Evidence vs Looker Studio

Evidence is an open-source business intelligence framework built around the idea of BI as code. Analysts write reports as Markdown files with embedded SQL queries and ready-made components for charts, tables and big numbers, and Evidence builds them into a fast static website. The project is MIT licensed and backed by a venture-funded company that also runs a hosted service.

Evidence connects to common warehouses and databases including Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Redshift, Postgres, MySQL and DuckDB, as well as CSV files. Query results are cached and processed in the browser with DuckDB, so pages stay quick once built. Templated pages generate one report per customer, region or product from a single file, loops and conditionals add logic, and everything lives in git, so changes go through pull requests and code review. The open-source framework is free to self-host; Evidence Cloud adds managed builds, hosting, scheduled refreshes and authentication.

Evidence fits data teams that already think in SQL and git and want polished, reproducible reports such as board packs, KPI sites or customer-facing data pages. It is not a self-serve tool for business users who want to drag fields onto a chart. Metabase and Looker Studio are better for ad hoc exploration, Lightdash builds BI directly on dbt models, and Observable Framework is the closest alternative for code-first data apps with more JavaScript flexibility.

Looker Studio, called Google Data Studio until its rebrand in 2022, is Google's free tool for building dashboards and reports. It connects natively to Google sources such as GA4, Google Ads, Search Console, BigQuery, YouTube Analytics and Google Sheets, and to hundreds of other platforms through partner connectors, then turns the data into interactive reports with charts, tables, filters and date range controls that can be shared like a Google Doc.

Reports are built with a drag-and-drop canvas, calculated fields, blended data from several sources, themes and templates, and can be embedded on websites or emailed on a schedule. Because it runs in the browser and uses Google account permissions, agencies and marketing teams use it heavily for client reporting. Google's pages now use the Data Studio name again, and the paid Data Studio Pro tier, formerly Looker Studio Pro, is priced per user and project and adds team workspaces, asset management, an SLA and Gemini AI features, while Looker itself remains Google Cloud's separate enterprise BI platform.

Looker Studio fits marketers, agencies and small businesses who need free, shareable dashboards on top of Google data. It slows down on complex reports with many charts or large datasets, data blending and modelling are limited, and connectors for non-Google sources such as Meta Ads often cost extra through third-party providers. Power BI and Tableau offer much deeper modelling and governance, Databox and AgencyAnalytics are built for agency reporting, and Metabase is an open-source option for SQL databases.