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Business Intelligence · head to head

Power BI vs Sigma Computing

Power BI logo

Power BI

Business Intelligence

Business analytics by Microsoft

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Sigma Computing logo

Sigma Computing

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheet-style analytics that queries a cloud data warehouse directly with no extract layer

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Power BI has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Power BI free tier cannot publish or share reports; Pro tier required for collaboration; Sigma Computing every user interaction is a live warehouse query, so compute costs rise with adoption and land on the warehouse invoice rather than the BI line item, which routinely surprises the team that approved the purchase.
  • They diverge on capability: Power BI covers AI-powered Insights, Sigma Computing covers Spreadsheet interface over SQL.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Power BI and Sigma Computing actually diverge.

Attributes where Power BI and Sigma Computing differ
AttributePower BISigma Computing
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelUnknownquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Desktop, MobileWeb
CategoryBusiness IntelligenceSpreadsheets
Founded1975Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Power BI

  • AI-powered Insights
  • Natural Language Queries
  • Real-time Dashboards
  • Paginated Reports
  • Mobile Apps
  • Excel
  • Azure
  • Dynamics 365

Only in Sigma Computing

  • Spreadsheet interface over SQL
  • No extract layer
  • Input tables and write-back
  • Workbooks
  • Embedded analytics
  • Version control and dbt awareness

What people use each for

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

Power BI

  • Self-service analyticsnot Sigma Computing
  • Data explorationnot Sigma Computing
  • Ad-hoc reportingnot Sigma Computing
  • Collaborative analysisnot Sigma Computing
  • Embedded analyticsnot Sigma Computing

Sigma Computing

  • A finance or operations team that lives in spreadsheets and needs warehouse-scale data without exporting CSVsnot Power BI
  • An organisation that has consolidated on Snowflake or Databricks and wants one governed access layer rather than several desktop toolsnot Power BI
  • Planning and scenario work where users need to type assumptions back into governed tables rather than into a local filenot Power BI
  • Embedding customer-facing analytics into a product where each tenant must only see their own rowsnot Power BI

Where each one falls short

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

Power BI

  • Free tier cannot publish or share reports; Pro tier required for collaboration
  • Free tier cannot schedule automatic data refreshes
  • Offline capabilities limited to local Power BI Desktop; cloud service always requires internet
  • Data refresh capped at 8 times per day on Pro tier without Premium Per User

Sigma Computing

  • Every user interaction is a live warehouse query, so compute costs rise with adoption and land on the warehouse invoice rather than the BI line item, which routinely surprises the team that approved the purchase.
  • It cannot work without a supported cloud data warehouse, so an organisation running analytics on an on-premises database or a plain application database has nothing to connect to.
  • Pricing is not published and seats are differentiated by capability, so budgeting requires a sales cycle and a headcount forecast before you can compare it with a tool you could simply buy.
  • Performance is only as good as the warehouse behind it, which means slow or badly modelled tables surface as a slow interface and the fix is a data engineering project, not a Sigma setting.
  • Statistical and scientific visualisation is limited compared with dedicated tools, so anything beyond standard business charting has to be done elsewhere and brought back in.

Pricing, plan by plan

Power BI

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Local report creation in Power BI Desktop
    • Cannot publish or share
    • No scheduled refreshes
  • Power BI Pro$14/user/month
    • Publish and share reports
    • Up to 8 scheduled refreshes/day
    • Collaborate with other Pro users
  • Premium Per User$24/user/month
    • All Pro features
    • Up to 48 scheduled refreshes/day
    • Copilot integration

Sigma Computing

On request
  • Sigma Computing$undefined/year
    • Quoted per organisation
    • Seat types are differentiated by whether a user views, explores or authors
    • Warehouse compute is billed separately by your cloud data warehouse vendor

Which should you pick?

Choose Power BI if

  • You need ai-powered insights.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
  • You also want natural language queries.
Power BI review

Choose Sigma Computing if

  • You need spreadsheet interface over sql.
  • You also want no extract layer.
Sigma Computing review

Questions people ask

Is Power BI or Sigma Computing better?
Neither clearly leads. Power BI starts at Free and Sigma Computing at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Power BI or Sigma Computing?
Power BI has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Power BI and On request for Sigma Computing.
Does Power BI or Sigma Computing run on more platforms?
Power BI runs on Web, Desktop, Mobile. Sigma Computing runs on Web.
Can I use Power BI for free?
Yes. Power BI has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Sigma Computing starts at On request.
What is Power BI best used for?
Power BI is most often used for self-service analytics, data exploration, ad-hoc reporting, collaborative analysis. Of those, self-service analytics and data exploration are not what Sigma Computing is typically brought in for.
What can Power BI do that Sigma Computing cannot?
Power BI covers AI-powered Insights, Natural Language Queries, Real-time Dashboards, Paginated Reports. Sigma Computing covers Spreadsheet interface over SQL, No extract layer, Input tables and write-back, Workbooks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Power BI: Can I use Power BI Desktop offline?

Power BI Desktop runs locally and can edit reports offline, but publishing to the service and refreshing cloud data sources requires internet connection. Offline reports show cached data from the last refresh.

Source
Sigma Computing: Does Sigma store a copy of my data?

No. Queries are executed on your warehouse and results are returned for display, which is why there is no extract refresh to manage.

Power BI: What are the data refresh limits for each tier?

Power BI Premium Per User allows up to 48 scheduled refreshes per day, while Pro tier is limited to 8 scheduled refreshes per day. Free tier cannot schedule automatic refreshes.

Source
Sigma Computing: What does it actually cost?

The vendor does not publish prices. Expect an annual contract priced by seat type, plus a warehouse compute increase you should model separately.

Power BI: Can I use Power BI Free with shared data sources?

Free tier users can create local reports in Power BI Desktop but cannot publish to the Power BI Service for collaboration. Publishing requires Power BI Pro ($14/user/month).

Source
Sigma Computing: Can business users break the warehouse?

They can run expensive queries. Warehouse sizing, query limits and materialised tables are the controls, and they need configuring before a wide rollout.

Power BI: Is SSO available and on which plan?

SSO is available on Power BI Premium Per User ($24/user/month) and Fabric capacity plans through Azure AD integration.

Source
Sigma Computing: Is it a replacement for a modelling layer like dbt?

No. Sigma works best on top of modelled tables and is usually deployed alongside dbt rather than instead of it.

Power BI: What does Copilot require in Power BI?

Copilot for natural language queries and automatic report generation requires Power BI Premium Per User or Fabric capacity pricing, not available on Pro or Free tiers.

Source
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