Lifted Work vs Looker Studio
Looker Studio is free and connects to Google's data better than anything else will. The cost shows up somewhere other than the invoice: in connector fees, in setup hours, and in everything a client cannot do with a dashboard link.
In short: Looker Studio is the better choice if budget is the binding constraint and your reporting is mostly Google data you are happy to wire up yourself. Lifted Work is better if the hours your team spends maintaining reports now cost more than the software would, and you want a client portal rather than a shared link.
Quick Comparison
What each platform is built for
| Feature |
Lifted Work
|
Looker Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Built for running agency delivery | ||
| Client portal included | ||
| Client request intake | ||
| Deliverables with client approval | ||
| Task and project management | ||
| Time tracking and budgets | ||
| Client correspondence and Gmail sync | ||
| Meta Ads reporting without a paid connector | ||
| Reports owned by the agency | Pro plan only | |
| Free to use | ||
| Native Google Analytics and BigQuery depth | ||
| Depth of chart and layout customization | ||
| Community template ecosystem | ||
| Scheduled reports with no manual step |
Why agencies choose Lifted Work over Looker Studio
This comparison is not about price, because Looker Studio is free and we are not. It is about what the free tool costs in labour and what it structurally cannot do: non-Google data without paid connectors, no client portal, no request intake, no approvals, and reports tied to whichever Google account built them.
Hours are the real price
Looker Studio is free and slow to maintain: connectors to wire, layouts to rebuild, and a manual pass per client per month. Lifted Work renders each client's report on a schedule from a template you set up once.
A portal instead of a shared link
Clients get a branded place to submit requests, approve deliverables and watch work arrive. A Looker Studio link shows numbers and gives the client nothing to do.
Non-Google data without a connector bill
Looker Studio is excellent on GA4, Google Ads, Search Console and BigQuery. Meta Ads and most non-Google platforms need paid third-party connectors. Lifted Work connects Meta Ads and Google Business Profile natively.
The work lives here too
Tasks, SOPs, time tracking, capacity planning and approvals are in the same system as the reporting, so the report can describe what the team actually did that month.
AI with the client in context
Lifted Work's AI reads the client's brand note, task history, correspondence and analytics, then drafts the report and the summary email. Looker Studio's assistance sits inside the report builder.
Reports that own themselves
Reports belong to the agency, not to the Google account that built them. On Looker Studio's free tier, reports and their data-source credentials live with the person who created them.
Feature by feature
See exactly how Lifted Work and Looker Studio stack up across the features that matter most for agency operations.
Looker Studio prices are list prices checked on 15 September 2026. Plans change; check their pricing page before deciding.
Reporting
Lifted Work
- Branded PDF or HTML reports from your own template
- GA4, Search Console, Google Ads, Meta Ads and Business Profile native
- Reports post into the client portal feed
- Summary email drafted alongside
- Runs per client on a schedule once set up
Looker Studio
- Best-in-class access to GA4, Google Ads, Search Console and BigQuery
- Very deep chart, layout and calculated-field customization
- Large community library of free templates
- Most non-Google platforms need paid third-party connectors
- Dashboards are built and maintained by hand per client
What the client sees
Lifted Work
- Branded portal with a live feed of delivered work
- Deliverables reviewed and approved in place
- Request submission with attachments
- Services page anchoring your pricing
- Client to-dos you assign
Looker Studio
- Shareable report links with viewer access
- Charts, colours and logos customizable inside a report
- No client portal, request intake or approvals
- No custom domain or full white-labeling
- A link to a dashboard is the whole client experience
Running the work
Lifted Work
- Tasks, templates and SOPs per client
- Capacity planning by assigned hours
- Time tracked against per-task budgets
- Milestones and recurring scheduled work
- AI playbooks producing reviewable deliverables
Looker Studio
- No task or project management
- No time tracking or capacity planning
- No deliverables or approvals
- A reporting and BI tool by design
- Every other part of delivery is another tool
What it costs
Lifted Work
- $5, $7 or $12 per active client per month depending on plan
- Unlimited team members on every plan
- Meta Ads and Business Profile included natively
- A 15-client agency on Delivery pays $105 a month
- The time cost is the setup, once, per client
Looker Studio
- Free for report creation and viewing
- Looker Studio Pro is $9 per user per month
- Third-party connectors for non-Google data are billed separately
- Team and organization ownership of reports needs Pro
- The real cost is the hours spent building and maintaining
The honest part
Where Looker Studio is the better choice
No tool wins on everything. If these matter more to you than running client delivery in one place, Looker Studio is the right call.
It is free, and that is not a trick
Looker Studio costs nothing for report creation and viewing, and Pro is $9 per user per month. If your agency is early and every subscription hurts, that is a completely legitimate reason to choose it, and no feature argument changes the maths.
Nothing touches Google data better
GA4, Google Ads, Search Console and BigQuery are first-party connections built by the company that owns those products. If your reporting is Google-heavy and you want it deep rather than summarized, Looker Studio does that better than Lifted Work will.
Far deeper customization
Calculated fields, blended data sources, parameters and granular chart control let you build almost anything if you know the tool. Lifted Work gives you a Liquid and Tailwind template, which is simpler and less powerful.
BigQuery and large datasets
If your reporting runs on a warehouse, Looker Studio sits directly on BigQuery. Lifted Work has no warehouse story at all, so for that kind of reporting it is not a serious option.
What each one costs
Lifted Work starts at $5/client/month. Unlimited team members on every plan.
View our pricing" I don't know what I'd do without Lifted Work. "
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions agencies ask about Looker Studio
Why would we pay for Lifted Work when Looker Studio is free?
Only when the hours cost more than the software. Looker Studio is free and genuinely good, but each client dashboard is built and maintained by hand, and non-Google platforms need paid third-party connectors. If someone on your team spends a day a month on reporting, that day is worth more than $105. If reporting is quick and your clients are happy with a dashboard link, staying on Looker Studio is the rational choice.
Can Looker Studio report on Meta Ads?
Not natively. Looker Studio's free connectors cover Google's own products well, and non-Google platforms including Meta Ads generally require a third-party partner connector, which is a separate paid subscription per connector. Lifted Work connects Meta Ads and Google Business Profile natively with no extra cost.
Is Lifted Work's reporting as customizable as Looker Studio's?
No. Looker Studio gives you calculated fields, blended sources, parameters and very granular chart control, and someone fluent in it can build almost anything. Lifted Work reports are HTML templates using Tailwind and Liquid variables, which is simpler to live with and less powerful. If deep custom analysis is the point, Looker Studio wins that outright.
What happens to Looker Studio reports when someone leaves?
On the free tier, reports and their data-source credentials belong to the Google account that created them, which is why agencies lose dashboards when a staff member leaves. Looker Studio Pro adds organization-owned content and team workspaces to solve this. In Lifted Work, client reports belong to the agency and are visible to whoever has access to that client.
Could we use both?
Yes, and it is a reasonable setup. Some agencies keep Looker Studio for deep analysis on Google data while running delivery, client requests, approvals and the monthly client-facing report in Lifted Work. The two do different jobs and nothing forces a choice between them.