Spreadsheets · head to head
Rowy vs Sigma Computing
Rowy
Spreadsheets
Spreadsheet interface for Google Cloud Firestore with cloud functions written in the browser
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Sigma Computing
Spreadsheets
Spreadsheet-style analytics that queries a cloud data warehouse directly with no extract layer
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Rowy has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Rowy every Firestore limit is inherited, including the one megabyte per document ceiling and roughly one sustained write per second per document, which surprises users who expect spreadsheet behaviour.; 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: Rowy covers Firestore backed grid, Sigma Computing covers Spreadsheet interface over SQL.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Rowy and Sigma Computing actually diverge.
| Attribute | Rowy | Sigma Computing |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | On request |
| Pricing model | Open source, no licence fee | quote |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
Identical on both: platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Spreadsheets).
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 Rowy
- Firestore backed grid
- Browser authored cloud functions
- Typed columns
- Runs in your Google Cloud project
- Role based access
- Form view
- Open source
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.
Rowy
- A Firebase application that needs an internal admin interface without building onenot Sigma Computing
- Operations staff correcting production records in Firestore without developer involvementnot Sigma Computing
- Attaching a small transformation or notification function to a field change without a full deployment pipelinenot Sigma Computing
- A content team populating documents that a mobile application reads directly from Firestorenot Sigma Computing
Sigma Computing
- A finance or operations team that lives in spreadsheets and needs warehouse-scale data without exporting CSVsnot Rowy
- An organisation that has consolidated on Snowflake or Databricks and wants one governed access layer rather than several desktop toolsnot Rowy
- Planning and scenario work where users need to type assumptions back into governed tables rather than into a local filenot Rowy
- Embedding customer-facing analytics into a product where each tenant must only see their own rowsnot Rowy
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Rowy
- Every Firestore limit is inherited, including the one megabyte per document ceiling and roughly one sustained write per second per document, which surprises users who expect spreadsheet behaviour.
- Firestore has no joins, so linking tables in the grid is a convenience layer rather than a relational feature and reports across collections still need a separate query.
- It is useful only to teams already on Firebase, so choosing it effectively locks the operational tooling to one cloud vendor.
- Query costs are billed by document read, and an unfiltered grid on a large collection can generate a bill that a spreadsheet user has no intuition for.
- Development activity has slowed relative to the broader category, so evaluate current maintenance before making it load bearing for internal operations.
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
Rowy
Free- Open source self hostedFree
- No licence fee
- Deploys into your own Google Cloud project
- You pay Google Cloud for Firestore reads, writes and storage
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 Rowy if
- You need firestore backed grid.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want browser authored cloud functions.
Choose Sigma Computing if
- You need spreadsheet interface over sql.
- You also want no extract layer.
Questions people ask
- Is Rowy or Sigma Computing better?
- Neither clearly leads. Rowy 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, Rowy or Sigma Computing?
- Rowy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Rowy and On request for Sigma Computing.
- Does Rowy or Sigma Computing run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Rowy for free?
- Yes. Rowy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Sigma Computing starts at On request.
- What is Rowy best used for?
- Rowy is most often used for a firebase application that needs an internal admin interface without building one, operations staff correcting production records in firestore without developer involvement, attaching a small transformation or notification function to a field change without a full deployment pipeline, a content team populating documents that a mobile application reads directly from firestore. Of those, a firebase application that needs an internal admin interface without building one and operations staff correcting production records in firestore without developer involvement are not what Sigma Computing is typically brought in for.
- What can Rowy do that Sigma Computing cannot?
- Rowy covers Firestore backed grid, Browser authored cloud functions, Typed columns, Runs in your Google Cloud project. Sigma Computing covers Spreadsheet interface over SQL, No extract layer, Input tables and write-back, Workbooks.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Rowy: Where is my data stored?
In your own Firestore instance inside your own Google Cloud project. Rowy does not hold a copy.
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.
Rowy: What does it cost to run?
No licence fee. You pay Google Cloud for Firestore reads, writes, storage and function invocations, and an open grid on a big collection reads a lot.
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.
Rowy: Can it do joins across collections?
Not really. Firestore does not support joins, and no interface layer can add them.
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.
Rowy: Is there a row limit?
Not from Rowy. The limits that bite are Firestore document size and per document write throughput.
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.
Rowy: Is it suitable if I am not on Firebase?
No. It is specifically a Firestore interface.
Related pages
More on Sigma Computing
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