Sigma Computing vs. Tableau Cloud

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Sigma
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Sigma Computing headquartered in San Francisco provides a suite of data services such as code free data modeling, data search and explorating, and related BI and data visualization services.N/A
Tableau Cloud
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Tableau Cloud (formerly Tableau Online) is a self-service analytics platform that is fully hosted in the cloud. Tableau Cloud enables users to publish dashboards and invite colleagues to explore hidden opportunities with interactive visualizations and accurate data, from any browser or mobile device.
$15
per month per user
Pricing
Sigma ComputingTableau Cloud
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Tableau Viewer
$15
per month billed annually per user
Enterprise Viewer
$35
per month billed annually per user
Tableau Explorer
$42
per month billed annually per user
Enterprise Explorer
$70
per month billed annually per user
Tableau Creator
$75
per month billed annually per user
Enterprise Creator
$115
per month billed annually per user
Tableau+
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
SigmaTableau Cloud
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsContact us for pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Sigma ComputingTableau Cloud
Considered Both Products
Sigma
Chose Sigma Computing
I am not an expert in any of these, though from my brief exposure to Looker it felt like a steeper learning curve, more appropriate to companies with dedicated and skilled BI engineers, whereas Sigma (and Tableau, and Looker Studio) offer a quicker and more intuitive interface …
Chose Sigma Computing
Ease of use, access for teams, adhoc and iterative data analyses, from non-technical users, to experience data analysis teams.
Chose Sigma Computing
Sigma is definitely more user-friendly and has powerful built-in functions and capabilities for analyzing and visualizing data in a low-code fashion. It allows our non-technical users to jump in and use data to answer the questions they are asking without having to wait for …
Chose Sigma Computing
I have found that Tableau can be used to create a greater variety of custom and complex visuals, though these visuals are far more difficult to create in a quick turnaround. While Sigma may be more limited in terms of what types of visuals can be create or how customized they …
Chose Sigma Computing
With Looker, to be effective, a substantial amount of coding & modeling needs to happen in LookML. Being another language to learn, users have to context switch again from at a minimum either SQL or Python into LookML. The concept of being able to source control, code review, …
Chose Sigma Computing
2 biggest reasons for Sigma were easy of use for power users, and cost of having a large amount of viewers of the data.
Chose Sigma Computing
Sigma is by far the best. It is easiest to learn and easiest to use on a day to day basis. I never have to wait for dashboards to load and it's very easy to understand the variables that are going into my visualizations. Best of all I can manipulate the data within Sigma …
Chose Sigma Computing
flexibility, works really well with Snowflake, export capability, level of support, the fact that Sigma Computing is a start up and improving so quickly. Web based software
Chose Sigma Computing
Sigma isnt as strong in Scripting compared to above but with the seamless integration with Snowflake I can utilize the full power of SQL, Python etc.

Sigma also doesn't have a 3rd party marketplace to get visualizations and other customizations compared to these products
Chose Sigma Computing
Faster and easier to use that mode.
Chose Sigma Computing
Sigma Computing is easier to use
Chose Sigma Computing
N/A - I was not part of selection process.
Chose Sigma Computing
Sigma is like a unique combination of Excel and Tableau, in my experience. It combines both the heavy-duty data wrangling and data manipulation abilities of Tableau with the quickness and ease of use that Excel is known for having. I have relied on Excel a lot less now for ad …
Chose Sigma Computing
Not involved in the selection process.
Chose Sigma Computing
Sigma Computing is significantly faster and more versatile than Data Studio integrations for marketing data.
While it is less powerful than Tableau for data visualization, it is much easier to use due to its spread sheet like user interface.
Microsoft BI is a middle ground but …
Chose Sigma Computing
The decision to move to Sigma was mainly a business decision based on cost, as the vast majority of our users are external customers of ours. Sigma is basically on par with the others for its core functionality but still falls short in pure customization options. Additionally, …
Chose Sigma Computing
Sigma Computing was the best bang for the buck and employed modern cloud-based computing while providing an easy-to-use Excel-like UI.
Chose Sigma Computing
Much easier to use as an end-user and quicker for report writing.
Chose Sigma Computing
I prefer Google Sheets, Looker, and Tableau over Sigma Computing. I was not involved in the purchasing decision but if it were up to me, we would use a different tool.
Chose Sigma Computing
The following key factors led to the selection of Sigma:
  • Ease of implementing row-level security in embedded dashboards.
  • Ease of embedding; embedded explorations.
Chose Sigma Computing
Sigma is easy to set up and can be used by people without any SQL knowledge. Sisense has the data modelling functions and the set up needs more effort and user training is needed for complicated calculation functions. We also use Tableau as BI tool for the users who want …
Chose Sigma Computing
Sigma really was the powerful Swiss army knife for parsing and slicing all our data. A bit of the dark horse in our evaluation, against larger players (Tableau, Amazon) and the incumbent Looker, Sigma was at first almost overlooked but then quickly became my favorite by far, …
Chose Sigma Computing
Sigma allows for speed and responsiveness Tableau was lacking without significant investment.
Tableau Cloud
Chose Tableau Cloud
Tableau Cloud is ery powerful and user friendly with minimal cost when compared with other BI tools.Its robust features like switching toggles, supporting SQL queries for buiding charts and all stands out as the best.It reduces time in creating difficult and complex dashbords …
Features
Sigma ComputingTableau Cloud
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
7.7
163 Ratings
6% below category average
Tableau Cloud
7.6
74 Ratings
8% below category average
Pixel Perfect reports6.1104 Ratings7.656 Ratings
Customizable dashboards9.3161 Ratings8.774 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates7.8133 Ratings6.563 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
7.6
166 Ratings
5% below category average
Tableau Cloud
7.6
74 Ratings
5% below category average
Drill-down analysis8.2155 Ratings8.674 Ratings
Formatting capabilities7.1163 Ratings7.271 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages7.35 Ratings6.247 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration7.9162 Ratings8.672 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
7.7
156 Ratings
7% below category average
Tableau Cloud
7.8
72 Ratings
5% below category average
Publish to Web7.8103 Ratings8.568 Ratings
Publish to PDF7.8130 Ratings7.567 Ratings
Report Versioning7.3120 Ratings7.655 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling7.9132 Ratings8.559 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers7.868 Ratings6.538 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
6.8
149 Ratings
16% below category average
Tableau Cloud
7.8
70 Ratings
2% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.6147 Ratings8.267 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization5.626 Ratings8.266 Ratings
Predictive Analytics6.218 Ratings7.757 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings7.26 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
-
Ratings
Tableau Cloud
8.4
69 Ratings
1% below category average
Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings8.363 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings7.756 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.559 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings8.77 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.754 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
-
Ratings
Tableau Cloud
7.5
59 Ratings
3% below category average
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings7.457 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings7.744 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings7.851 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
-
Ratings
Tableau Cloud
6.9
41 Ratings
11% below category average
REST API00 Ratings7.836 Ratings
Javascript API00 Ratings7.234 Ratings
iFrames00 Ratings6.833 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings5.629 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings6.735 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings7.232 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Sigma ComputingTableau Cloud
Small Businesses
Yellowfin
Yellowfin
Score 8.7 out of 10
Yellowfin
Yellowfin
Score 8.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Score 9.5 out of 10
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Score 9.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Sigma ComputingTableau Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(170 ratings)
9.3
(75 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.6
(48 ratings)
8.8
(28 ratings)
Availability
8.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(47 ratings)
8.7
(20 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
7.3
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
7.3
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Sigma ComputingTableau Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
Sigma Computing
We were able to set up client-facing embedded reports with ease and security. The interface is not difficult to learn, although we may not be aware of or lack the necessary expertise to utilize more advanced features that would likely benefit us.
Read full review
Tableau
If you're using Tableau as the primary BI tool, then Tableau Cloud is well suited to publish and share the results with a wide(r) audience. It is well suited for various degrees of self-service proficiency, from pure consumers of analytical work to more advanced users who can use web editing for smaller or larger adjustments, and even for desktop power users who will publish their work to Tableau Cloud. It has many good ways to organize the content and make it easily accessible via search, favorites, folders, collections ("playlists for your data"), or history ("recents"). It might not be ideally suited if there are many on-prem sources to be used (even though there are options to connect them) or if you have very special requirements regarding custom server setup, which is limited in a shared cloud environment like Tableau Cloud.
Read full review
Pros
Sigma Computing
  • Allows end users to easily dive into the data without having direct access to the table in our database management software.
  • Can easily turnaround dashboards that are detailed and visually pleasing.
  • Sigma is intuitive and as new features are rolled out it is easy to adopt and incorporate them into new and existing dashboards.
Read full review
Tableau
  • Tableau Online is completely cloud based and that's why the reports and dashboards are accessible even on the go. One doesn't always need to access the office laptop to access the reports.
  • The visualizations are interactive and one can quickly change the level at which they want to view the information. For example, one person might be more interested in looking at the country level performances rather than client level. This is intuitive and one doesn't need to create multiple reports for the same.
  • The feature to ask questions in plain vanilla English language is great and helpful. For quick adhoc fact checks one can simply type what they are looking for and the Natural Language Programming algorithms under the hood parse the query, interpret it and then fetch the results accordingly in a visual form.
Read full review
Cons
Sigma Computing
  • Sigma Computing does not allow custom ordering of pivot fields in pivot tables easily
  • Sigma Computing lacks functionality for creating tables or sections that dynamically adjust to the browser window's height while maintaining a fixed height textbox at the bottom
  • Sigma Computing does not provide straightforward options for formatting totals in tables, such as renaming 'Total' to 'Average', 'Team Total', etc
  • Sigma Computing does not support searching by individual tab names within a workbook
Read full review
Tableau
  • Can be a steep learning curve for new users
  • Modeling and building algorithms aren't always intuitive and take some testing/retesting to ensure it's working as it should
  • Inability to integrate easily with our HRIS platform. Reports are pulled from HRIS at various intervals and uploaded into Tableau
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Sigma Computing
Sigma has helped us a lot and has become an integral part of our daily workflow. It would be difficult to switch to another platform and have to rebuild the numerous metrics and performance reports that we have already established
Read full review
Tableau
No answers on this topic
Usability
Sigma Computing
It has a clean and modern interface. However, it is not completely intuitive. I think it would be better and easier to navigate with more Windows style drop down menus and/or tabls. There is a significant learning curve, but that may be due in part to the technical nature of this type of software tool.
Read full review
Tableau
Based on comments from our clients, I awarded it this grade. Non-technical customers frequently compliment us on the ease with which they can utilize Tableau Online. Usability is rarely a source of contention amongst our customers. Few complaints have come from me as a user of our internal products.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Sigma Computing
Yes, as long as you don’t conduct user error sigma is always up and running and waiting for you to complete your dashboards
Read full review
Tableau
No answers on this topic
Performance
Sigma Computing
It depends, it loads quickly for smaller dashboards but when loading larger amounts of data it takes more time to do so
Read full review
Tableau
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Sigma Computing
They are very friendly and informative. They are quick in resolving our queries and help us understand very minute things as well. They are quick in creating feature tickets based on our custom requirements, and they would also create a bug ticket if there is any discrepancy and get that checked on time.
Read full review
Tableau
I have not had any issues that require customer support from Tableau at this time, which speaks well to Tableau. I have taken an online course with Tableau and it was very professional and well done, so based on that I would assume a similar level of quality for their customer service.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Sigma Computing
Was not involved in implementation
Read full review
Tableau
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Sigma Computing
With Looker, to be effective, a substantial amount of coding & modeling needs to happen in LookML. Being another language to learn, users have to context switch again from at a minimum either SQL or Python into LookML. The concept of being able to source control, code review, and deploy your models is a plus though.
Tableau is the gold standard for data visualization, no question. Power users will be able to create dazzling content that Sigma won't necessarily be able to easily match. However, since development usually happens via an extract, helping other users troubleshoot is an arduous process. Trying to re-do or un-do all the transformations and calculations that cause a certain number is very difficult.
With Sigma, all the queries happen directly against Snowflake and you can see the query logs. The data modeling happens right in a tabular, spreadsheet-like manner, so within only a few minutes, substantial transformations can happen, with visualizations just a few more clicks away.
Read full review
Tableau
In determining whether to go with Tableau Online versus Alteryx, two important factors stood out in determining our go-to solution. First, while Alteryx is an impressive tool for data cleansing, it did not stack up in terms of data visualization capabilities. Tableau, on the other hand, provided us everything we needed in terms of visualizing our data and analytics. The second factor is cost. Well neither solution would be considered cheap, Tableau was the more cost effective solution for our needs.
Read full review
Scalability
Sigma Computing
It is a cloud service offering that is able to expand based on your usage
Read full review
Tableau
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Sigma Computing
  • Monitoring health of cloud platform has allowed the company to anticipate issues before they affect customers – Sigma prompted us building a canary monitoring process that provides customer container health.
  • Customer success has used an activity report to discover customers running runaway processes that they were unaware of, creating an alert to contact the customer and prevent an embarrassing situation.
  • Customer success uses the activity report to prompt conversations regarding increases or declines in behavior that led to increasing contract limits or addressing churn concerns.
Read full review
Tableau
  • When we release new products, we are now able to quickly see data and toggle between current periods and previous to see performance
  • Generating new reports requires less IT time to build
  • Data can be shared across many different device types
  • We now have integration where our customers can extract data from our software more easily-this was a big ask from our customers
Read full review
ScreenShots