Sigma Computing vs. Tableau Cloud

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Sigma
Score 9.1 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 8.1 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.N/A
Pricing
Sigma ComputingTableau Cloud
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
SigmaTableau Cloud
Free Trial
YesYes
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 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
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
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.
Chose Sigma Computing
Largely most of the tools we looked at have a per-user access model of pricing. So sharing out a report means making a static non-updating snapshot of it in an "exported" kind of way that is painful to make available to users who do not need actual access to use visualization …
Chose Sigma Computing
It's much easier to use, and has what I need. Others had too steep of a learning curve for people outside the data team.
Tableau Cloud

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Sigma ComputingTableau Cloud
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
7.2
157 Ratings
13% below category average
Tableau Cloud
8.8
67 Ratings
7% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports7.0100 Ratings8.650 Ratings
Customizable dashboards7.7155 Ratings8.267 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates7.1127 Ratings9.656 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
7.8
160 Ratings
4% below category average
Tableau Cloud
8.7
67 Ratings
7% above category average
Drill-down analysis8.5150 Ratings8.167 Ratings
Formatting capabilities7.3157 Ratings8.664 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages7.35 Ratings8.742 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration8.2156 Ratings9.565 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
8.8
150 Ratings
5% above category average
Tableau Cloud
8.8
65 Ratings
5% above category average
Publish to Web9.399 Ratings8.761 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.1124 Ratings8.760 Ratings
Report Versioning9.4114 Ratings7.849 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling9.2127 Ratings9.653 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers8.364 Ratings8.932 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
6.4
143 Ratings
23% below category average
Tableau Cloud
8.8
63 Ratings
9% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)7.3141 Ratings8.760 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization5.626 Ratings8.059 Ratings
Predictive Analytics6.218 Ratings9.551 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
-
Ratings
Tableau Cloud
8.5
62 Ratings
1% below category average
Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings8.456 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings9.049 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings7.652 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings9.047 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Sigma Computing
-
Ratings
Tableau Cloud
7.7
52 Ratings
3% below category average
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings7.950 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings7.038 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings8.745 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
9.1
34 Ratings
14% above category average
REST API00 Ratings9.729 Ratings
Javascript API00 Ratings9.727 Ratings
iFrames00 Ratings8.027 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings8.824 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings9.728 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.827 Ratings
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User Ratings
Sigma ComputingTableau Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(164 ratings)
9.8
(68 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.3
(48 ratings)
9.4
(21 ratings)
Availability
8.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(45 ratings)
8.8
(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
Its a great tool to have. The ability to come in the morning and by using the report being able see how the day will go. Seeing the goal and the current inventory and also to be able to adjust as the day goes on. With the report updates the report as changes to the inventory happen live or if any issues arise. being able to see that live and being to react quickly.
Read full review
Tableau
We just need to refresh our data once a day for our unique use case, which allows the complete online system to run on extracts. For us, this is critical because our daylight hours are spent focusing on new updates and implementations rather than worrying about excessive database traffic (which would be required with a direct connection to the online system). The process of importing extracts is straightforward and sturdy enough to handle massive amounts of data.
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
  • Viewer level license is quite limited. These users can't download data or even add filters on datasets. Something to keep in mind.
  • Directly querying the underlying data warehouse will lead to increased usage. Not a big deal on something like Redshift, but your Snowflake consumption will increase, potentially by a lot.
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
From an end user perspective Tableau Online is overall very easy to navigate once you get used to it, my only complaint is that when expanding or contracting a graph, the "plus" and "minus" on the bottom left is sometimes hidden, and should always be visible. From a builder perspective, it can take some getting used to but the sheer depth of customization makes it all worthwhile.
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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
Support team is helpful in answering questions and providing help with using the UI. There are knowledgeable people within the support team. There are also good online support tools. There are significant community support resources available. There is however lack of a live support. It would be useful to have live phone number or chat to use.
Read full review
Tableau
In times where the system is down, support has always been quick to notify and keep us apprised of the latest developments. It's crucial for our system to always be available, but when emergencies have arisen, I don't recall a time where the Tableau Online Support hasn't been able to address our concerns in a timely manner.
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
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 very easily. In these other platforms data manipulation is difficult or must be done in the data warehouse
Read full review
Tableau
Googles dashboard suite is very user-friendly and anyone can edit and make changes with very little knowledge or practice. But nothing I’ve worked with compares to the customization and multi streams of data in a user-friendly package like tableau does. It’s a really cool piece of software and I would choose that again.
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

Sigma Screenshots

Screenshot of Custom calculations that can be added to tables and visualizations – no SQL skills necessary.Screenshot of Visualization tableScreenshot of Custom bins to drive complex cohort analysis built without SQL code.Screenshot of Complex cohort analyses built without code.Screenshot of Lookups provide familiar spreadsheet functionality to business users.Screenshot of A Sigma Workbook, that brings together spreadsheets, charts, and data narratives onto a live, collaborative canvas.