These three are not really rival products. GA4 is where website data lives, Looker Studio (still widely called Data Studio) is a canvas that draws it, and Clearly is a finished report that reads it. Comparing them is a comparison of three ways to produce a monthly report.
The money row looks nearly identical, which is why it is the wrong row to decide on. The rows below it are where they separate.
At a glance
Google product facts and connector pricing checked in August 2026.
| GA4 | Data Studio | Clearly | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | An analytics tool | A report canvas | A finished report |
| What you pay | Nothing. | Nothing for Google's own sources. | Free for one report. $29 a month for unlimited. |
| Growing costs | None. | Non-Google sources need a paid connector: $23 a month at 3 sources, $118 to $199 at 7. | Nothing is metered. Team is $99 a month. |
| Sources | Your website and app | Many, once the connector is paid for | Six, already connected |
| Users | Account seats. | Share by link. Pro is licensed per user. | One on Pro, unlimited on Team. |
| Sending it to someone | An account seat, or an export | Share a link or schedule a PDF | A no-login link, themed per report |
| Explaining a change | You work it out from the data. | You build the view that shows it. | Names the two or three likely drivers in plain language. |
| Who maintains it | Configured once, then it collects. | You do, for as long as the report exists. | Pick a goal and connect the sources. |
"Data Studio" was renamed Looker Studio by Google in 2022; both names remain in use. Connector pricing from windsor.ai/pricing and supermetrics.com/pricing/looker-studio, August 2026. Clearly is our own product.
What each one charges for
Looker Studio is free. The connectors that make it cover paid social usually are not.
Looker Studio is genuinely free for Google's own sources. GA4, Search Console, Google Ads, Sheets, BigQuery and YouTube all have official connectors that cost nothing. Reporting that stays inside Google can be built there for no money at all.
The sum changes when a report needs Meta or LinkedIn, because Google does not build those connectors and a third party rents them to you.
Figure 1. What a six-source report costs a month
The same six sources in each column: GA4, Search Console, Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn and Sheets.
Data Studio, Google only
Monthly
$0
GA4, Search Console, Google Ads and Sheets through Google's own connectors. No Meta, no LinkedIn. For a business advertising only on Google, this is a complete answer.
Data Studio, all six
Monthly
$118 to $199
Looker Studio stays free; the connector is the bill. Windsor.ai Standard is $118 a month for 7 sources, $99 paid yearly. Supermetrics Growth is $199 for 7, $159 yearly. Both have cheaper 3-source tiers.
Clearly
Monthly
$29
All six connectors included, unlimited reports, $290 paid yearly. Free for one report, permanently. No separate connector bill, because there is no separate connector vendor.
There is also Looker Studio Pro, licensed per user and billed monthly whether the licence is used or not. What it adds is enterprise governance: team workspaces, content management and project-level permissions through Google Cloud. It is not a connector upgrade, which is why the free version is the one that matters in this comparison.
The second cost never appears on an invoice. An hour a month rebuilding the same view is real money that goes unexamined because nobody bills for it.
Where each one fits
Three different jobs that get confused for one.
GA4
Answering a specific question about the website in depth. It is also the source the other two read from, so it is rarely an either-or.
Data Studio
Google-only reporting at no cost, and any layout specific enough that nobody sells it. The canvas is free; the build and the upkeep are the price.
Clearly
A recurring monthly report for one business, where the structure is already decided and the explanation sits on the page.
What Clearly does not do
Against two Google products used by millions, the gaps are clear.
- Far fewer sources. Six, against whatever a paid connector can reach. A CRM, an email platform, TikTok or a warehouse table are all out of scope.
- No blank canvas. A specific layout, or a chart nobody else builds, is not something an opinionated product does well.
- Less depth on the website itself. Path exploration, segment building and ad-hoc analysis are GA4's job.
- No decade of history. Neither Google product is going to disappear, and that is worth something for a tool you plan to depend on.
- Google-only reporting really is free. Where nothing outside Google needs to appear, Looker Studio costs nothing at any scale.
Questions worth answering first
These four narrow it in the order that eliminates fastest.
-
1
Are you reporting, or investigating?
A recurring artefact somebody else reads is reporting. Chasing one specific question is investigating, and that is GA4's job either way.
-
2
How many of your platforms are Google's?
If all of them, Looker Studio is free and hard to beat. The first non-Google source is where a connector subscription enters the sum.
-
3
Who maintains the dashboard in six months?
An unmaintained report is worse than none, because it goes quietly wrong rather than visibly missing.
-
4
Do you want control, or an answer?
A canvas gives control. An opinionated report gives an answer. Wanting both is how the same dashboard gets rebuilt every year.
The short version
GA4 is the source and the place to investigate. Looker Studio is the canvas, free on Google data. Clearly is a finished report for the common case, and it reads GA4 rather than replacing it.
On cost: a Google-only report is cheapest in Looker Studio by a wide margin, and a report including paid social usually is not, because the connector fee lands above the reporting subscription it was meant to avoid. Add the hour a month spent assembling it and the free option stops being free.
In Clearly: connect the GA4 property you already have, pick a goal, and see the report it produces. Free for one report, permanently, reading the same data you have open in GA4 right now.