan details
Looker
- Standard, Enterprise and Embed editions: annual commitment, "Call sales".
- Included users: 10 Standard and 2 Developer users per platform.
- Conversational Analytics: monthly data token allowance by edition; overage listed at $3.00 per 1M input and $20.00 per 1M output tokens once billing starts.
- Data Studio Pro: $9 per user per project per month. Data Studio itself is free.
From Looker's public pages, 24 September 2026.
Common questions
Do I need LookML to use clariBI?
No. clariBI has no modeling layer. It profiles each source when it connects and works from those columns.
Can clariBI read my BigQuery data?
Yes. BigQuery is one of the Google products clariBI connects with OAuth.
Is Looker the same as Data Studio?
No. Google's pricing pages list them separately: Looker as a platform priced through sales, and Data Studio as a free tool with a paid Pro version.
Sources
- Google Cloud: Looker pricing, checked 24 September 2026
- Google Cloud: Data Studio and Data Studio Pro, checked 24 September 2026
clariBI details come from the product itself and our pricing page.
Try it on your own data
The 14-day trial needs no card. Connect a source, ask a few questions, then compare.