Looker vs Sisense
Looker and Sisense are both BI & dashboards tools aimed at enterprise and developers. Only Looker has a free plan.
Google Cloud's enterprise BI platform built on LookML
Embedded analytics platform for putting dashboards inside your product
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starting price | Not published | Not published |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Free trial | 30 days | — |
| Built for | Enterprise, Developers | Enterprise, Developers, Small businesses |
| Platforms | web | web |
| Country | US · 2012 | US · 2004 |
| Rating | — | — |
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).
Choose Sisense if
SaaS companies that want to sell secure, white-labeled analytics inside their own product.
- Built specifically for customer-facing embedded analytics
- Code-first SDK gives developers fine control over the UX
- Strong multi-tenancy and security for B2B SaaS products
Look elsewhere if: Teams that only need internal reporting or have a small budget (Power BI, Metabase, Looker Studio).
Looker vs Sisense pricing
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
Sisense
- Self-serveCustomStart free at app.sisense.com; paid price not published
- EnterpriseCustomSaaS, dedicated cloud or on-prem; 99.99% premium SLA
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
Sisense · Key features
- Compose SDK for embedding charts in React, Angular and Vue apps
- Iframe embedding with full white-labeling of dashboards
- Live connections or the ElastiCube in-memory data engine
- Natural-language queries and auto-generated narratives via Sisense Intelligence
- Multi-tenant architecture with row and column-level security
- Bring your own LLM for governed generative AI features
Cons
- No published pricing and contracts are typically annual
- Expensive compared with open-source embedding tools
- Data modeling and ElastiCube tuning need technical skills
Looker vs Sisense: FAQ
Do Looker and Sisense have a free plan?
Looker has a free plan. Sisense has no free plan.
Which is better for small businesses, Looker or Sisense?
Sisense lists small businesses as a core audience, while Looker is aimed more at enterprise and developers.