Microsoft Power BI and Google Looker compared for business intelligence

Microsoft Power BI and Google Cloud's Looker offer distinct approaches to business intelligence. Power BI focuses on a self-service experience, allowing users of various skill levels to build interactive reports and dashboards. It integrates deeply with Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Fabric, utilizing OneLake to connect cloud and on-premises data. Users can leverage Copilot to generate reports, write summaries, and explore data using natural language prompts.

In contrast, Looker emphasizes a governed semantic layer through LookML, which sits atop a cloud data warehouse to ensure consistent data modeling across all dashboards and AI agents. While Power BI is centered on the report builder, Looker is built around the data model.

Additionally, Microsoft's Copilot can be used within Excel to perform deeper analysis on exported Power BI data. This allows users to use natural language to spot trends, compare metrics, and create charts without manually constructing formulas or pivot tables.