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Google Data Studio, a free and cloud-hosted application, allows users to create interactive dashboards and professionally styled reports from a wide variety of data sources. Deployed with a view to presenting the kind of insights useful for informing business decisions, the solution provides built-in and partner connectors that facilitate connections to most data sources. Data Studio reports are therefore able to leverage data from one or more possible sources. Possible data sets include Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Google Ads, Google Cloud Storage, Google Search Console, Google Attribution 360, and YouTube, with Google Drive also used to store generated reports for broader sharing purposes. Additional connectors cover BigQuery, SQL databases, Campaign Manager, plus CSV upload for Excel spreadsheets.
Typical customers
Platforms supported
Support options
Training options
Value for money
4.8
/5
182
Starting from
Free
Value for money contenders
Functionality
4.3
/5
182
Total features
24
4 categories
Functionality contenders
Overall Rating
4.5
/5
182
Positive reviews
101
67
14
0
0
Overall rating contenders
Lainey T.
Owner
Marketing and Advertising, self-employed
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Lainey T.: Hi, I'm Lainey, creative marketing specialist, and I'm giving Google Data Studio four stars...
Andrew B.
SEO Manager
Chemicals, 10,001+ employees
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Andrew: Hi, my name is Andrew. I'm an SEO manager. I give Google Data Studio a four out of five. For...
Neels V.
Verified reviewer
Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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Before DataStudio I had to prepare dashboards and reports in spreadsheets and documents and compile the raw data into reports in a manual way. I saved a tremendous amount of time by setting up the data flows and report/dashboard structures once in DataStudio and then just scheduling regular reports to go out automatically
The most impactful features of DataStudio are the wide range of visualizations you have access to in order to present your data in the most engaging and insightful way. Coupled with the wide range of data connectors that are available natively and also third-party connectors, which expands the scope widely. Once you have understood the overall way of working, the tool is very easy to use. There are lots of training videos available and lots of support available over the internet, in case you get stuck. Integration into my business practises was easy because of the flexibility in data input sources. If a specific connector does not exist, then you can always fall back on file imports.
The most important missing feature for me personally is a native (free) data connector to Facebook Ads. One has free access to all the Google platforms and I have a constant struggle to get a decent data connector to Facebook ad platform data. One improvement that I suggest is to add the functionality to do processing on calculated fields to do for instance 7-day moving average calculations on the platform itself. Now I have to do those calculations on a Google Sheet first and then import the results into the DataStudo reports. Or even make that a built-in function?
Anonymous Reviewer
Verified reviewer
E-Learning, 201-500 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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I had a big concern that I would no be able to use Microsoft Power BI (budget issue), but in the end of the road Google Data Studion was a good surprise. Good price, everything you need to put a high quality data project running. No issues. In another company for example, it would be my choice.
Once it's build your data sources, it's easy to build your dashboards even they don't have the best data viz options. It's in the Google tech stack, that makes easy to your team keep running. Would like to have Microsoft Power BI? It was my concerto too! But yes, Google Data Studio will deliver all info you need in a beautiful interface - don't worry. Good price, clear and light interface, access from any device. Your data project will meet the needs.
Different from Microsoft Power BI for example, you don't have a on screen calculation, easy to work on. Many times you need to create new fields, build cases with calculations to have the field to use on. You need an administrator/builder with more tech skills. But any doubt that I found, I had case or example in the web to search and use. But once it's build the base, it's easy to build dashboards, deploy, upgrade and so one.
Virgil H.
Nonprofit Organization Management, 10,001+ employees
Used weekly for 6-12 months
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Overall, after coming to terms with the constraints of DS as a business intelligence automation tool we were a le to design great products for our teams that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. Being able to automate analysis because of the ubiquity of Google sheets connectors made this an incredible free option for a non profit organization.
It seems that every third party SaaS that collects data online has native synchronization support for Google sheets. And this is how Google Data Studio makes itself the best option for non profits and small businesses in need of automated business intelligence. On top of the plug'n'play integration experience, data studio has a unique approach to interactive chart and dashboard design that lets you position elements as if you were working in Adobe Photoshop. You can add shapes, layer elements on top of each other, add text or objects anywhere. This means you can produce the most beautiful and intuitive dashboards and reports ever (or the least if you're more of a Picasso).
It really is the poor man's business intelligence automation tool. Some key setbacks for data scientists is that data studio can only do 1 type of join/blend (outter left) and when using blended data to create calculated fields it really feel more like art than science, and not always working out. There is also no way to create unions across all data sources or make a file directory a data source. All this means that you really need to do a lot of data prep in Google sheets and find a way to do some automatic data blending in Google sheets as well in some cases. This will keep the complexity of your needs in Data Studio minimal, which seems to work best.
Anonymous Reviewer
Verified reviewer
Logistics and Supply Chain, 201-500 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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Overall, despite its challenging user experience, it's still a great tool. The quality of the reports and charts are topnotch. For a free BI tool, it's a good value for our money
I like that it's basically free and it's easy to create good-looking reports and share them with your colleagues. We're able to basically have another BI tool at our disposal without going through a lengthy procurement and deployment process.
Connecting a database is quite challenging with Google Data Studio. The error messages are not very helpful at its current state. And sometimes it gives you random errors for no clear reason.
Julian G.
Medical Practice, 51-200 employees
Used daily for 1-2 years
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Easy dashboard building from multiple sources
Being fully cloud based embedded within GSuite makes it the best and easiest solution for internal dashboards amongst your team. It's quite valuable not having to break your workflow and manage different logins and makes it super easy to share with a subset or whole of your organization
There is no support so you are on your own if things are going wrong. The connectors are also much less stable than other tools with frequent I/O problems or times when things are inexplicably broken for hours or days, and you are in the dark since there is no support.
Q. What type of pricing plans does Google Data Studio offer?
Google Data Studio has the following pricing plans:
Pricing model: Free
Q. Who are the typical users of Google Data Studio?
Google Data Studio has the following typical customers:
Large Enterprises, Mid Size Business, Non Profit, Small Business
Q. What languages does Google Data Studio support?
Google Data Studio supports the following languages:
English
Q. Does Google Data Studio offer an API?
No, Google Data Studio does not have an API available.
Q. What other apps does Google Data Studio integrate with?
Google Data Studio integrates with the following applications:
Google Analytics 360, Campaign Manager Upaknee, Attribution
Q. What level of support does Google Data Studio offer?
Google Data Studio offers the following support options:
Email/Help Desk, Knowledge Base