What is Data Studio used for?

Data Studio is the earlier name of Google's free tool, now branded Looker Studio, for building dashboards and reports from many data sources. It is a good fit for client marketing reports from Google data and free dashboards over spreadsheet data.

Yes. Data Studio has a free plan.

Is Data Studio open source?

No. Data Studio is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Data Studio include Chartbrew, DataLens and Metabase.

What are some alternatives to Data Studio?

Data Studio competes with Tableau, Klipfolio and Databox. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Data Studio alternatives.

Data Studio: features, pricing and alternatives

About Data Studio

Data Studio is Google's free dashboarding and reporting tool, which was later renamed Looker Studio. It lets users connect to data from sources such as Google products, spreadsheets, databases and marketing platforms, and then assemble interactive charts and tables into shareable reports.

Reports are built in a drag-and-drop editor and can be shared with teammates or clients in a way similar to Google Docs, with options such as scheduled email delivery and templates to start from. It is widely used by marketers and small teams for performance reports because it costs nothing and fits with Google Analytics and Google Ads. It is a Google-hosted service with no self-hosted version.

Key features

Drag-and-drop report and dashboard editor
Connectors to many data sources
Interactive charts and tables
Report sharing and collaboration
Templates for common reports

Good fit for

→Client marketing reports from Google data
→Free dashboards over spreadsheet data

Tags: dashboards; reporting; google; looker-studio; data-visualization; free; marketing-analytics

Data Studio: questions and answers

What is Data Studio used for?: Data Studio is the earlier name of Google's free tool, now branded Looker Studio, for building dashboards and reports from many data sources. It is a good fit for client marketing reports from Google data and free dashboards over spreadsheet data.
Is Data Studio free?: Yes. Data Studio has a free plan.
Is Data Studio open source?: No. Data Studio is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Data Studio include Chartbrew, DataLens and Metabase.
What are some alternatives to Data Studio?: Data Studio competes with Tableau, Klipfolio and Databox. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Data Studio alternatives.