Changes / BI & analytics / Looker
Price increasemedium impact
Looker Conversational Analytics overage billing is coming ($3 / $20 per 1M tokens)
Usage beyond included monthly Conversational Analytics data tokens will incur overage fees billed monthly in arrears after a not-yet-stated date.
Who’s affected
Looker customers on Standard, Enterprise / Advanced or Embed / Elite who use Conversational Analytics. Anything beyond the included monthly data token allocation will be billed as overage once Google Cloud starts enforcement.
Not affected: Teams that don't use Conversational Analytics, or whose usage stays within the included monthly token allocation, will see no overage charges.
What it costs
Overage is billed monthly in arrears at list $3.00 per 1M input tokens and $20.00 per 1M output tokens, replacing today's promotional no-quota, no-fee period. The record gives no included allocation sizes, so the real cost depends on your query volume and on how much output (the more expensive side) each answer generates.
When to act
No start date is set, but Google Cloud promises at least 90 days notice via formal MSA communications, so use the promo period to measure usage now and be ready when the notice arrives.
Blast radius: Embedded apps or customer-facing features built on Conversational Analytics could start generating unplanned monthly overage, and quota enforcement may limit or block usage once it begins. Internal chargeback and budgets may need updating.
What should you do? decision tree
- you don't use Conversational Analytics or have it switched off for usersDo nothing now; just watch for the MSA notice from Google Cloud.
- you use it today and don't know how many tokens you consumeStart logging usage during the promo period and estimate monthly input and output tokens per team or app.
- estimated usage fits within the included monthly token allocation of your instanceSet an alert near the quota and keep going; revisit when the billing start date is announced.
- estimated usage clearly exceeds the allocation, or you embed it in a customer-facing productModel overage at the list rates, raise it with your Google account team before the notice period starts, and decide whether to cap or limit access.
- projected overage isn't acceptable and can't be negotiatedRestrict the feature to a few users, or move conversational use cases to another BI tool.
Options
- WaitDo nothing until the formal MSA notice arrives; you get at least 90 days before billing and quota enforcement start.
- OptimizeLimit access to key users and curated Explores, and tighten prompts, so fewer tokens are used, especially long outputs.
- NegotiateAsk your Google rep about a larger included allocation or committed-use pricing, since $3/$20 per 1M tokens are list rates.
- MigrateIf overage costs outweigh the value, move conversational analytics to another BI tool with a different pricing model.
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The facts straight from the source
Facts above are extracted from the source and checked word-for-word before publishing. The guidance sections are AI-assisted analysis based only on those facts: a starting point, not legal or procurement advice. Spotted an error? Tell us.
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