Cube vs Looker
Cube
cube.dev
Looker
cloud.google.comSide by side
| Figure | Cube | Looker |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $40/mo | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 3 |
| Spec score · Semantic Layer Software | 9.3 (#1) | 8.1 (#11) |
| Compliance | Cube Cloud states SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and GDPR compliance and offers audit logs across deployments. | Google says Looker products maintain ISO, SOC, and other security certifications through its compliance program, with certification details available to customers and prospects under NDA. |
| Deployment | Cube Cloud can run as a managed multi-tenant service on AWS or GCP, in a VPC on AWS, GCP, or Azure, or on a customer's cloud through BYOC. | hybrid |
| Security | Cube states that data is encrypted at rest, API access uses token-based security, and application traffic is encrypted over SSL/TLS 1.2. | Looker documents TLS 1.2 or later for data in transit and AES-256 encryption for locally stored sensitive application data. |
| Semantic modeling | Data engineers define metrics, entities, joins and relationships in version-controlled YAML or JavaScript models. | LookML defines semantic data models that describe dimensions, aggregates, calculations, and data relationships for generating SQL queries. |
| Support | Cube lists community support for Free, limited chat and email for Starter, and chat and email plus a dedicated CSM for Enterprise. | Developer user licensing includes access to Support, while standard and viewer user licensing does not. |
Plans
In their own words
Cube
Cube is an analytics platform with a semantic layer that encodes governed business definitions for dashboards, embedded applications, and AI agents. Cube Cloud supports internal business intelligence and embedded analytics, while Cube Core is the open-source project alongside which the cloud platform is built. The Free plan includes a semantic layer IDE, workbooks, dashboard publishing, semantic model and workbook agents, and analytics chat. Listed data sources include PostgreSQL, Snowflake, ClickHouse, Databricks, BigQuery, MySQL, Oracle, Redshift, MongoDB, and Trino; integrations include dbt, Dagster, Prefect, Airflow, and Coalesce.io. Cube Core processes API requests using pre-aggregated data in Cube Store or raw data in connected databases. Cloud deployment options include a managed multi-tenant service on AWS or GCP, a VPC on AWS, GCP, or Azure, and a customer's cloud through BYOC. Cube lists a free plan, Starter at $40 a month per developer, and Premium at $80 a month per developer.
Looker
Looker helps organizations explore, share, and visualize company data for business decisions. Its LookML semantic models define dimensions, aggregates, calculations, and relationships, then use those definitions to generate SQL queries. Gemini-powered natural-language analytics lets users ask questions, while Dashboard Agents provide summaries and explorations grounded in governed metrics. Looker connects to BigQuery, Spanner, Cloud SQL for MySQL, Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL, and other Google services. The Looker Marketplace offers applications, prebuilt LookML models, visualizations, and actions for delivering data to third-party services. Listed capabilities include hourly refresh, row-level security, scheduled reports, and embedded analytics. Deployment is hybrid, with web, Android, iOS, API, and self-hosted options. Mobile apps let users view Looks and dashboards. Google documents TLS 1.2 or later for data in transit and AES-256 encryption for locally stored sensitive application data. A free 14-day trial is advertised, but there is no free plan. Standard, Enterprise, and Embed each list one production instance, 10 Standard Users, and two Developer Users; their API call allowances differ. Pricing is on request.