In short
Which one for whom?
Looker Studio (called Data Studio again since April 2026) suits teams whose data lives in Google Ads, GA4, Search Console and BigQuery and who want marketing reports live quickly without licence fees. Power BI suits Windows-based companies whose data sits in Excel, SQL Server or Dynamics and who need a strong data model and DAX calculations.
Looker Studio (Data Studio) is for
marketing and growth teams whose data lives in Google Ads, GA4, Search Console and BigQuery, who want to share reports widely without licence fees and need a quick setup.
Power BI is for
Windows-based companies on Microsoft 365, Excel, SQL Server or Dynamics that need finance, sales and operations data in one model, with complex calculations and frequent refreshes.
Side by side
Looker Studio (Data Studio) vs Power BI
| Criterion | Looker Studio (Data Studio) | Power BI |
|---|---|---|
| Price (as of October 2026) | Data Studio: no charge for creators and viewers. Data Studio Pro (project subscription): USD 9 per user per project per month; Google says the per-user price varies with subscription length. 30-day free trial | Free account: create reports (sharing needs Pro or Premium). Power BI Pro: USD 14 per user/month, paid yearly. Premium Per User: USD 24 per user/month, paid yearly. Embedded and Fabric capacity: variable. Microsoft says the actual price shows at checkout by country and currency |
| Core features | Drag-and-drop report editor in the browser, data blending, filter and date controls, scheduled email, embedding. Pro adds team workspaces, organisation-owned content, up to 200 delivery schedules per report, alerts, Gemini | Data preparation with Power Query, data model and DAX in Power BI Desktop; sharing through the Power BI service. Pro: 1 GB model size, 8 refreshes a day; Premium Per User: 100 GB, 48 refreshes a day |
| Türkiye support / KVKK / data location | Interface language follows the Google Account; Turkish is on Google's language code list. Scheduled deliveries show numbers and dates in English. Pro adds data residency and customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) | Power BI service and Desktop available in Turkish; help docs are not. Data is stored in the Fabric home region chosen when the tenant was created |
| Integrations | Google Ads, Google Analytics, Search Console, BigQuery, Google Sheets, YouTube Analytics, Campaign Manager 360, Display & Video 360, Search Ads 360; MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Amazon Redshift, Excel; over 1,300 community connectors | Power Query connectors: Excel, SQL Server, Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Google Analytics, Google BigQuery, Google Sheets and more; no Google Ads connector on Microsoft's list |
| Learning curve | Low; a marketing team can build the core report itself | Medium to high; Power Query, data modelling and DAX take time to learn |
| Pros | Free start, native Google connections, runs in the browser, easy sharing | Strong data model and calculations, deep fit with the Microsoft stack, enterprise governance |
| Cons | Hits limits with complex calculations and large data; non-Google sources often need third-party connectors | Desktop is Windows-only; sharing needs paid licences; Google Ads needs a middle layer |
Prices and features change often; the figures above come from each vendor's own pages as of October 2026 and exclude tax. Check the current price with the vendor before you decide.
First, the name: Looker Studio is Data Studio again
Most people searching for this comparison know the product as "Looker Studio". In April 2026 Google returned it to its original name, Data Studio, at datastudio.google.com. Google says you don't need to update your reports: lookerstudio.google.com redirects automatically. The one catch is companies that restrict external sites through a proxy; their IT team needs to add the new domain to the allow list.
We use both names in this piece. It is the same product. For a full introduction to the tool, see What is Looker Studio?.
How the two tools think
Data Studio is a reporting tool built so marketing and business teams can visualise data quickly. It runs in the browser, needs no installation and connects directly to Google's own products: Google Ads, Google Analytics, Search Console, BigQuery and Google Sheets. Its centre of gravity is the report and how it is shared.
Power BI is a business intelligence platform. Report design and data modelling mostly happen in Power BI Desktop; the report is then published to the Power BI service and shared from there. Power Query cleans the data, relationships link the tables, and DAX handles complex calculations. Its centre of gravity is the data model.
A practical test: if your question is "how do spend, clicks, leads and sales look on one screen?", Data Studio is usually enough. If it is "how do we combine data from several systems in one model and build shared calculations for finance, sales and operations?", Power BI's modelling strength decides it.
Price: free to start, licences to share
Data Studio. Google's page says Data Studio is available at no charge for creators and report viewers. The paid tier is Data Studio Pro, listed as of October 2026 at USD 9 per user per project per month on a project subscription. Google adds that the per-user price varies with the length of the subscription. You can try Pro free for 30 days; billing starts automatically when the trial ends.
Power BI. On Microsoft's pricing page, a free account lets you create reports, but sharing them needs Pro or Premium. As of October 2026, Power BI Pro is USD 14 per user per month and Premium Per User USD 24 per user per month, both paid yearly. Pro is included in Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5. Larger organisations have Fabric capacity and Power BI Embedded options at variable prices.
The biggest cost question is how many people will view the reports. Data Studio needs no licence for viewers. In Power BI, the users who share and view reports usually need a Pro or Premium licence; Microsoft says viewing without extra per-user licences is only possible at certain capacity levels. If you plan to open reports to a 50-person sales team, that difference lands straight on the budget.
Data sources and connectors
In marketing reporting, connectors often make the decision.
Data Studio's Google connectors cover Google Ads, Google Analytics, Search Console, YouTube Analytics, Campaign Manager 360, Display & Video 360, Search Ads 360 and Google Ad Manager 360. It also connects to BigQuery, Cloud SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server and Amazon Redshift, and accepts Excel and CSV uploads. For everything else Google points to over 1,300 community connectors. These are built by third parties; some are paid, and your data access runs through that company.
Power BI's connectors run through Power Query. Microsoft's list includes Excel, SQL Server, Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Google Analytics, Google BigQuery and Google Sheets. There is no Google Ads connector on that list. Teams that want Google Ads data in Power BI usually land it in BigQuery or another warehouse first.
As sources multiply, the sturdiest route in either tool is to collect the data in one warehouse and feed the reports from there, so every report uses the same definitions. We build that layer in our marketing data warehouse service.
Depth of analysis and learning curve
Data Studio does a lot with calculated fields, blending and parameters. But it has no data model that links several tables through relationships, and complex calculations get hard quickly. A marketer can build the core report alone in a short time.
Power BI brings Power Query, the data model and DAX together. That makes work such as budget-versus-actual, cohort analysis or merging customer data from different systems possible. The price is a steeper learning curve; a good model takes experience.
Capacity limits differ too. Microsoft's table lists a 1 GB model size and 8 refreshes a day for Power BI Pro, and 100 GB and 48 refreshes a day for Premium Per User. For a team that wants hourly data, that gap matters.
Then there is the platform. Microsoft lists Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 and later as the minimum requirement for Power BI Desktop. A team on Macs can view reports in the browser but needs Windows to build the model. Data Studio runs entirely in the browser.
Sharing, teamwork and AI
In Data Studio, a report is shared by link, scheduled by email or embedded in a web page. In the free tier, reports belong to the person who created them, which causes trouble when that person leaves. Data Studio Pro fixes this: content is tied to a Google Cloud project and owned by the organisation. Pro also adds team workspaces, up to 200 delivery schedules per report, delivery to Google Chat, alerts, and Gemini for asking questions in plain language. Google's release notes say Conversational Analytics in Data Studio became generally available in July 2026.
In Power BI, sharing runs through workspaces and apps and depends on the licence model. In companies on Microsoft 365, reports sit more naturally inside Teams and SharePoint. Power BI's options for governance, permissions and deployment are broader.
Türkiye, language and KVKK
Language. The Power BI service and Power BI Desktop are available in 44 languages including Turkish, but the help documentation is localised into only 10 languages, and Turkish is not one of them. In Data Studio, the interface language follows your Google Account language setting or a URL parameter, and Turkish is on Google's list of supported language codes. Google notes that scheduled report deliveries show content such as numbers and dates in English.
Data location. In Power BI, data is stored by default in the Fabric home region chosen when the tenant was created; you can see it under "Your data is stored in" in Fabric. Data Studio Pro offers data residency to keep data within a geographical area, customer-managed encryption keys and customer-managed storage for file uploads.
KVKK. Most marketing reports hold aggregated metrics: spend, clicks, conversion counts. If a report carries personal data from the CRM, such as names, emails or phone numbers, and the data is stored abroad, that is a cross-border transfer. Under Article 9 of KVKK, as amended by Law No. 7499, without an adequacy decision you need an appropriate safeguard such as a standard contract (Art. 9(4)(c)), and a standard contract must be notified to the Authority within five working days of signing (Art. 9(5)). The simplest safeguard is to keep personal data out of reports. The legal assessment belongs to your counsel.
Which one, when?
Choose Looker Studio (Data Studio) if: your marketing data sits mainly in Google Ads, GA4, Search Console and BigQuery, you want to share reports with many people without licence fees, your team mixes Mac and Windows, and you want a weekly marketing report running within days.
Choose Power BI if: your company runs on Microsoft 365, Excel, SQL Server or Dynamics, you need finance, sales and operations data in one model, you want complex calculations and frequent refreshes, and you have someone in-house or alongside you who can build that model.
Using both: in some companies the marketing team tracks campaigns daily in Data Studio while management reports live in Power BI. That works, but if the two tools don't draw on the same warehouse, the same metric will show two different numbers. If you are making a similar call on the measurement side, our GA4 vs Mixpanel comparison helps.
Related services: analytics consulting, Looker Studio reporting, marketing data warehouse.
Sources
- Google Cloud, Data Studio product and pricing page: https://cloud.google.com/data-studio (accessed October 2026)
- Google Cloud, Data Studio documentation, "Looker Studio is now called Data Studio": https://cloud.google.com/looker/docs/studio/welcome (accessed October 2026)
- Google Cloud, Data Studio release notes (16 April 2026 rebrand; 30 July 2026 Conversational Analytics): https://docs.cloud.google.com/data-studio/release-notes (accessed October 2026)
- Google Cloud, About Data Studio Pro: https://docs.cloud.google.com/data-studio/about-pro (accessed October 2026)
- Google Cloud, Data Studio Pro security and compliance: https://docs.cloud.google.com/data-studio/security-and-compliance (accessed October 2026)
- Google Cloud, Data Studio available connectors: https://docs.cloud.google.com/data-studio/available-connectors (accessed October 2026)
- Google Cloud, Change the Data Studio interface language: https://docs.cloud.google.com/data-studio/change-user-interface-language (accessed October 2026)
- Google for Developers, supported language codes: https://developers.google.com/admin-sdk/directory/v1/languages (accessed October 2026)
- Microsoft, Power BI pricing: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi/pricing (accessed October 2026)
- Microsoft Learn, Power BI supported languages and countries/regions: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/supported-languages-countries-regions (accessed October 2026)
- Microsoft Learn, Download Power BI Desktop (minimum requirements): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/desktop-get-the-desktop (accessed October 2026)
- Microsoft Learn, Find your Fabric home region: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/admin/find-fabric-home-region (accessed October 2026)
- Microsoft Learn, Power Query connector list: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-query/connectors/ (accessed October 2026)
- Resmî Gazete (Official Gazette of Türkiye), 12 March 2024, No. 32487, Law No. 7499 Art. 34 (KVKK Art. 9), in Turkish: https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2024/03/20240312-1.htm (accessed October 2026)
Frequently asked questions
Why is Looker Studio now called Data Studio, and does it affect my reports?
In April 2026 Google returned the product to its original name, Data Studio, at datastudio.google.com. Google says you don't need to update your reports: lookerstudio.google.com redirects to the new domain automatically. If your company restricts external sites through a proxy, IT needs to add the new domain to the allow list.
Is Looker Studio (Data Studio) really free?
Yes. Google's page says Data Studio is available at no charge for creators and report viewers. The paid tier is Data Studio Pro: as of October 2026, USD 9 per user per project per month, and Google notes the per-user price varies with the length of the subscription. Pro adds team workspaces, organisation-owned content and Google Cloud support.
Can I use Power BI on a Mac?
You can view reports in the Power BI service in a browser. But Power BI Desktop, where modelling and report design happen, lists Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 and later as its minimum requirement. If your team works on Macs, put that on the decision list.
Which is more practical for Google Ads and GA4 data?
Data Studio has Google's own connectors for Google Ads, Google Analytics, Search Console, BigQuery and Google Sheets, and setup takes minutes. Microsoft's Power BI connector list includes Google Analytics, BigQuery and Google Sheets but no Google Ads connector, so Google Ads data usually arrives through BigQuery or a middle layer.
Our report data is stored outside Türkiye. What does KVKK mean for us?
If your reports only hold aggregated ad metrics, the exposure is low; if they carry personal data from the CRM such as names, emails or phone numbers, that is a cross-border transfer. Under KVKK Art. 9, without an adequacy decision you need an appropriate safeguard such as a standard contract, and a standard contract must be notified to the Authority within five working days of signing (Art. 9(4)(c), 9(5)). Settle the route with your legal counsel.
