Evidence vs Looker
Evidence and Looker are both BI & dashboards tools. Evidence is aimed at developers, while Looker is aimed at enterprise and developers. Both have a free plan.
Evidence
BI as code: Markdown + SQL to reports
Looker
Google Cloud's enterprise BI platform built on LookML
| Pricing | Open source · $2500 | Paid |
| Starting price | $2500/mo | Not published |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | 30 days | 30 days |
| Built for | Developers | Enterprise, Developers |
| Platforms | web | web |
| Country | CA · 2021 | US · 2012 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Evidence if
Analysts comfortable with code.
- Version-controlled reporting
- Beautiful output
- Developer workflow
Look elsewhere if: Business users wanting self-serve.
Choose Looker if
Data teams on a modern cloud warehouse, especially BigQuery, that need governed metrics or embedded analytics at scale.
- Single source of truth for metrics across the whole company
- No data extracts: always queries live warehouse data
- Strong embedded analytics and API for customer-facing use
Look elsewhere if: Small teams that need a few dashboards on a budget (Data Studio, Metabase, Power BI).
Evidence vs Looker pricing
Evidence
- Open source$0MIT-licensed framework, self-build (GitHub)
- Team$2,500/moUnlimited users, 20K AI credits/mo, Analytics Agent
- EnterpriseCustomAnnual contract, SSO, SCIM, embedding, self-deploy
Looker
- StandardCustomUnder 50 users; incl. 10 standard + 2 developer users; annual
- EnterpriseCustomInternal BI at scale; 1 to 3 year commitments
- EmbedCustomExternal and customer-facing analytics at scale
- Trial$030 days; 5 viewer, 1 standard, 1 developer user
Evidence · Key features
- Markdown + SQL reports
- Components for charts and tables
- Git version control
- Static site builds
- Templated pages
- Cloud hosting
Cons
- Requires SQL and Markdown
- Not drag-and-drop
- Smaller community
Looker · Key features
- LookML semantic layer with Git version control for governed metrics
- In-database querying on BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift and Databricks
- Gemini conversational analytics across up to five Explores
- Explores for self-service drill-down without writing SQL
- Embedded analytics with signed embedding and APIs for customer apps
- Scheduled deliveries and alerts to email, Slack and webhooks
Cons
- No published prices; contracts are typically five figures and up
- Requires developers who know LookML
- Visualisation options are weaker than Tableau
Evidence vs Looker: FAQ
Do Evidence and Looker have a free plan?
Yes, both Evidence and Looker have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.