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Looker vs Observable:
a side-by-side comparison for 2024

Comparing two data science notebooks.

A screenshot of Looker
Looker logo

Looker

Website
Looker 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.
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A screenshot of Observable
Observable logo

Observable

Website
Make sense of the world with data, together. Explore, visualize, and analyze data. Collaborate with the community. Learn and be inspired. Share insights with the world.
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Looker

Observable

Setup

Is it managed?

Is it managed?

Fully managed (setup in hours)
Fully managed (setup in minutes)

Can you self-host?

Can you self-host?

You can self-host (setup in hours)
No, you must use a managed offering

Features

Is it Jupyter compatible?

Is it Jupyter compatible?

Jupyter-compatible
Not Jupyter-compatible

Programming languages

Programming languages

SQL
JS

What kind of data sources can you connect to?

What kind of data sources can you connect to?

Provided file storage
Connect with JS libraries (e.g. REST APIs)
Connect to databases (MySQL, Postgres)
Connect to data warehouses (BigQuery, Snowflake)
Provided file storage

What kind of data visualization can you do?

What kind of data visualization can you do?

UI for building charts
JS data visualization (e.g. D3, Vega)

Reactivity

Reactivity

Reactivity with caveats
Full, realtime reactivity

Notebook scheduling

Notebook scheduling

Notebook scheduling is built in
No notebook scheduling

Management

Reproducibility

Reproducibility

Unknown
Environments are reproducible by default
Execution is reproducible by default

Version history

Version history

No version history
Version history is built in

Collaborative editing

Collaborative editing

Multiple editors at the same time
Multiple editors at the same time

Comments

Comments

No support for comments
Comment on items within a notebook

Notebook organization

Notebook organization

View notebooks in a list
View notebooks in a list

Licensing

License

License

Proprietary
Proprietary

Price

Price

Free tier
Pay for compute
Free tier
Free trial (1 month)
Pay-per-user

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