Looker Studio is free, endlessly flexible, and backed by Google's own connectors for Google properties.
Choose Looker Studio if you have the time to build and maintain dashboards and only need Google sources. Choose Tailwin if the real Looker cost (paid third-party connectors for everything non-Google, plus the hours) is what you are trying to escape, and if clients should get a branded portal rather than a shared Google link.
| Looker Studio | Tailwin | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing (checked August 2026) | Free core; Pro $9/user/project/mo. Non-Google sources need paid partner connectors at $29 to $1,000+/mo; one published example: a 42-client agency paying about $3,800/mo in connector fees | $49-$399/mo flat per workspace, unlimited seats; free tier; $99 one-time detailed AI report |
| AI visibility tracking | Not native; only by piping a third-party AI tool's data through a paid connector | Built in as a first-class data source: scans, per-query tracking, and dashboard widgets, no credit meter |
| AI crawler telemetry (GPTBot, ClaudeBot…) | Not offered | Edge-logged before any script runs; chartable next to GA4 and ad spend |
| Client delivery | Shared Google links; no custom domain, no client portal; free-tier scheduled email sends were capped by Google in 2025 | Brand-themed share links on your domain, scheduled emails with per-recipient delivery history, PDF export |
| Performance | Reviewers report 10-20 second loads on blended multi-source dashboards and GA4 API quota breakage | One batched query per dashboard; loading states, not spinner roulette |
| White-label | None: reports carry the Looker Studio frame | Three-level tenancy: your brand, your domain, client sub-accounts, embeddable widgets |
Sources and citations for every claim on this page: our published competitive research, compiled August 2026 from vendor pricing pages and public reviews. Vendors change pricing; check theirs and ours before deciding.
The core product is. The cost appears when an agency needs non-Google sources: partner connectors run $29 to $1,000+ per month (checked August 2026), and the maintenance hours are yours. Free is the right answer for a single Google-only dashboard; it stops being free at agency scale.
The free scan shows what AI engines say about a business today, in about a minute, before any signup. The comparison that matters is on your data.