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Business Intelligence · head to head

Amazon QuickSight vs Pigment

Amazon QuickSight logo

Amazon QuickSight

Business Intelligence

Scalable, serverless BI by AWS

From
$3/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Pigment logo

Pigment

Business Intelligence

Enterprise business planning platform for finance, sales and workforce modelling

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Amazon QuickSight reader and Reader Pro roles charged separately at $3 and $20/month; Pigment no pricing is published and the structure has three moving parts, platform fee, use-case fees and tiered seats, so two companies of the same size can pay very different amounts and neither can benchmark the other.
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon QuickSight covers SPICE In-memory Engine, Pigment covers Dimensional modelling.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon QuickSight and Pigment actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon QuickSight and Pigment differ
AttributeAmazon QuickSightPigment
Starting price$3/monthOn request
Pricing modelper-userquote
PlatformsAWSWeb
Founded2006Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Business Intelligence).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Amazon QuickSight

  • SPICE In-memory Engine
  • ML Insights
  • Natural Language Queries
  • Embedded Analytics
  • Pay-per-session
  • Redshift
  • S3
  • Athena

Only in Pigment

  • Dimensional modelling
  • Scenario planning
  • Data connectors
  • Application blocks
  • Reporting and boards
  • Access control
  • Audit trail
  • AI assistance

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Amazon QuickSight

  • Business intelligencenot Pigment
  • Dashboard creationnot Pigment
  • Data visualizationnot Pigment

Pigment

  • A finance team retiring a fragile Excel consolidation that no one can audit and only one person can runnot Amazon QuickSight
  • Sales operations modelling quota, territory and headcount capacity against a revenue plan in the same system finance usesnot Amazon QuickSight
  • A company that needs monthly re-forecasting fast enough to run scenarios live in the leadership meetingnot Amazon QuickSight
  • Replacing an ageing Anaplan estate where the model has become unmaintainable and per-workspace costs have crept upnot Amazon QuickSight

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Amazon QuickSight

  • Reader and Reader Pro roles charged separately at $3 and $20/month
  • Author and Author Pro roles charged at $24 and $40/month
  • $250/month infrastructure fee required if Pro users or Q&A enabled
  • SPICE storage charged at $0.38/GB monthly (10 GB included)
  • Pixel-perfect reports start at $500/month for 500 monthly units
  • Alerts charged at $0.05-$0.50 per 1,000 metrics evaluated

Pigment

  • No pricing is published and the structure has three moving parts, platform fee, use-case fees and tiered seats, so two companies of the same size can pay very different amounts and neither can benchmark the other.
  • Cost scales with planning processes rather than with company size, so a successful first deployment creates internal demand that directly increases the bill at renewal.
  • It requires a modelling owner. Without a person who understands dimensional design, teams rebuild spreadsheet patterns in Pigment and inherit all the maintenance problems they were trying to escape.
  • Implementation is partner-led and measured in months, so the payback horizon is long compared with lighter FP&A tools that a controller can configure alone.
  • The connector library covers major systems well but the long tail is thinner than the incumbents, and industry-specific source systems often need a warehouse or a file drop in between.

Pricing, plan by plan

Amazon QuickSight

$3/month
  • Reader$3/month
    • Dashboard viewing only
  • Reader Pro$20/month
    • Enhanced reader capabilities
  • Author$24/month
    • Dashboard creation and editing
  • Author Pro$40/month
    • Advanced authoring features

Pigment

On request
  • Pigment platform$undefined/year
    • Platform fee plus per use-case fees
    • Licences tiered as editor, contributor and explorer
    • No free tier and no self-service signup

Which should you pick?

Choose Amazon QuickSight if

  • You need spice in-memory engine.
  • You work on AWS.
  • You also want ml insights.
Amazon QuickSight review

Choose Pigment if

  • You need dimensional modelling.
  • You also want scenario planning.
Pigment review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon QuickSight or Pigment better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon QuickSight starts at $3/month and Pigment at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon QuickSight or Pigment?
Amazon QuickSight starts at $3/month and Pigment at On request.
Does Amazon QuickSight or Pigment run on more platforms?
Amazon QuickSight runs on AWS. Pigment runs on Web.
What is Amazon QuickSight best used for?
Amazon QuickSight is most often used for business intelligence, dashboard creation, data visualization. Of those, business intelligence and dashboard creation are not what Pigment is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon QuickSight do that Pigment cannot?
Amazon QuickSight covers SPICE In-memory Engine, ML Insights, Natural Language Queries, Embedded Analytics. Pigment covers Dimensional modelling, Scenario planning, Data connectors, Application blocks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Amazon QuickSight: What does Amazon QuickSight cost per user?

QuickSight pricing varies by user role. Readers start at $3/month, Reader Pro at $20/month, Authors at $24/month, and Author Pro at $40/month. All prices are per user per month.

Source
Pigment: Does Pigment publish prices?

No. Expect a quote combining a platform fee, fees per planning use case, and seat licences split into editor, contributor and explorer tiers.

Amazon QuickSight: Does QuickSight charge an infrastructure fee?

Yes, QuickSight charges an infrastructure fee of $250/month per account if the account has at least one Pro user, has Q&A enabled via topics, or has dashboard Q&A enabled.

Source
Pigment: Is Pigment an alternative to Anaplan?

It is positioned directly against Anaplan and much of its customer base is migrating from it, mainly citing modelling readability and recalculation speed.

Amazon QuickSight: What are QuickSight's session capacity pricing options?

Session capacity pricing starts at $250/month for 500 sessions. Annual plans range from $20,000/year for 50,000 sessions to $258,000/year for 1,600,000 sessions, with volume discounts reducing unit costs from $0.50 to $0.16 per additional session.

Source
Pigment: Can we use it without consultants?

In practice most deployments use Pigment or a partner for the initial build. Ongoing model changes can be handled in-house once someone owns the modelling discipline.

Amazon QuickSight: How much does additional SPICE storage cost?

Additional SPICE storage beyond the included 10 GB costs $0.38 per GB per month. Authors receive 10 GB included, but Readers do not.

Source
Pigment: Where is data hosted?

Pigment is a European vendor with regional hosting options, which is often the deciding factor for EU buyers with data residency requirements.

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