← ALL COMPARISONSDuke vs.
SIDE B · TRACK 03
Duke vs.
Looker.
LookML is great. The UX is from 2014.
Looker pioneered the semantic layer with LookML. Its UX, pricing and Google-cloud-bound posture haven't kept up with conversational, multi-cloud, EU-first expectations.
THE MATRIX
DIMENSION
LOOKER
DUKE
Primary surface
Explores & dashboards
Conversation + agentic actions
Semantic Layer
LookML, strong but Looker-locked
Open: dbt, Cube, Malloy compatible
Natural language
Gemini in Looker, US-hosted
EU LLM routing, FR-native
Agentic execution (MCP)
Scheduled deliveries
Native MCP, write-back to any system
Hosting
GCP-bound
Multi-cloud, EU-only by default
Pricing
Per-user platform + capacity
Flat per-user
VERDICT
Bring your LookML, Duke compiles to it. Keep your semantic investment, drop the legacy UX and the GCP coupling.
BEST FIT
Looker shops that want to keep LookML but need a modern, agentic, EU-sovereign front-end.
See it for yourself in a 30-minute session.
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