Sigma Computing has built a solid reputation as a warehouse-native BI tool — it works directly on your data warehouse (no separate copy of your data to manage), looks and feels like a spreadsheet for analysts, and its AI "Agents" can go further than most dashboards by actually writing back to systems like Salesforce or Jira, not just displaying charts. It's used by 2,000+ enterprise customers for a reason.
But it's not the only option, and it's not the right fit for everyone. Pricing is quote-only (no number until you talk to sales), it's aimed squarely at enterprise data teams, and giving an AI agent write access to production systems is a governance question some teams aren't ready to answer yet. If you're evaluating alternatives, here are five real tools worth comparing, each solving a slightly different version of the "let people ask questions of our data" problem.
The short version
| Tool | What makes it different from Sigma | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| GoodData | Priced per workspace, not per seat — better for embedding analytics into your own product | Free-to-start Professional tier; Enterprise on quote |
| Sisense | Mature embedded-analytics platform with strong compliance guarantees for regulated industries | 7-day free trial; Enterprise on quote |
| Querio | Conversational BI — plain-English questions answered directly from your warehouse, with visible/auditable SQL | Free Startup tier (1 connection, 10 users); Core/Enterprise on quote |
| Explo | Built specifically for SaaS companies to embed dashboards into their own product | No public pricing, sales-only |
| Toucan | AI chat interface for end users to ask questions in plain English, no SQL needed | Free trial + usage-based AI credits |
GoodData — for embedding analytics into your own product
GoodData is an AI-enabled analytics platform built for embedding dashboards and AI-assisted insights into other software products. The key difference from Sigma: it's priced per workspace rather than per user, with unlimited users and data included — which can work out far cheaper than Sigma's model if you're deploying analytics to many end customers rather than a handful of internal analysts. It also has a free-to-start Professional tier and a governed semantic layer built for AI use.
Limites: still no public pricing number for Enterprise, the workspace model isn't ideal if you only have a few users, and the more advanced AI features are Enterprise-only.
Sisense — the established choice for regulated industries
Sisense is a mature, proven embedded-analytics platform aimed at software companies building dashboards and AI-generated insights directly into their own apps — including in regulated sectors that need strong compliance guarantees. It offers a genuine 7-day free trial before you talk to anyone.
Limites: that free trial is short, pricing still isn't public beyond it, and it's less differentiated on price than some of the newer entrants below.
Querio — if you want conversational, SQL-auditable BI
Querio takes the most different approach from Sigma: instead of a spreadsheet-like dashboard interface, it answers plain-English questions directly against your live warehouse data — and, importantly, shows the generated SQL so it's auditable rather than a black box. It has a genuinely usable free tier (1 data connection, 10 users) and even Slack integration for team-wide access.
Limites: the free tier is capped at one data connection, Core and Enterprise pricing require a sales call, and self-hosting is Enterprise-only.
Explo — for SaaS teams embedding dashboards into their product
Explo is built specifically for product and engineering teams at B2B SaaS companies who want to give their own customers dashboards, not for internal BI use. It connects directly to your database (no data duplication), offers AI-assisted self-service reporting for end users, and supports embed, email, shared-link and white-label delivery modes, with SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA compliance available.
Limites: no public pricing or free tier at all — sales call required from the start — and Explo has been acquired by Omni, which adds some uncertainty about its long-term roadmap as a standalone product.
Toucan — plain-English chat for non-technical end users
Toucan lets a software company add a chat box where its own customers can ask plain-English questions about their data and get an instant chart back — no SQL skill required on the user's end. Its multi-agent architecture is designed to reduce hallucinations, and it includes multi-tenant security (row- and column-level access) built in.
Limites: pricing is usage-based via AI credits, which is harder to predict at high volume, and its customer base is smaller than the more established platforms on this list.
Pick the one that matches your actual use case
If you're doing internal, analyst-driven BI at enterprise scale, Sigma Computing itself is still a strong pick despite the opaque pricing. If you're a SaaS company that wants to put dashboards inside your own product for your customers, GoodData, Sisense or Explo are built for exactly that, and are worth comparing against Sigma's own embedding capabilities. If what you actually want is a natural-language interface — for your team or your customers — to ask questions without writing SQL, Querio or Toucan are the more direct fit. None of these five have transparent public enterprise pricing, so budget a sales conversation into your evaluation either way.