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Looker Studio vs Supermetrics vs Agency Analytics: Which Is the Best Google Ads Reporting Tool?

  • Writer: Jesse Heslinga
    Jesse Heslinga
  • Jul 27
  • 9 min read

These three tools come up whenever an agency or in-house team asks "how should I be reporting on Google Ads?" But they don't all do the same job, which makes a direct comparison tricky.


Looker Studio is a free visualization tool from Google. Supermetrics is a data connector that pulls Google Ads data (and 150+ other sources) into Looker Studio, Google Sheets, or other destinations. Agency Analytics is an all-in-one reporting platform built for agencies that present reports to multiple clients.


The useful question: which one fits the job you're actually doing.


The Short Answer

  • Looker Studio is free and connects directly to Google Ads with no third-party tool needed. The catch is that you build and maintain the dashboards yourself.

  • Supermetrics is not a reporting tool on its own. It pulls data into Looker Studio or Sheets. Add it when you need non-Google sources (Meta, HubSpot, LinkedIn) in the same dashboard.

  • Agency Analytics ($20/client/month) is the right call for agencies managing 5+ clients who want automated reports and a white-label client portal without building dashboards from scratch.

  • For lead-gen specifically, any of the three can show CPL, lead volume, and conversion breakdown. The question is how much time you want to spend setting it up.

What these three tools actually do

The comparison often runs into trouble here because Supermetrics gets treated as a reporting platform. It's not.


Looker Studio is a free visualization tool from Google. The native Google Ads connector is built in and costs nothing. It pulls campaign, ad group, keyword, and conversion data directly. If you're reporting on Google Ads only (or Google Ads and GA4), the native connector covers most of what you need without paying for anything else. Limitations show up when you want to combine Google Ads data with other platforms in a single view.


Supermetrics is a data connector. It pulls from 150+ marketing platforms and sends the data to a destination: Looker Studio, Google Sheets, BigQuery, Excel, and others. It doesn't build reports. You still need Looker Studio or Sheets to visualize the data. For Google Ads-only reporting, it adds a cost without adding capability that the native connector doesn't already provide.


Agency Analytics is a full reporting platform. It connects to 85+ integrations, builds dashboards from templates, creates white-label client portals, and automates PDF report delivery on a schedule. It's designed for agencies producing reports for multiple clients without wanting to build each one manually.

Pricing: what you actually pay

Tool

Price

Model

Looker Studio

Free

Native Google Ads connector included

Supermetrics Starter

€39/month (annual)

1 destination, 3 sources, weekly refresh

Supermetrics Growth

€159/month (annual)

1 destination, 7 sources, daily refresh

Supermetrics Pro

€399/month (annual)

1 destination, 10 sources, hourly refresh

Agency Analytics

$20/client/month (annual)

Per client, all features included

Prices directional. Check each tool's pricing page for current rates.


Looker Studio costs nothing, and the Google Ads connector is free. If you're reporting on Google Ads and willing to build the dashboards, the total spend is zero.


Supermetrics starts at €39/month for one destination, three data sources, and weekly data refreshes. The Growth plan at €159/month is the practical minimum for agencies who need daily refreshes and more accounts per source. Costs compound quickly if you add multiple destinations or heavy account counts.


Agency Analytics charges $20 per client per month on annual billing. At 5 clients that's $100/month, at 10 clients it's $200/month. No free tier, but a 14-day trial is available. The per-client model means your cost scales directly with how many clients you're actively reporting for.

Build time vs plug-and-play

This is the dimension most comparisons skip, and it's usually where the decision lands.


Looker Studio requires you to build the dashboards yourself. Connecting Google Ads takes minutes. Designing a report that a client can actually read and act on takes 2-3 hours per account, done properly. Once built, you copy the template for each new client and adjust the data source. With 8 clients that means maintaining 8 versions and troubleshooting when a connector breaks or an OAuth token expires.


Supermetrics speeds up the data-pulling step but doesn't reduce the design work. You still build in Looker Studio; Supermetrics makes it easier to pull in non-Google data alongside it.


Agency Analytics has pre-built templates for Google Ads reporting. Connecting a client account takes minutes and the dashboard populates automatically. The white-label portal is configured once and works across all clients. Automated PDF reports go to clients on a schedule without any manual step. The tradeoff is less flexibility: you work within their template and branding system rather than designing from scratch.

Pro Tip: If your clients log in and make decisions from the dashboard themselves, invest the time in Looker Studio and design it around how they think. If clients mainly want a monthly summary email, Agency Analytics automates that better than anything else.

What good Google Ads reporting for lead gen actually needs

Whatever tool you use, a lead-gen reporting setup needs these at minimum:

  • CPL by campaign, not just account-level totals

  • Lead volume by week or month, so trends show before they become problems

  • Conversion action breakdown: which actions are counting and whether they represent actual leads

  • Budget pacing: is spend on track for the month or running out early

  • Click-through rate and impression share at campaign level, as signals of relevance or auction pressure


What these tools don't handle on their own: whether the leads are any good. High lead volume from a campaign with a poor close rate is a tracking problem. The number looks good; the underlying data probably isn't. That's why call tracking and CRM data alongside the dashboard layer matters.

Keep in Mind: Build reporting that connects to what the business actually tracks, not just what Google Ads shows. CPL from Google Ads and CPL-to-booked-job from the CRM are two different numbers, and the second one is the one that matters.

Looker Studio vs Supermetrics vs Agency Analytics, side by side

Dimension

Looker Studio

Supermetrics

Agency Analytics

Cost

Free

From €39/month

$20/client/month

Google Ads connector

Native, free

Paid connector

Built-in

Other data sources

Needs Supermetrics

150+ platforms

85+ integrations

Build requirement

High

Medium (still needs Looker Studio)

Low (templates)

White-label client portal

No

No

Yes

Automated PDF reports

No

No

Yes

Customisation/flexibility

Highest

High

Medium

Best for

Custom dashboards, any budget

Multi-source reporting

Multi-client agencies

When Looker Studio wins

Looker Studio is the right choice when:

  • You're reporting on Google Ads (and GA4) only. The native connectors are free, solid, and cover most lead-gen reporting needs.

  • Full control over dashboard design matters. You can build a report that shows exactly the metrics your client cares about, in the order they think about them.

  • You're comfortable investing build time upfront in exchange for zero ongoing cost.

  • You're an in-house team or solo operator where client-facing white-labelling isn't a priority.


Adding Supermetrics makes sense when you're already using Looker Studio and need to pull in Meta Ads, LinkedIn, HubSpot, or another platform alongside Google Ads. For a Google Ads-only setup, the extra cost isn't justified.

When Agency Analytics wins

Agency Analytics makes sense when:

  • You're managing 5+ clients and need reports delivered to each of them without building and maintaining individual dashboards.

  • Clients expect a branded portal they can log into, rather than a shared Looker Studio link.

  • Automated monthly PDF reports are part of your service offering. Agency Analytics schedules and sends these without any manual step on your end.

  • You'd rather pay $20/client/month to save 2-3 hours of dashboard work per client than build everything in Looker Studio.


The economics shift with client count. At 3 clients, Looker Studio plus Supermetrics for any extra sources is cheaper. At 8-10 clients, Agency Analytics saves enough time to justify the per-client fee.

Common mistake: Using Agency Analytics for a 2-client setup. At that scale, Looker Studio free with the native Google Ads connector is a better choice, and the per-client fee doesn't make sense yet.

Common mistakes with Google Ads reporting tools

  • Building a Looker Studio dashboard that shows impressions and clicks but not CPL, lead volume, or budget pacing. Vanity metrics look full, but they don't tell you anything useful.

  • Paying for Supermetrics to pull Google Ads data when the native Looker Studio connector does the same job for free.

  • Giving a client direct Looker Studio edit access instead of a read-only link, then having them accidentally break the data source connection.

  • Setting up Agency Analytics automated reports and not reviewing them before they go out. Automated doesn't mean accurate, especially if conversion tracking changes.

  • Building a reporting setup and treating it as done. Reporting needs to evolve as the account changes. A dashboard built for a lead-gen campaign at €8k/month looks different from one at €25k/month.


The reporting layer surfaces what's happening. Fixing it is a different job. If CPL is climbing in the dashboard, that's a signal to investigate the account, not to tweak the report.

How I handle this for lead-gen businesses

For my own client reporting, I used to use Looker Studio with the native Google Ads connector. However, since the introduction of Claude Code, it is easy to built your own dashboards. That's what I have done now for all my clients, custom made for my own use cases. On top of that, I have layered AI powered insights on top of it.


The upfront build is real, but the result is a dashboard shaped around each client's KPIs: CPL by campaign, weekly lead volume, conversion actions broken down so the client can see what's being counted as a lead and what isn't.


For accounts running Meta Ads alongside Google Ads, I add Supermetrics on the relevant plan to combine the data in one view.


Agency Analytics is a good fit for agencies producing reports at volume, specifically when clients expect a polished branded portal rather than a shared link. The per-client cost makes sense at scale.


Before choosing a reporting tool: verify the conversion tracking underneath it is set up correctly. A dashboard built on inaccurate data gives a misleading picture of performance, and no tool fixes that. See what Google Ads agencies actually charge if you're weighing whether to hand the whole setup to someone else.

Ready to look at what your account is actually reporting?

Frequently Asked Questions

Add FAQPage schema in Wix Advanced SEO before publishing.

Yes. Looker Studio is free and the native Google Ads connector is included at no cost. It pulls campaign, ad group, keyword, and conversion data without any third-party tool. The only cost comes if you want non-Google data sources (like Meta Ads or HubSpot), which requires a paid connector like Supermetrics.

Only if you're pulling data from non-Google platforms. For Google Ads and GA4 reporting, the native Looker Studio connectors are free and cover most lead-gen use cases. Supermetrics adds value when you want Meta, LinkedIn, HubSpot, or other sources in the same dashboard view.

At 2-3 clients, Looker Studio free is the more practical choice. At 5+ clients, the time savings from automated reports and pre-built templates start to offset the $20/client/month fee. The break-even for most small agencies is around 4-5 clients, depending on how much time you currently spend building and maintaining reports.

Yes. Agency Analytics has a white-label client portal with its own login. You control which reports and metrics each client can access. This is one of its main advantages over Looker Studio, where client access is managed by sharing a view-only link rather than a branded portal.

Looker Studio with the native Google Ads connector refreshes on demand, with an auto-refresh option. Supermetrics refresh frequency depends on the plan: weekly on Starter, daily on Growth, hourly on Pro. Agency Analytics refreshes daily on standard plans. For real-time monitoring, none of these replace Google Ads' own interface, but for reporting purposes all three are sufficient.

Yes. Supermetrics supports Google Sheets, Looker Studio, BigQuery, Excel, and other destinations. Each destination counts as a separate plan selection. Google Sheets is useful for clients who want to download and work with their own data, or for building internal tracking setups outside of a visual dashboard.

The dashboard shows an error and stops updating until the connector is reauthorized. This happens more often than it should, usually after a Google OAuth token expires or account permissions change. On a large setup with many dashboards, connector maintenance is a real ongoing cost. It's one of the practical arguments for Agency Analytics, which handles connector reliability centrally.

About the author

Jesse Heslinga | Google Partner | 7+ Years Google Ads | Lead-Gen Expert


jesse_heslinga_groove_media

I run Google Ads for lead-gen service businesses at Groove Media across clinics, home services, and professional services, working with clients directly, no account-manager layer. I build every account around one question: is this spend turning into real customers, not just cheap form fills?

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