Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio

Interactive dashboard reporting and data visualization tool

4.5/5 (41 reviews)

Google Data Studio Overview

What is Google Data Studio?

Google Data Studio, a free and cloud-hosted application, allows users to create interactive dashboards and professionally styled reports from a wide variety of data sources. Deployed with a view to presenting the kind of insights useful for informing business decisions, the solution provides built-in and partner connectors that facilitate connections to most data sources. Data Studio reports are therefore able to leverage data from one or more possible sources. Possible data sets include Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Google Ads, Google Cloud Storage, Google Search Console, Google Attribution 360, and YouTube, with Google Drive also used to store generated reports for broader sharing purposes. Additional connectors cover BigQuery, SQL databases, Campaign Manager, plus CSV upload for Excel spreadsheets. Data Studio's web-based reporting tools allow data to be transformed into "visualization art" and used to build interactive, real-time reports or dashboards. The drag-and-drop report editor offers configurable charts and tables such as line charts, bar charts, pie charts, geo maps, area/bubble graphs, paginated data tables, pivot tables, and more. Viewer filters and date range controls make reports interactive, while report templates can be created from standard reports through the data control tool. Custom text and images allow reports to be rebranded or annotated along with the application of links, clickable images, styles and color themes. Sharing and collaboration features are supported by centralized Google Drive storage of saved reports and data sources, with reports also able to be embedded within websites. When users elect to share a particular report or a data source with other editors, those authorized users are able to work on the same file together in real time.

Google Data Studio Overview

Pricing

Starting from
US$0.00

Pricing options

Free Trial
Free
Value for money

Google Data Studio is available for free.


Google Data Studio Features

Devices
Business size
S M L
Markets
United States
Supported Languages
English

Screenshots

Google Data Studio screenshot: An example dashboard report displaying an overview for Facebook Ads, using data from SuperMetrics
Google Data Studio screenshot: An example dashboard report displaying an overview for Facebook Ads, using data from SuperMetrics Google Data Studio screenshot: The main Google Data Studio home screen showing available templates and new blank report button, plus a chronological quick launch list of previous reports or data sources Google Data Studio screenshot: Data can be accessed via over 110 connectors from Google, a growing number of Data Studio partners, and those from the open source community Google Data Studio screenshot: An example marketing template for a YouTube Channel Report detailing views, watch time, video shares, and additional core metrics Google Data Studio screenshot: The drag-and-drop report editor showing the start of a new blank report and the popup panel shown below for creating a new data source to be added Google Data Studio screenshot: Reports can be shared with others via a sharable URL link that can be copied and pasted, or sent to contacts via email

Google Data Studio Reviews

Google Data Studio Reviews

Overall rating
4.5
/
5 41 reviews
Excellent
25

Very good
13

Average
3

Poor
0

Terrible
0

Value for Money
4.8
Features
4.2
Ease of Use
4.1
Customer Support
3.8
93% recommended this app
Mallory R.

So simple and easy to use compared to other data visualization softwares!

Overall it's made it much easier to build robust, flexible marketing dashboards and then share them with my team. It's also helped to extract data from Ad platforms at a level of granularity that wasn't available within the ad platform itself.


Satyaswapna N.

Easiest way to Data Visualization

Looking at data on a day to day or weekly basis has become easier as looking at a graph is much easier than looking at numbers


Shruti S.

Google Data Studio: Pretty Awesome

This for me is a phenomenal product. Since I have found this, I've introduced it to multiple people at work. This has been very helpful in depicting data in a simple and easy way to variety of audiences. I wish they advertised it better.


Andrew B.

A Great Free Alternative for Smaller Scale Data

Google Data Studio is great for what I use it for. I would not use it - nor recommend it - for large-scale data projects or projects that require large amounts of data processing. But, for basic dashboards and presentations, it works great.


Verified Reviewer

Free BI Tool with a learning curve

It met me needs for a sales and marketing dashboard without having to spend hundreds of dollars.


Mallory R.
Industry: Computer Software
Company size: 501-1,000 Employees

So simple and easy to use compared to other data visualization softwares!

Used Weekly for 2+ years
Reviewed on 13/12/2019
Review Source: Capterra

Overall it's made it much easier to build robust, flexible marketing dashboards and then share them with my team. It's also helped to extract data from Ad platforms at a level of granularity that wasn't available within the ad platform itself.

Pros

I love how easy it is to put the data points into different graphs and visualizations. The UI is typical of Google. Super intuitive and user-friendly and most aspects of the product behave exactly as a user would expect (which isn't the case in my experience for softwares like Tableau). Ease of use is by far what makes Google Data Studio stand out among the crowd.

Cons

Can be hard to integrate data with certain platforms if they aren't Google owned platforms. There's also minor functionality gaps around not having all of the relevant google ads dimensions and labels accessible within data studio.

Rating breakdown

Ease of Use

Likelihood to recommend: 10.0/10

Satyaswapna N.
Industry: Marketing & Advertising
Company size: 501-1,000 Employees

Easiest way to Data Visualization

Used Daily for 1+ year
Reviewed on 16/10/2019
Review Source: Capterra

Looking at data on a day to day or weekly basis has become easier as looking at a graph is much easier than looking at numbers

Pros

The initial set-up is very easy
Easy to use templates
Very straight forward
New features coming in monthly
Can use calculated fields and items

Cons

There are some minor tweaks like adjusting data label position which isn't available
Can't use the studio with big datasets on Google sheet
Is slow when there are lot of responsive graphs

Rating breakdown

Ease of Use

Likelihood to recommend: 9.0/10

Shruti S.
Industry: Education Management
Company size: 10,001+ Employees

Google Data Studio: Pretty Awesome

Used Daily for 1-5 months
Reviewed on 24/07/2019
Review Source: Capterra

This for me is a phenomenal product. Since I have found this, I've introduced it to multiple people at work. This has been very helpful in depicting data in a simple and easy way to variety of audiences. I wish they advertised it better.

Pros

1. It is free
2. It connects to your Google account
3. It can connect to a whole variety of data sources, I have been using several Google spreadsheets
4. The ease of inserting a table, a graph, scorecard, heatmap etc
5. It is visually pleasing
6. It can serve as a live dashboard with custom and malleable date ranges
7. It allows you to easily switch around different chart versions
8. You can embed a Google spreadsheet! and scroll through the live Data Studio file!
9. All sorts of sharing settings
10. Can also download as a static PDF file
11. They have a basic training online, and there is a world of articles and youtube videos to help you
12. You can create new fields, rename them etc

Cons

1. You have to link by tab for each spreadsheet, which is tedious. It would be nice to be able to link multiple tabs and spreadsheets at once.
2. There is no option for an automatic refresh if there is a change in the base file -- you have to go to View and hit refresh (not intuitive either).
3. The legend text often gets hidden and is not easy to resize and move around.
4. I couldn't find any option for inserting headers or page numbers automatically.

Rating breakdown

Ease of Use

Likelihood to recommend: 10.0/10

Andrew B.
Industry: Computer Hardware
Company size: 10,001+ Employees

A Great Free Alternative for Smaller Scale Data

Used Monthly for 1+ year
Reviewed on 27/09/2019
Review Source: Capterra

Google Data Studio is great for what I use it for. I would not use it - nor recommend it - for large-scale data projects or projects that require large amounts of data processing. But, for basic dashboards and presentations, it works great.

Pros

Google Data Studio is an excellent (and free!) alternative to software like Power BI or Tableau when the datasets you are using are smaller in size and the analysis needed is more presentation-based than behind the scenes number crunching. It's a fast way to put together a visually appealing dashboard without a lot of the 'frills' of the bigger players like Power BI.

Cons

CSV import is limited to 100mb, which has been an issue in some of the datasets I have used (also why I noted Data Studio is for smaller datasets). This is a nit-picky one, but there is no word cloud functionality, which I really wish they would add.

Rating breakdown

Ease of Use

Likelihood to recommend: 8.0/10

Verified Reviewer
Industry: Research
Company size: 13-50 Employees

Free BI Tool with a learning curve

Used Daily for 6-12 months
Reviewed on 9/10/2019
Review Source: Capterra

It met me needs for a sales and marketing dashboard without having to spend hundreds of dollars.

Pros

It's free. It's Goolge so you know that it will evolve. It allows you to combined data sources for charts and graphs. One you understand how to use the tool it is fairly intuitive.

Cons

Lack of supporting materials or tutorials.

Rating breakdown

Value for Money
Ease of Use
Customer Support

Likelihood to recommend: 8.0/10

User recommendation
8.8/10
Based on 41 user ratings
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Google Data Studio Pricing

Google Data Studio Pricing

Starting from
US$0.00
Free Trial
Free
Value for money

Google Data Studio is available for free.

Google Data Studio is available for free.

Value for Money
4.8/5
Based on 41 user ratings
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Google Data Studio Features

Google Data Studio Features

API
Activity Dashboard
Ad hoc Reporting
Business Intelligence
Charting
Collaboration Tools
Customisable Reporting
Dashboard Creation
Data Filtering
Data Import/Export
Data Visualisation
Drag & Drop Interface
Filtered Views
Monitoring
Real Time Analytics
Real Time Data
Reporting & Statistics
Third Party Integration
Trend Analysis
Visual Analytics
Features
4.2/5
Based on 41 user ratings
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Categories

Videos and Tutorials

Videos and Tutorials

Additional information for Google Data Studio

Additional information for Google Data Studio

Key features of Google Data Studio

  • Charting
  • Collaboration tools
  • Customizable branding
  • Customizable reporting
  • Customizable templates
  • Dashboard creation
  • Data connectors
  • Data filtering
  • Data visualization
  • Database integration
  • Drag-and-drop interface
  • Graphical data presentation
  • Interactive reporting
  • Real-time analytics
  • Real-time reporting
  • Report sharing
  • Synchronous editing
  • Text editing
  • Visual analytics
  • Website integration

Benefits

  • Google Data Studio offers a free online solution for connecting multiple data sources to create interactive dashboards and stylized professional reports leveraging a variety of visualizations including graphs and pie charts.

  • Users can generate reports wholly from scratch or utilize a gallery selection of customizable report templates for popular data visualization purposes.

  • CSV file upload allows Excel spreadsheet data to be imported and incorporated, with generated reports stored centrally on Google Drive for convenient sharing.

  • Google Data Studio also connects to data sets including Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Google Ads, and Google Drive, along with BigQuery and other SQL databases, Search Console, Campaign Manager, Attribution 360 and YouTube.

  • Google Data Studio's Data Sources tool promises to facilitate those data connections without requiring any programming or specialist knowledge.

  • Google Data Studio FAQs

    Google Data Studio FAQs

    Below are some frequently asked questions for Google Data Studio.

    Q. What type of pricing plans does Google Data Studio offer?

    Google Data Studio offers the following pricing plans:

    Starting from: US$0.00

    Pricing model: Free

    Free Trial: Not Available

    Google Data Studio is available for free.

    Q. What are the main features of Google Data Studio?

    Google Data Studio offers the following features:

    • Charting
    • Collaboration tools
    • Customizable branding
    • Customizable reporting
    • Customizable templates
    • Dashboard creation
    • Data connectors
    • Data filtering
    • Data visualization
    • Database integration
    • Drag-and-drop interface
    • Graphical data presentation
    • Interactive reporting
    • Real-time analytics
    • Real-time reporting
    • Report sharing
    • Synchronous editing
    • Text editing
    • Visual analytics
    • Website integration

    Q. Who are the typical users of Google Data Studio?

    Google Data Studio has the following typical customers:

    Large Enterprises, Mid Size Business, Small Business

    Q. What languages does Google Data Studio support?

    Google Data Studio supports the following languages:

    English

    Q. What type of pricing plans does Google Data Studio offer?

    Google Data Studio has the following pricing plans:

    Free

    Q. Does Google Data Studio support mobile devices?

    We do not have any information about what devices Google Data Studio supports

    Q. What other apps does Google Data Studio integrate with?

    Google Data Studio integrates with the following applications:

    AccuRanker, AuthorityLabs, Blendo, CallRail, Collect, EZ-MES, Fulcrum, Integromat, Jet Interactive, Toky

    Q. What level of support does Google Data Studio offer?

    Google Data Studio offers the following support options:

    Knowledge Base, Online Support, Video Tutorials