Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Mode VS Looker

Compare Mode VS Looker and see what are their differences

Mode logo Mode

A complete analytical toolkit, free forever

Looker logo Looker

Looker makes it easy for analysts to create and curate custom data experiences—so everyone in the business can explore the data that matters to them, in the context that makes it truly meaningful.
  • Mode Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-17
  • Looker Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-11

Looker is a business intelligence platform with an analytics-oriented application server that sits on top of relational data stores. The Looker platform includes an end-user interface for exploring data, a reusable development paradigm for creating data discovery experiences, and an extensible API set so the data can exist in other systems. Looker enables anyone to search and explore data, build dashboards and reports, and share everything easily and quickly.

Mode features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Mode offers a user-friendly interface that is intuitive and easy to navigate, making it accessible for users with varying levels of technical proficiency.
  • Collaborative Features
    Mode facilitates collaboration by allowing multiple users to work together on reports and dashboards simultaneously, enhancing teamwork and productivity.
  • Integrated SQL Editor
    The platform includes a built-in SQL editor, making it easy for users to write and execute SQL queries without needing external tools.
  • Interactive Dashboards
    Mode provides dynamic and interactive dashboards that enable users to drill down into data and gain insights quickly.
  • Data Source Integration
    The platform supports integration with a wide variety of data sources, allowing users to centralize their data analysis efforts in one place.
  • Python and R Support
    Mode supports both Python and R, offering data scientists and analysts the flexibility to conduct advanced statistical analysis and modeling within the platform.

Possible disadvantages of Mode

  • Cost
    The pricing structure can be expensive for small organizations or individual users, potentially making it less accessible for those with limited budgets.
  • Learning Curve
    While Mode is user-friendly, there can be a learning curve for users who are not familiar with SQL or other data analytic tools.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users have reported performance issues, such as slow load times and lag when dealing with large datasets.
  • Limited Advanced Visualization
    While Mode offers a variety of basic visualization options, it may lack the advanced and customizable visualization capabilities found in other BI tools.
  • Dependency on SQL Knowledge
    Mode relies heavily on SQL for data analysis, which may pose a challenge for users who do not have a strong background in SQL programming.
  • Customer Support
    Some users have reported that customer support can be slow to respond and may not always provide satisfactory solutions to more complex issues.

Looker features and specs

  • Powerful Data Modeling
    Looker uses LookML, a proprietary modeling language, making it possible to transform raw data into meaningful metrics and dimensions, providing deep insights without needing SQL expertise.
  • Ease of Use
    Its intuitive user interface enables non-technical users to create visualizations and reports with relative ease, reducing the workload on data teams.
  • Customization
    Looker offers extensive customization options for data exploration and visualization, allowing dashboards and reports to be tailored to specific user needs.
  • Embedded Analytics
    Provides robust capabilities for embedding analytics into applications or portals, broadening the scope of data-driven decision-making throughout the organization.
  • Real-time Data
    Supports real-time data analytics by querying live data, which ensures up-to-date insights and helps in making timely decisions.
  • Integrations
    Looker integrates seamlessly with a wide range of databases and cloud data warehouses, including Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, and Snowflake.

Possible disadvantages of Looker

  • Learning Curve
    LookML, while powerful, can be complex for beginners who are not already familiar with data modeling or SQL, resulting in a steep learning curve.
  • Cost
    Looker can be expensive, especially for small businesses, as pricing is typically based on the number of users and the data volume processed.
  • Performance
    Query performance can sometimes be slow, especially with complex data models and large data sets, which may impact the user experience.
  • Customization Constraints
    While Looker offers great customization, certain advanced customizations may require significant expertise and time, posing a potential barrier.
  • Limited Offline Capabilities
    Looker is primarily designed for online use, so it lacks robust offline capabilities, which can be a limitation for users who need access to data in situations without internet connectivity.

Analysis of Mode

Overall verdict

  • Mode is considered a robust tool for data analysis and visualization, especially for organizations requiring rapid insights and collaboration across different roles within data teams. It effectively bridges the gap between data engineering, analysis, and business strategy.

Why this product is good

  • Mode (mode.com) is a comprehensive data analysis and business intelligence platform that is praised for its ability to quickly combine SQL, Python, and R in a collaborative data analytics environment. It offers powerful visualization tools and seamless integration with data warehouses, making it useful for data teams needing to analyze and share insights efficiently. Its user-friendly interface and collaborative features make it easy for cross-functional teams to work together on data projects.

Recommended for

  • Data Analysts
  • Data Scientists
  • Business Intelligence Teams
  • Organizations with strong SQL, Python, or R usage
  • Teams requiring seamless collaboration across data roles

Analysis of Looker

Overall verdict

  • Looker is generally considered a robust solution for organizations looking to enhance their data-driven decision-making capabilities. Its flexibility, extensibility, and ease of use make it a strong contender in the BI space, though it may require some learning and setup effort to fully utilize its features.

Why this product is good

  • Looker is a data analytics platform that provides powerful tools for data exploration, visualization, and business intelligence. It offers a user-friendly interface and is known for its ability to connect to a wide variety of data sources. Looker's LookML, a modeling language, allows users to define data relationships and calculations, making it easier to create custom reports and dashboards. Additionally, it integrates well with other tools and supports collaboration with data teams.

Recommended for

  • Companies seeking scalable and flexible business intelligence solutions.
  • Organizations that need to integrate multiple data sources.
  • Teams looking for a collaborative platform with custom reporting capabilities.
  • Users who prefer a code-based approach to data modeling and analysis.

Mode videos

How Mode Analytics designs for both new and power users

Looker videos

Looker Review

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How To Use Looker as a Business User
  • Review - Looker Review - Off The Shelf Reviews

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Mode and Looker)
Data Dashboard
13 13%
87% 87
Business Intelligence
12 12%
88% 88
Analytics
32 32%
68% 68
Data Visualization
14 14%
86% 86

User comments

Share your experience with using Mode and Looker. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Mode and Looker

Mode Reviews

Best Alternatives to LeetCode For Data Science
Mode.com is one of the valuable alternatives to LeetCode if you're looking for a basic and straightforward method to learn. However, Mode Analytics is somewhat limited in terms of offering the opportunity to grow and test your skills.
Best 8 Redash Alternatives in 2023 [In Depth Guide]
Mode is an analytics tool that helps companies make smarter decisions and answer questions by uncovering their data through interactive visualizations.
Source: www.datapad.io
25 Best Reporting Tools for 2022
Connecting data sources to the built-in SQL editor and visualization platform is simple with Mode Analytics. You may also set dashboards to auto-update, with themes and styles that can be changed on the fly to create visually appealing data representations.You can even share Python or R notebooks without having to worry about replicating development settings because the...
Source: hevodata.com

Looker Reviews

Explore 7 Tableau Alternatives for Data Visualization and Analysis
Looker Studio, formerly Google Data Studio, is a user-friendly business intelligence tool that transforms raw data into interactive, customizable dashboards and reports. It integrates seamlessly with Google's ecosystem and supports various data sources, including Google Analytics and BigQuery. Looker Studio offers robust visualization capabilities and real-time collaborative...
Source: www.draxlr.com
Explore 6 Metabase Alternatives for Data Visualization and Analysis
To find the best Metabase alternative for your business, start by listing your specific requirements, such as customer support, data integrations, visualization options, user access controls, and budget. Compare these needs with the features of other BI tools like Draxlr, Tableau, Power BI, Looker, or Holistics. Once you've identified a few suitable options, take advantage...
Source: www.draxlr.com
5 best Looker alternatives
In this blog, we’ll dive into the best 5 Looker alternatives currently dominating the market. Whether you're seeking a Looker alternative with enhanced features, better pricing, or a more tailored fit for your analytics needs, this guide will help you discover BI tool that could be a perfect match for your business.
Source: www.draxlr.com
10 Best Alternatives to Looker in 2024
Exploring alternatives to Looker isn't just about finding a different tool; it's about uncovering solutions that better address your specific business challenges and operational workflows. Here, we highlight five areas where Looker's limitations might lead you to consider other options.
6 Best Looker alternatives
So who are Looker’s competitors? Our top 5 Looker alternatives provide data visualisation and exploration for business intelligence but also offer lower price points, less of a learning curve, and more accessibility for your non-tech team.
Source: trevor.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Mode might be a bit more popular than Looker. We know about 16 links to it since March 2021 and only 14 links to Looker. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Mode mentions (16)

  • Mysterious Depeche Mode Show in the 80's
    I’ve seen a concert ticket from Turin for that tour. And the ticket stub is identical to that poster. If you go on depeche mode.com and check past tours. Go on music for masses tour and scroll down to Turin ( view ticket). I’m guessing they did something promotional and the promoter used that for poster. 🤷🏼‍♂️. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • SQL tips
    The sql training by mode.com is good enough, then go through leetcode or datalemur for practice. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (September 2022)
    Mode | HQ - San Francisco, CA or Remote (US) | REMOTE | https://mode.com | VISA Mode is building a world-class platform for data scientists, analysts, and everyone else who needs to ask and answer questions with data. Our product is an integral part of data science workflows at Lyft, Twitch, Shopify, and thousands of other data-savvy organizations. To learn more about who we are, our engineering culture, and... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Fix for the keyboard repeat delay issue
    - All this does is call "mode.com", which manages serial connections to the computer, and sets the keyboard repeat rate on login and unlock. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2022)
    Mode | San Francisco, CA or Remote (US) | Onsite | Remote OK | https://mode.com Mode is building a world-class platform for data scientists, analysts, and everyone else who needs to ask and answer questions with data. Our product is an integral part of data science workflows at Lyft, Twitch, Shopify, and thousands of other data-savvy organizations. To learn more about who we are, our engineering culture, and... - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
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Looker mentions (14)

  • edit home page to add folder section
    Then in the "foldername" you can have 5 folders, each one for each of the groups. This means that when group1 enters looker.com, his default page will be the "foldername", which contains group1folder (he cannot see the rest of the folders if you have set the permissions correctly for each folder). Source: about 2 years ago
  • Stars, tables, and activities: How do we model the real world?
    Even if you want to make Wide Tables, combining fact and dimensions is often the easiest way to create them, so why not make them available? Looker, for example, is well suited to dimensional models because it takes care of the joins that can make Kimball warehouses hard to navigate for business users. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • dbt for Data Quality Testing & Alerting at FINN
    We take daily snapshots of test results, aggregate them, and send Looker dashboards to the appropriate teams. - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
  • I'm a dev ID 10 T please help me
    Dashboard: I like to use Datastudio because it's easy (just like using google sheets), but you can also try out Looker. Source: over 3 years ago
  • The Data Stack Journey: Lessons from Architecting Stacks at Heroku and Mattermost
    For Growth and larger, I would recommend Looker. The only reason I wouldn't recommend it for the smaller company stages is that the cost is much higher than alternatives such as Metabase. With Looker, you define your data model in LookML, which Looker then uses to provide a drag-and-drop interface for end-users that enables them to build their own visualizations without needing to write SQL. This lets your... - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Mode and Looker, you can also consider the following products

Chartio - Chartio is a powerful business intelligence tool that anyone can use.

Tableau - Tableau can help anyone see and understand their data. Connect to almost any database, drag and drop to create visualizations, and share with a click.

Domo - Domo: business intelligence, data visualization, dashboards and reporting all together. Simplify your big data and improve your business with Domo's agile and mobile-ready platform.

Microsoft Power BI - BI visualization and reporting for desktop, web or mobile

Mixpanel - Mixpanel is the most advanced analytics platform in the world for mobile & web.

Sisense - The BI & Dashboard Software to handle multiple, large data sets.