Sherlok vs. Looker Studio
- No credit card
- Read-only access
- Revoke it any time
Looker Studio, which Google renamed Data Studio in April 2026, is free and powerful. And it's the status quo for most managers. The hidden cost: someone builds it, someone maintains it, someone interprets it, and it never warns you about anything. Sherlok covers exactly that cost: agents that read your accounts and bring the decision with its value, even crossing Search Console organic search with Google Ads spend in the same answer, with no blends to build. If you've lost hours building and maintaining dashboards and just want the answer, Sherlok is the pick. The Free plan costs $0, no card.
Read-only connection
The agents read your metrics. Nothing changes in your accounts through Sherlok.
Encryption in transit and at rest
Your data is encrypted on the way and in storage.
Revoke access whenever you want
In Connections or directly at Meta and Google. Reading stops immediately.
No card to start
Free is your account diagnosis: 30 questions a month, no card.
Side-by-side comparison
| Criterion | Sherlok | Looker Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Tool price | $0 to $49/month | Free |
| Hidden cost | None, just ask | Hours of building, upkeep and interpretation |
| Who interprets | The AI, with recommendation | You, staring at charts |
| Proactive alerts | Yes | No |
| Maintenance | Zero | Breaks when a source changes |
| New question | Type it in | Build a new chart or page |
| Cross-source joins | Automatic in the answer | Manual data blends |
| Organic search + paid media in one question | Yes, Search Console and Google Ads in the same answer | Only if you build the join manually in the report |
| Best for | Fast decisions | Fixed monitoring dashboards |
Looker Studio pricing and features according to their official public pages, checked in October 2026. They may have changed since. Always check the source before deciding.
See the difference? Start now, for free.
- No credit card
- Read-only access
- Revoke it any time
When Sherlok is the right choice
- You're tired of maintaining dashboards that break
- You want answers to new questions without creating a new chart
- You want to be alerted when something breaks the pattern
- You've done the math on time spent building and interpreting
- Tight budget: Sherlok's Free plan costs $0, no card, Looker is free to license but charges you in hours
When Looker Studio is the right choice
- You need a fixed dashboard on the office TV
- You already have dashboards built and someone to maintain them
- Your need is visual tracking, not decisions
- You need to deliver an embedded, client-branded dashboard, not an answer
The sources Sherlok connects
See how each integration works in practice:
Frequently asked questions
Looker Studio is free. Why pay for Sherlok?
Because Looker charges in a different currency: your time. Building, upkeep, blending and interpretation add up to hours every week. If those hours are worth more than a monthly subscription, Sherlok pays for itself.
Does Sherlok replace my dashboard?
For most day-to-day questions, yes. You ask and get the answer. Corporate monitoring dashboards can keep existing in parallel, no problem.
Can I plug Looker Studio into Sherlok?
No, and it's intentional: Sherlok connects straight to sources (Meta Ads, Google Ads, GA4, Search Console, Sheets, SQL and the integrations catalog), without going through the dashboard. That's exactly what removes the building step.
Is the free plan enough to really test it?
It is: you connect two sources, such as Meta Ads, Google Ads, GA4 or Search Console, ask up to 30 questions a month and get the agents' decisions every week, with no credit card and no expiry date. More sources and workspaces come with the paid plans; daily decisions come with Pro.
Less reporting. More deciding.
- No credit card
- Read-only access
- Revoke it any time