Can KPI Tree replace Looker?

Most teams start by running both in parallel. Looker handles data exploration and governed metrics via LookML. KPI Tree maps your business as a system of cause and effect, assigns every metric an owner, and tracks every action against the metric it was meant to move. Understanding creates clarity. Ownership creates accountability. Tracking creates proof. As that loop closes department by department, Looker usage naturally decreases and many organisations retire it.

Does KPI Tree work with LookML metrics?

KPI Tree integrates with Looker at the Enterprise tier, allowing you to sync metric definitions. KPI Tree also integrates natively with dbt Semantic Layer, which can sit alongside LookML in your stack.

How does pricing compare?

Looker starts at ~$60,000/year with viewer licences at $400/year per user, plus LookML developer costs (~$50K–$70K/year). KPI Tree starts at £1,000/month for 10 users. The Growth plan at £2,500/month includes unlimited users with no per-seat charges, making it significantly more cost-effective for organisations focused on metric distribution and accountability.

KPI Tree vs Looker | Comparison

Looker provides strong data governance through its LookML semantic layer. KPI Tree adds what's missing: a way to see cause and effect across your metrics, and a reason for every person to care.

Run both in parallel. Watch one drive action.

Start with your power users, expand department by department, and watch Looker quietly retire itself.

First few weeks

Pilot team onboarded

Month by month

Department by department

6 months +

Organization-wide

End state

Looker retired

LookML defines your metrics. But who acts on them?

See how Looker and KPI Tree take fundamentally different approaches to the same problem.

The Looker way

Best-in-class data governance through LookML, but the gap between defining a metric and acting on it is still wide open.

Metrics are defined in LookML code. Powerful governance, but requires 0.5–2 dedicated FTEs
No concept of metric hierarchy or relationship mapping between metrics
Explores are powerful for analysts, but intimidating for business users
No metric ownership or accountability framework at the business level
Starting at ~$60,000/year with viewer licences at ~$30/user/month ($400/year)
LookML is proprietary and locks metric definitions to the Looker platform

The KPI Tree way

Make it effortless to understand what's happening across your business, and give every person a reason to care.

Combine metrics from multiple sources (Snowflake, BigQuery, dbt, Google Sheets) on a single tree
Full RACI accountability: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed per metric
Assign tasks with due dates that are tracked against real metric outcomes, not self-reported activity
Casually map relationships between metrics so anyone can understand the business at a glance, no context needed
Prove your growth hypothesis with built-in correlation analysis that shows which metrics actually drive each other
Full period-on-period analysis (MoM, WoW, YoY) with the ability to jump to any date in history
Tabular view with instant switching between daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly aggregation
No specialist training required. Metric trees are visual and intuitive for any team member
Push insights natively via Email, Slack, SMS, and WhatsApp with no middleware
Native dbt Semantic Layer integration that works alongside LookML, not against it
No per-seat charges. Starter includes 10 users, Growth and Enterprise are unlimited

We talk to dozens of teams every week.

This is a direct window into what they tell us about their experience.

“We need a dedicated LookML developer just to maintain our metric definitions.”

“Onboarding a new analyst takes months because of LookML complexity.”

“At £120K/year it is by far our most expensive analytics tool.”

“Our metrics are locked into Looker, and we can not use them anywhere else.”

“Non-technical stakeholders can not explore data without asking the data team.”