Google Data Studio

Interactive dashboard reporting and data visualization tool

About 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.


Key benefits of Google Data Studio

  • 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.

  • Images

    Google Data Studio Software - Access interactive dashboards and engaging reports
    Google Data Studio Software - 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 Software - An example dashboard report displaying an overview for Facebook Ads, using data from SuperMetrics
    Google Data Studio Software - 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 Software - An example marketing template for a YouTube Channel Report detailing views, watch time, video shares, and additional core metrics
    Google Data Studio Software - 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 Software - Reports can be shared with others via a sharable URL link that can be copied and pasted, or sent to contacts via email
    View 9 more
    Google Data Studio video
    Google Data Studio video
    Google Data Studio Software - Access interactive dashboards and engaging reports
    Google Data Studio Software - 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 Software - An example dashboard report displaying an overview for Facebook Ads, using data from SuperMetrics
    Google Data Studio Software - 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 Software - An example marketing template for a YouTube Channel Report detailing views, watch time, video shares, and additional core metrics
    Google Data Studio Software - 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 Software - Reports can be shared with others via a sharable URL link that can be copied and pasted, or sent to contacts via email

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    Reviews

    Overall rating

    4.5 /5
    (300)
    Value for Money
    4.7/5
    Features
    4.3/5
    Ease of Use
    4.1/5
    Customer Support Software
    3.6/5

    Already have Google Data Studio?

    Software buyers need your help! Product reviews help the rest of us make great decisions.

    Showing 5 reviews of 300
    Neels
    Overall rating
    • Industry: Information Technology & Services
    • Company size: 2–10 Employees
    • Used Daily for 2+ years
    • Review Source

    Overall rating

    • Value for Money
    • Ease of Use
    • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

    Amazing Value At No Cost

    Reviewed on 05/08/2022

    Before DataStudio I had to prepare dashboards and reports in spreadsheets and documents and compile...

    Before DataStudio I had to prepare dashboards and reports in spreadsheets and documents and compile the raw data into reports in a manual way.
    I saved a tremendous amount of time by setting up the data flows and report/dashboard structures once in DataStudio and then just scheduling regular reports to go out automatically

    Pros

    The most impactful features of DataStudio are the wide range of visualizations you have access to in order to present your data in the most engaging and insightful way. Coupled with the wide range of data connectors that are available natively and also third-party connectors, which expands the scope widely.
    Once you have understood the overall way of working, the tool is very easy to use. There are lots of training videos available and lots of support available over the internet, in case you get stuck.
    Integration into my business practises was easy because of the flexibility in data input sources. If a specific connector does not exist, then you can always fall back on file imports.

    Cons

    The most important missing feature for me personally is a native (free) data connector to Facebook Ads. One has free access to all the Google platforms and I have a constant struggle to get a decent data connector to Facebook ad platform data.
    One improvement that I suggest is to add the functionality to do processing on calculated fields to do for instance 7-day moving average calculations on the platform itself. Now I have to do those calculations on a Google Sheet first and then import the results into the DataStudo reports. Or even make that a built-in function?

    Verified Reviewer
    Overall rating
    • Industry: E-Learning
    • Company size: 201–500 Employees
    • Used Daily for 2+ years
    • Review Source

    Overall rating

    • Value for Money
    • Ease of Use
    • Customer Support Software
    • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

    Google Data Studio will handle my needs?

    Reviewed on 20/06/2022

    I had a big concern that I would no be able to use Microsoft Power BI (budget issue), but in the...

    I had a big concern that I would no be able to use Microsoft Power BI (budget issue), but in the end of the road Google Data Studion was a good surprise. Good price, everything you need to put a high quality data project running. No issues. In another company for example, it would be my choice.

    Pros

    Once it's build your data sources, it's easy to build your dashboards even they don't have the best data viz options. It's in the Google tech stack, that makes easy to your team keep running. Would like to have Microsoft Power BI? It was my concerto too! But yes, Google Data Studio will deliver all info you need in a beautiful interface - don't worry. Good price, clear and light interface, access from any device. Your data project will meet the needs.

    Cons

    Different from Microsoft Power BI for example, you don't have a on screen calculation, easy to work on. Many times you need to create new fields, build cases with calculations to have the field to use on. You need an administrator/builder with more tech skills. But any doubt that I found, I had case or example in the web to search and use. But once it's build the base, it's easy to build dashboards, deploy, upgrade and so one.

    Alternatives Considered

    Pentaho

    Reasons for Choosing Google Data Studio

    We need a onde piece solution for data, where all data sources get together. In many times, price here, lack of features there were a problem. Now, we have a single source of truth.

    Reasons for Switching to Google Data Studio

    Already part of Google tech stack (our choice), price, fast and easy.
    Andrew
    Overall rating
    • Industry: Retail
    • Company size: 10,000+ Employees
    • Used Monthly for 1-5 months
    • Review Source

    Overall rating

    • Value for Money
    • Ease of Use
    • Customer Support Software
    • Likelihood to recommend 6.0 /10

    Data Studio Review

    Reviewed on 08/02/2021

    Overall, my experience with Data Studio has been mixed. The learning curve is definitely steep and...

    Overall, my experience with Data Studio has been mixed. The learning curve is definitely steep and it is not the easiest tool in terms of collaboration compared to other options on the market. Importing data can often be a pain and it is sometimes quite difficult to set up connections to refresh data sources, which makes reporting more manual and time-consuming than it should be.

    Pros

    Data Studio is an extremely powerful tool for reporting and has allowed our team to share out extremely in-depth reports with our clients. It's suite of features is vast and allows our teams to provide highly valued insights into data we previously never had access to. The software is extremely flexible when it comes to customization to fit the needs of our client on a case-by-case basis, which is extremely important since each client has different preferences, nuances, and objectives and Data Studio makes that customization super simple.

    Cons

    Since Data Studio has so many in-depth reporting features, the software itself can be confusing to adapt to and the learning curve for reporting is quite steep if you have no prior experience. It took our team a long time to learn and adapt the software and collaboration on one report was often difficult, which resulted in one member being delegated to handle reporting responsibilities. It would be nice if the Data Studio was able to incorporate task management and campaign tracking alongside its powerful reporting abilities; I think that would really push Data Studio above the competition from software such as Domo and Tableau.

    Alternatives Considered

    Domo and Tableau

    Reasons for Switching to Google Data Studio

    We chose Data Studio for its pricing options and our ability to integrate easily with our client partners.
    Cam
    Overall rating
    • Industry: Sports
    • Company size: 11–50 Employees
    • Used Daily for 2+ years
    • Review Source

    Overall rating

    • Ease of Use
    • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

    Reports, Analytics, and Data FOR DAYS

    Reviewed on 16/06/2023

    We wouldn't have grown as fast as we did without the look behind the scenes at our data without...

    We wouldn't have grown as fast as we did without the look behind the scenes at our data without Data Studio

    Pros

    The ability to manipulate the multitude of data provided and present it to clients, customers, staff, and executives is unmatched. The reporting and analytical fields that are covered are second to none and we wouldn't survive as a business without Data Studio.

    Cons

    Getting new users set up takes longer than anticipated as well as once we've created our custom dashboards and custom reports, but that's all semantics at this rate.

    Verified Reviewer
    Overall rating
    • Industry: Logistics & Supply Chain
    • Company size: 201–500 Employees
    • Used Daily for 2+ years
    • Review Source

    Overall rating

    • Value for Money
    • Ease of Use
    • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

    A little clunky to use but improving very rapidly as a BI tool

    Reviewed on 06/06/2022

    Overall, despite its challenging user experience, it's still a great tool. The quality of the...

    Overall, despite its challenging user experience, it's still a great tool. The quality of the reports and charts are topnotch. For a free BI tool, it's a good value for our money

    Pros

    I like that it's basically free and it's easy to create good-looking reports and share them with your colleagues. We're able to basically have another BI tool at our disposal without going through a lengthy procurement and deployment process.

    Cons

    Connecting a database is quite challenging with Google Data Studio. The error messages are not very helpful at its current state. And sometimes it gives you random errors for no clear reason.

    Showing 5 reviews of 300 Read all reviews

    Google Data Studio FAQs

    Below are some frequently asked questions for Google Data Studio.

    Google Data Studio offers the following pricing plans:

    • Pricing model: Free Version
    • Free Trial: Not Available

    Google Data Studio is available for free.

    Google Data Studio has the following typical customers:

    2–10, 11–50, 51–200, 201–500, 501–1,000, 1,001–5,000

    Google Data Studio supports the following languages:

    English

    Google Data Studio supports the following devices:

    Google Data Studio integrates with the following applications:

    Google Ads, Google Analytics 360, Google Campaign Manager 360, Google Cloud SQL, Google Sheets, MySQL, PostgreSQL, YouTube

    Google Data Studio offers the following support options:

    Email/Help Desk, Knowledge Base Software

    Related categories

    See all software categories found for Google Data Studio.