Softwr

Business Intelligence · head to head

Pigment vs Zebra BI

Pigment logo

Pigment

Business Intelligence

Enterprise business planning platform for finance, sales and workforce modelling

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zebra BI logo

Zebra BI

Business Intelligence

IBCS-based charting add-ins that replace native visuals in Power BI, Excel and PowerPoint

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Zebra BI has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Zebra BI every viewer needs a licence, not only report authors, so distributing a report to fifty managers means buying the fifty-user bracket regardless of how few people build reports.
  • They diverge on capability: Pigment covers Dimensional modelling, Zebra BI covers IBCS-compliant visuals.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Pigment and Zebra BI actually diverge.

Attributes where Pigment and Zebra BI differ
AttributePigmentZebra BI
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotePer year by licensed user count
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, Windows, macOS

Identical on both: 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 Pigment

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

Only in Zebra BI

  • IBCS-compliant visuals
  • Variance analysis
  • Small multiples
  • Integrated commentary
  • Excel and PowerPoint add-in
  • Free personal edition

What people use each for

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

Pigment

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

Zebra BI

  • A controlling function standardising every management report on IBCS notation so variance is read the same way across divisionsnot Pigment
  • Monthly board packs where actual against budget against forecast must appear in one chart without three separate visualsnot Pigment
  • An Excel-first finance team that wants IBCS charts without migrating to Power BInot Pigment
  • A PowerPoint deck that needs charts to refresh from the underlying model rather than being pasted imagesnot Pigment

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Zebra BI

  • Every viewer needs a licence, not only report authors, so distributing a report to fifty managers means buying the fifty-user bracket regardless of how few people build reports.
  • Power BI and Office are licensed separately, so a finance team using both Excel and Power BI pays two subscriptions for the same chart grammar.
  • The visuals deliberately restrict chart types to enforce IBCS, which makes Zebra BI unsuitable for exploratory analysis or any team that wants unconventional visualisations.
  • List prices rise after the first year on the discounted tiers, so the second-year renewal is materially higher than the figure that got the purchase approved.
  • As a third-party custom visual it depends on Microsoft not changing the Power BI visuals API, and organisations with locked-down tenants often need IT approval before a custom visual can be used at all.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Zebra BI

Free
  • PersonalFree
    • Single user
    • Zebra BI branding on visuals
    • Limited sharing and collaboration
  • Power BI Starter$50/month
    • Ten users
    • No watermark
    • Standard support
  • Power BI Business$316/month
    • Fifty users
    • Business feature set
    • Priority support
  • Office Starter$68/month
    • Ten users
    • Excel and PowerPoint add-ins
    • Billed annually

Which should you pick?

Choose Pigment if

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

Choose Zebra BI if

  • You need ibcs-compliant visuals.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Windows, macOS.
  • You also want variance analysis.
Zebra BI review

Questions people ask

Is Pigment or Zebra BI better?
Neither clearly leads. Pigment starts at On request and Zebra BI at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Pigment or Zebra BI?
Zebra BI has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Pigment and Free for Zebra BI.
Does Pigment or Zebra BI run on more platforms?
Pigment runs on Web. Zebra BI runs on Web, Windows, macOS.
Can I use Zebra BI for free?
Yes. Zebra BI has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Pigment starts at On request.
What is Pigment best used for?
Pigment is most often used for a finance team retiring a fragile excel consolidation that no one can audit and only one person can run, sales operations modelling quota, territory and headcount capacity against a revenue plan in the same system finance uses, a company that needs monthly re-forecasting fast enough to run scenarios live in the leadership meeting, replacing an ageing anaplan estate where the model has become unmaintainable and per-workspace costs have crept up. Of those, a finance team retiring a fragile excel consolidation that no one can audit and only one person can run and sales operations modelling quota, territory and headcount capacity against a revenue plan in the same system finance uses are not what Zebra BI is typically brought in for.
What can Pigment do that Zebra BI cannot?
Pigment covers Dimensional modelling, Scenario planning, Data connectors, Application blocks. Zebra BI covers IBCS-compliant visuals, Variance analysis, Small multiples, Integrated commentary.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Zebra BI: Do report viewers need a licence?

Yes. All users, designers and viewers, need one. Only anonymous viewers of publicly published reports are exempt.

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.

Zebra BI: Is there a free version?

Yes, a single-user personal edition with Zebra BI branding and limited sharing.

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.

Zebra BI: Are Excel and Power BI covered by one licence?

No. The Office add-in and the Power BI visuals are separate subscriptions.

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.

Zebra BI: What is IBCS?

International Business Communication Standards, a notation standard for business charts that Zebra BI implements by default.

Share

Related pages

More on Pigment

More on Zebra BI

Keep looking

Other head to heads