Alternative To Looker: Holistics, An As-Code Self-Service BI
LookML is hard to use and Looker's upfront cost is eye-watering. We're here to change that, with better value for money and 10x easier-to-use data modeling layer.
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Buying Analytics Tool Shouldn't Be A Huge Sweat
Advancing analytics is easier when you don't get bogged down by heavy upfront costs. Here's how Holistics has better value for money than Looker:
Aspect | Looker | Holistics |
---|---|---|
Starting Price | Opaque (need to speak to sales); Require high upfront commitments. | 100$. Transparent. Can start small & scale up as usage grows. |
Payment Terms | Annual payment only. | Monthly & annual payments are both available. |
Pricing Metrics | Per User | Per Usage |
Service Motion | Sales-led and Enterprise-focused, hence higher price to balance out higher CAC. | SMBs and Mid-market. Self-service free trial process. |
Onboarding Experience | Steep learning curve, requires engagement with the training team, hence higher prices to make up for higher onboarding costs. | Gentler learning curve. Come with highly praised documentation. |
Why Holistics Is A Good Looker Alternative: A Breakdown
Both Holistics and Looker are architecturally similar:
- Code-based modeling layer with self-service data exploration.
- 100% cloud-based with a centralized data modeling approach for BI teams.
Holistics is 100% bootstrapped, while Looker is VC-funded. Either we get crushed, or we crush it with a really customer-driven product. We choose the latter, which means:
- Gentler learning curve towards data modeling setup so you can save time on training and quickly spring to actions.
- Friendlier price point with pay-as-you-go pricing so you can scale without sweating money.
For a side-by-side detailed comparison between Looker and Holistics, see the table below.
Aspect | Looker | Holistics |
---|---|---|
General | ||
High-level Approach | Take similar approach: 1. Analysts define analytics logic centrally 2. Business users perform self-service data exploration | |
Evaluation Process | Sales-led; Compulsory to speak to Sales | Self-service trial; Speak to sales for further questions. |
Deployment | Cloud hosted or self-hosted | Cloud hosted |
Compliance | GDPR; SOC2; HIPAA | GDPR; SOC2 Type II |
Pricing | Opaque (need to speak to sales); Require high upfront commitments; Annual payment | Transparent; Can start small ($100/mo), scale up as usage grows; Pay monthly & annually |
Support | Dedicated Customer Love team | Highly praised |
Learning Curve | Steep. Require analysts to learn LookML, and work with code interface. | Gentler. Provide both visual interface (GUI) and code interface (AML) |
Modeling Layer | ||
Central Modeling Layer to define Business Logic | Yes, with LookML. | Yes. With AML. |
GUI to model data | No. Only code-based interface. | Yes. Dual interface (both code-based and GUI-based). |
Prebuilt Data Models | Yes, with Looker Blocks | No. |
Integration with data transformation tool | No | Yes. Native integration with dbt. |
Work with CSV / Google Sheets source | No. | Yes. Native support. |
Developer Experience | ||
Code-based approach | Yes (LookML) | Yes (AML) |
Version Control with Git | Yes | Yes |
API | Yes | Yes |
Reporting & Visualization | ||
Self-service Exploration | Yes | Yes |
Visualizations | Rich visualization | Rich visualization |
Custom Visualizations | Yes, through Looker Marketplace | No |
Pivot Table | Yes | More advanced, with subgroup calculation |
Date Comparison | No native support (Workaround) | Native support with Period-over-Period Comparison |
Embedding | Yes | Yes |
And We'll Never Leave You On Hold
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if you guys won't shut down in the future?
How do I extract my report definitions data out of Holistics in the future?
Is Holistics EU-compliant? Do you guys have GDPR?
We also have a standard Data Privacy Agreement provided upon request, please email [email protected] for more information.
Is Holistics SOC2 compliant?
Email: your email
Password: LAn8Yta30QAe
How easy is it to learn Holistics? Does it require advanced training or can users pick it up quickly within few hours?
For Data Consumers: zero learning curve. They can create their own charts and dashboards without writing SQL, using a drag-and-drop interface.
For Data/technical teams: just SQL knowledge is needed in terms of skills.
What SQL data sources do you support?
I'm based in the US/Europe. Will customer support be a problem?