Google Colab
WebsiteColab notebooks allow you to combine executable code and rich text in a single document, along with images, HTML, LaTeX and more.
Google Colab vs Looker:
a side-by-side comparison for 2024
Comparing two data science notebooks.
Looker
WebsiteLooker is a powerful BI tool that allows data analysts to create interactive dashboards, explore and analyze data from multiple sources with ease, and ensure robust data governance.
Google Colab
Looker
Setup
Fully managed (setup in minutes)
Fully managed (setup in hours)
Can you self-host?
Can you self-host?
No, you must use a managed offering
You can self-host (setup in hours)
Features
Is it Jupyter compatible?
Is it Jupyter compatible?
Jupyter-compatible
Jupyter-compatible
Programming languages
Programming languages
Jupyter languages (e.g. Python, R)
SQL
What kind of data sources can you connect to?
What kind of data sources can you connect to?
Connect with Jupyter libraries (e.g. SQLAlchemy, psycopg2)
Google Drive
Provided file storage
What kind of data visualization can you do?
What kind of data visualization can you do?
Jupyter data visualization (e.g. Matplotlib, Altair, Plotly)
UI for building charts
Reactivity
Reactivity
No reactivity, you decide the execution order
Reactivity with caveats
No notebook scheduling
Notebook scheduling is built in
Management
Reproducibility
Reproducibility
There is no support for reproducibility
Unknown
No version history
No version history
No support for collaborative editors
Multiple editors at the same time
Comments
Comments
No support for comments
No support for comments
Notebook organization
Notebook organization
View notebooks in a list
View notebooks in a list
Licensing
License
License
Proprietary
Proprietary
Price
Price
Free tier
Pay-per-user
Pay for compute
Free tier
Pay for compute