BI tool comparison

Sigma vs Hex: BI for the business or notebooks for the data team?

Hex is a SQL and Python notebook that publishes data apps. Sigma is a spreadsheet-style BI tool on your warehouse. Here is when each one is the right choice.

Linus TseGreyfield DataFacts last checked November 3, 2026

Contents 10 sections

The short answer

Hex and Sigma overlap less than people expect. Hex is built for analysts and data scientists who write SQL and Python and publish what they find. Sigma is built for business users who want to explore and maintain reports in a spreadsheet. Many companies would be well served by both.

How Hex and Sigma Computing differ

01
Notebook vs spreadsheet
Hex runs SQL and Python cells in order and publishes the result as an app. Sigma is a spreadsheet grid on live warehouse data.
02
Built for different people
Hex is for analysts and data scientists. Sigma is for business users maintaining recurring reports.
03
Pricing you can see
Hex publishes per-editor prices and has a free plan. Sigma is quoted by sales on an annual contract.

Pricing at a glance

Hex

Hex Technologies, Inc. (independent, venture-backed; $100M Series D, October 2026)

Browser-based, collaborative SQL and Python notebook that turns analysis into published data apps. It also offers conversational AI (Threads) and semantic models. Built mainly for data analysts and data scientists.

Pricing model: Per editor seat, plus usage-based compute and AI credits
Published starting price: $36/editor/month (Professional); Team $75/editor/month
Free tier: Yes: Community plan, free forever, up to 5 published apps, limited AI credits; 14-day Team trial
What drives cost: Tiers are Community, Professional, Team and Enterprise (custom). Cost is driven by editor seats, extra compute and AI credits. Enterprise adds SSO, Explorer seats as an add-on, and the embedded analytics add-on. Plan pricing is listed per editor; a separate viewer price was not listed.

Pricing source, checked November 3, 2026

Sigma Computing

Sigma Computing, Inc. (private, venture-backed; $80M Series E at a $3B valuation, May 2026)

Cloud BI and data-app platform that runs queries live against a cloud warehouse (Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, Redshift and others) through a spreadsheet-style interface, with write-back input tables, Python/SQL and AI agents. Built for companies that already keep their data in a cloud warehouse and want business users to work on it without extracts.

Pricing model: Annual subscription: platform tier plus per-user licenses (Creator / Explorer / Viewer, per third-party buyer data)
Published starting price: Not published
Free tier: No; 7-day free trial with sample data or your own warehouse
What drives cost: Sigma's pricing page shows no prices and sends buyers to sales. Vendr buyer data (third-party, directional only) lists Essential, Business and Enterprise tiers, Creator licenses at roughly $1,200-$5,000+ per year depending on tier, and a median contract of about $65K per year (range ~$15.6K-$145K). Warehouse compute is billed separately by your warehouse vendor.

Pricing source, checked November 3, 2026

Feature comparison

"Not verified" means we could not confirm it from public docs, not that the feature is missing. Each cell links to the page we checked.

Data and querying

Data and querying: Sigma Computing and Hex
Feature	Sigma Computing	Hex
Queries the warehouse live Reads the cloud warehouse at view time, without an extract or import step.	Yes Workbooks query the connected warehouse directly; no extract engine. source	Yes SQL cells query the warehouse. Query mode pushes chart and pivot work down to it; query results can be cached. source
Spreadsheet-style editing Business users work in a grid and write formulas instead of a separate modeling language.	Yes Spreadsheet grid with 200+ functions on live warehouse data. source	Column formulas only Spreadsheet-style column formulas only: no cell or range references and no window functions. source
SQL editor Write SQL against the warehouse inside the product.	Yes Custom SQL elements in workbooks and data models. source	Yes Warehouse SQL cells, plus DuckDB SQL over dataframes. source
Python Run Python inside the product.	Snowflake & Databricks only Only on Snowflake and Databricks connections; output cannot be materialized; only JWT-signed embeds are supported. source	Yes Python cells in notebooks. The agent can also run Python in Threads (Mar 2026). source
Writeback / input tables Users can enter or edit data that is saved back to the warehouse.	Yes Input tables write to a warehouse write schema. Not available on some sources (MySQL, SQL Server, Azure SQL DB, AlloyDB, Starburst, ClickHouse, MotherDuck). source	Editors only Editors can write dataframes to the warehouse with writeback cells. No form-style data entry for business users was found. source
Governed semantic layer Reusable, governed models and metric definitions.	Yes Data models with reusable metrics, relationships and RLS, also manageable as JSON/YAML via the API. source	Yes Semantic models with a Modeling Agent. source

Sharing and governance

Sharing and governance: Sigma Computing and Hex
Feature	Sigma Computing	Hex
Embedded analytics Embed reports in your own app or portal for external users.	Yes JWT-signed secure embeds that pass user attributes and teams for RLS. source	Yes Signed embedding with row-level security for external users. The pricing page lists it as an Enterprise add-on. source
Scheduled delivery Scheduled email, Slack, or file delivery of reports.	Yes Email, Slack, Teams, SharePoint, Google Sheets/Drive, webhook and cloud storage. source	Team plan and up Scheduled runs with app subscriptions and conditional notifications need Team or Enterprise. File attachments are not documented. source
Row-level security Restrict which rows each user can see.	Yes Based on user, team or user attribute; works in embeds via JWT claims. source	Partly RLS in signed embeds. Internally, per-user warehouse permissions need Snowflake OAuth (Enterprise) with credential sharing off. source
Excel / CSV export Export data to Excel or CSV.	Yes Excel and CSV up to 1M rows; larger exports go to cloud storage. source	Not verified No Hex documentation found on CSV or Excel download. source
Git version control Content or models can be versioned in git.	Version tags + API Version tags (with protected-tag approvals) and spec APIs; no built-in git sync, so teams build their own pipeline. source	Yes Git sync with GitHub or GitLab. Plan tier not stated in the docs. source

Platform

Platform: Sigma Computing and Hex
Feature	Sigma Computing	Hex
AI assistant Natural-language questions or AI-assisted building, generally available.	Yes Sigma Assistant answers natural-language questions and shows its SQL; requires an AI provider set up for the org. Some AI surfaces, such as homepage chat, are still beta. source	Yes Notebook Agent, Threads, Modeling Agent and Chat with App; Generative Apps are in beta. Usage draws on monthly credits. source
Open source / self-host An open-source or self-hosted option exists.	No SaaS only, hosted on AWS, Azure or GCP regions. source	No Hosted by Hex. A single-tenant option on AWS is available; no self-host or open-source edition was found. source
Needs a desktop app to author "Yes" means some authoring requires installing a desktop application.	No Authoring is entirely in the browser. source	No Web app (app.hex.tech). source

Who each tool is built for

Hex is a collaborative notebook. Cells of SQL and Python run in order, and the result can be published as an interactive app. It shines for forecasting, statistics, experiments, and one-off investigations.

Sigma is a BI tool where the default view is a spreadsheet grid on live warehouse data. It shines for recurring operating reports that business users own and change themselves.

Spreadsheets and data entry

Hex has column formulas, but no cell or range references and no window functions, so it is not a spreadsheet in the way an Excel user expects. Its writeback cells let editors write dataframes to the warehouse; they are not a way for business users to type in a forecast.

Sigma has a full formula grid and input tables built for users entering data. If your reports end in a spreadsheet someone edits by hand, Sigma fits better.

Python and AI

Python is native in Hex, and its AI agent can write and run Python. Sigma supports Python in workbooks, but only on Snowflake and Databricks connections and with more limits.

Both have invested heavily in AI agents in 2026. Hex announced a ground-up rebuild, Hex 4.0, in private beta in October 2026, so expect its product to change.

Pricing

Hex publishes self-serve pricing per editor seat, with a free Community plan, plus usage-based compute and AI credits. Scheduling, signed embedding, and per-user Snowflake permissions sit on higher plans. Sigma does not publish prices and sells annual contracts through sales.

Where Hex is better

Python is native: notebooks combine SQL and Python cells, and the AI agent can write and run Python in Threads. Sigma has no comparable notebook.
Public, self-serve pricing with a free Community tier, so a team can start without a sales cycle.
Project-level git sync to GitHub or GitLab (projects stored as YAML), with optional required pull requests before publishing.
AI agents for notebooks, semantic modeling and Slack and MCP access, with Context Studio for managing the context the agent uses.
Better suited to exploratory, code-heavy analysis and custom data apps than dashboard-style BI.

Who should pick which

Pick Hex if

Most of your analysis mixes SQL and Python: forecasting, statistics, or ML.
Your analysts publish investigations and data apps for stakeholders.
You want to start on a free tier or a published per-seat price.
You want git sync and pull-request review on analysis projects.

Pick Sigma Computing if

Business users will own and change recurring reports themselves.
Your team thinks in Excel and wants cell formulas on warehouse data.
Reports need to collect forecasts, approvals, or adjustments into the warehouse.
You need scheduled report delivery to email, Slack, Teams, or Sheets for many readers.

Recommendations by team

If you are	Pick	Why
Data science team	Hex	Native Python, notebooks, and published apps.
Finance or operations team	Sigma Computing	Spreadsheet formulas and input tables they can own.
Startup data team of one or two	Hex	Free plan and published per-seat prices.
Company with both analysts and business users	Both	Hex for investigation, Sigma for recurring reports on the same warehouse.

Recent changes to Hex

2025-10 Fall launch: Threads conversational analytics in public beta, a Modeling Agent for semantic models, and Notebook Agent upgrades.source
2026-03 Threads can now run Python; added subagents and an open-beta Hex CLI.source
2026-04 Agent memory, starting threads from data apps, a GitHub action to sync guides, and semantic model usage references.source
2026-05 Signed embedding with row-level security for Generative apps.source
2026-10 $100M Series D at a $1.2B valuation (Peak XV, 137 Ventures) and Hex 4.0, an agent-focused rebuild in private beta.source

Questions people ask

Does Sigma replace Hex?

Not for code-heavy work. If your team writes a lot of Python, Hex is the better home for it. Sigma replaces the dashboards and spreadsheets business users maintain.

Can Hex replace a BI tool?

For a small, technical team, often yes. For a company where many non-technical users need to explore and maintain recurring reports, Hex is usually paired with a BI tool rather than replacing it.

Is Hex cheaper than Sigma?

Hex publishes per-editor prices and has a free tier, so it is easier to start small. At scale the comparison depends on how many editors and viewers you need, which plan features you require, and compute and AI credit usage.

Sources and corrections

We checked these pages on the dates shown. Products change quickly. If you work at Hex and something here is wrong or out of date, email linus@greyfielddata.com and we will fix it.