Sigma vs ThoughtSpot: build in a spreadsheet or ask in plain language?

Sigma vs ThoughtSpot: both query your warehouse live. ThoughtSpot leads with search and its Spotter AI agent, Sigma with a spreadsheet and input tables.

Linus TseGreyfield DataFacts last checked November 9, 2026

Contents 10 sections

The short answer

Sigma and ThoughtSpot both run queries live on your cloud warehouse. Pick ThoughtSpot if most of your users will ask questions in plain language and you want published per-user prices, git-backed content or a free embedded developer plan. Pick Sigma if the work is building analysis, models and plans in a spreadsheet, with input saved back to the warehouse.

How ThoughtSpot and Sigma Computing differ

1. Ask vs build
ThoughtSpot centers on search and the Spotter AI agent on top of governed Models. Sigma centers on a spreadsheet grid where users build the analysis themselves.
2. Pricing you can see
ThoughtSpot publishes starting prices: $25 per user per month for Essentials and $50 for Pro, billed annually. Sigma publishes no prices.
3. Writeback reach
Both now save user input to the warehouse. ThoughtSpot writeback works on Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery and sits on a Model. In Sigma, input tables are a core workflow, though not every source supports them.

Pricing at a glance

ThoughtSpot

ThoughtSpot, Inc.

Search- and AI-first analytics platform. Business users ask questions in plain language (Spotter) or a search bar and get charts and Liveboards built on governed Models, queried live against a cloud warehouse. Analyst Studio adds SQL, Python and R notebooks and a data-prep spreadsheet, and ThoughtSpot Embedded puts the same experience inside other products.

Pricing model: Per user per month (Essentials, Pro), usage-based credits, or custom Enterprise; separate Embedded plans
Published starting price: $25 per user per month, billed annually (Essentials, 5 to 50 users)
Free tier: Free trial offered (length not stated); embedded Developer plan free for one year, up to 10 users and 25M rows
What drives cost: Essentials starts at $25 per user per month (5 to 50 users, up to 25M rows). Pro starts at $50 per user per month (up to 1,000 users, 250M rows) and includes Spotter at 25 queries per user per month. A usage-based tier starts at $0.10 per credit. Enterprise and Embedded Enterprise are custom. Warehouse compute for live queries is billed by your warehouse vendor.

Pricing source, checked November 9, 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 ThoughtSpot
Feature	Sigma Computing	ThoughtSpot
Queries the warehouse live Reads the cloud warehouse at view time, without an extract or import step.	Sigma ComputingYes Workbooks query the connected warehouse directly; no extract engine. source	ThoughtSpotYes Connections query the warehouse directly without moving data into ThoughtSpot. Joins across connections are not supported. source
Spreadsheet-style editing Business users work in a grid and write formulas instead of a separate modeling language.	Sigma ComputingYes Spreadsheet grid with 200+ functions on live warehouse data. source	ThoughtSpotData-prep sheet Analyst Studio has a spreadsheet with calculated fields for preparing datasets, which are then published as tables. The main experience is search, Spotter and Liveboards. source
SQL editor Write SQL against the warehouse inside the product.	Sigma ComputingYes Custom SQL elements in workbooks and data models. source	ThoughtSpotYes Analyst Studio SQL editor with schema browser, autocomplete and reusable snippets. source
Python Run Python inside the product.	Sigma ComputingSnowflake & Databricks only Only on Snowflake and Databricks connections; output cannot be materialized; only JWT-signed embeds are supported. source	ThoughtSpotAnalyst Studio Python and R notebooks in Analyst Studio run on query results as data frames. Analyst Studio is not listed on every pricing plan. source
Writeback / input tables Users can enter or edit data that is saved back to the warehouse.	Sigma ComputingYes Input tables write to a warehouse write schema. Not available on some sources (MySQL, SQL Server, Azure SQL DB, AlloyDB, Starburst, ClickHouse, MotherDuck). source	ThoughtSpotYes Input tables in the warehouse, GA, on Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery only. Must be built on a Model; no edit locking. Spreadsheet writeback is beta. source
Governed semantic layer Reusable, governed models and metric definitions.	Sigma ComputingYes Data models with reusable metrics, relationships and RLS, also manageable as JSON/YAML via the API. source	ThoughtSpotYes Models define tables, joins, formulas, filters and parameters, and can be edited as TML. source

Sharing and governance

Sharing and governance: Sigma Computing and ThoughtSpot
Feature	Sigma Computing	ThoughtSpot
Embedded analytics Embed reports in your own app or portal for external users.	Sigma ComputingYes JWT-signed secure embeds that pass user attributes and teams for RLS. source	ThoughtSpotYes Visual Embed SDK embeds charts, Liveboards, search and Spotter. Embedded plans are priced separately. source
Scheduled delivery Scheduled email, Slack, or file delivery of reports.	Sigma ComputingYes Email, Slack, Teams, SharePoint, Google Sheets/Drive, webhook and cloud storage. source	ThoughtSpotYes Scheduled Liveboard emails with CSV, XLSX or PDF attachments. Spotter scheduling can also post to Slack. source
Row-level security Restrict which rows each user can see.	Sigma ComputingYes Based on user, team or user attribute; works in embeds via JWT claims. source	ThoughtSpotYes Table-level rules by user or group, applied to every query by default. source
Excel / CSV export Export data to Excel or CSV.	Sigma ComputingYes Excel and CSV up to 1M rows; larger exports go to cloud storage. source	ThoughtSpotYes Liveboard visualizations download or schedule as CSV, XLSX or PDF. source
Git version control Content or models can be versioned in git.	Sigma ComputingVersion tags + API Version tags (with protected-tag approvals) and spec APIs; no built-in git sync, so teams build their own pipeline. source	ThoughtSpotYes Links a GitHub or GitHub Enterprise branch to a ThoughtSpot Org and commits TML through the REST API or UI. source

Platform

Platform: Sigma Computing and ThoughtSpot
Feature	Sigma Computing	ThoughtSpot
AI assistant Natural-language questions or AI-assisted building, generally available.	Sigma ComputingYes 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	ThoughtSpotYes Spotter 3 generally available since June 2026; Pro plan capped at 25 Spotter queries per user per month. source
Open source / self-host An open-source or self-hosted option exists.	Sigma ComputingNo SaaS only, hosted on AWS, Azure or GCP regions. source	ThoughtSpotSelf-managed edition Not open source. ThoughtSpot Software is a self-managed edition for AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or VMware. source
Needs a desktop app to author "Yes" means some authoring requires installing a desktop application.	Sigma ComputingNo Authoring is entirely in the browser. source	ThoughtSpotNo ThoughtSpot Cloud is used in the browser. source

How people use each one

ThoughtSpot is built for asking. A business user types a question, or asks Spotter, and gets a chart from a Model the data team has defined. Spotter 3 became generally available in June 2026, and it now works inside Liveboards and can send scheduled updates.

Sigma is built for building. Users start in a spreadsheet grid on live warehouse tables, write formulas, pivot, chart, and add SQL or Python next to it. Sigma also has an AI assistant, but most teams pick it for the grid.

Data and modeling

Both query the warehouse live. ThoughtSpot Connections cannot join across two connections, and some SpotIQ features are not available on Connections. ThoughtSpot Models hold joins and formulas and can be edited as TML.

Sigma data models hold reusable metrics and row-level security, and many teams promote logic from workbooks into models as it proves useful.

Spreadsheet and writeback

ThoughtSpot added a spreadsheet in Analyst Studio for preparing datasets that are then published as tables, and writeback tables reached general availability in its 26.11 release. Writeback is limited to Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery, must be built on a Model, and does not lock concurrent edits.

In Sigma, the spreadsheet is the main surface, and input tables for forecasts, approvals and adjustments are a core feature. They are not supported on every database either, so check yours.

Developer workflow and deployment

ThoughtSpot is ahead here. It links a GitHub branch to a ThoughtSpot Org and commits TML content, and it offers a self-managed edition. Sigma has version tags and APIs, so git review is something you build, and Sigma is SaaS only.

Both have Python. ThoughtSpot runs Python and R notebooks in Analyst Studio. Sigma runs Python in workbooks on Snowflake and Databricks connections only.

Pricing

ThoughtSpot publishes Essentials from $25 and Pro from $50 per user per month, billed annually, with Enterprise and usage-based plans quoted. Its embedded Developer plan is free for a year for up to 10 users. Sigma quotes every deal through sales. Both run queries on your warehouse, so add that compute to either quote.

If you are weighing Sigma for a finance or operations team, our Sigma consulting page explains how we scope a rollout.

Where ThoughtSpot is better

Natural-language analytics is the core of the product: Spotter 3 became generally available in June 2026, and Spotter now works on Liveboards and can send scheduled updates by email or Slack
Published starting prices: Essentials from $25 per user per month and Pro from $50 per user per month, billed annually, where Sigma publishes no prices
Free embedded Developer plan for one year (up to 10 users and 25M rows), so product teams can build an embed before signing a contract
Git integration links a GitHub branch to a ThoughtSpot Org and commits TML content, where Sigma offers version tags and APIs only
Python and R notebooks in Analyst Studio, where Sigma supports Python only, and only on Snowflake and Databricks connections
A self-managed edition, ThoughtSpot Software, runs on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or VMware; Sigma is SaaS only

Who should pick which

Pick ThoughtSpot if

Most users will ask questions in plain language rather than build reports.
You want a published per-user price before talking to sales.
You want BI content in GitHub and promoted between environments.
You are embedding analytics in a product and want a free developer plan to start.
You need a self-managed deployment.

Pick Sigma Computing if

Finance and operations users will build analysis and models in a spreadsheet themselves.
Planning and approval workflows need input saved to the warehouse as an everyday tool.
You want SQL, Python and the spreadsheet in one workbook.

Recommendations by team

If you are	Pick	Why
Executives and frontline managers asking ad hoc questions	Pick: ThoughtSpot	Search and the Spotter agent are the core of the product.
Finance or FP&A team	Pick: Sigma Computing	A full spreadsheet on warehouse data with input tables for planning.
Product team embedding analytics	Pick: ThoughtSpot	Free embedded developer plan and the Visual Embed SDK with Spotter.
Operations team collecting adjustments	Pick: Sigma Computing	Input tables are a core workflow in Sigma.
Analytics engineers who want git review	Pick: ThoughtSpot	GitHub integration for TML content.

Recent changes to ThoughtSpot

2026-06 Spotter 3, ThoughtSpot's AI analyst agent, became generally available (26.6.0.cl).source
2026-11 Writeback tables for the cloud warehouse reached GA; Spotter on Liveboards and Spotter scheduling (email or Slack) reached GA; writeback from Spreadsheet view entered beta (26.11.0.cl).source

Questions people ask

Is ThoughtSpot or Sigma better for self-service?

It depends on what self-service means to your users. If it means asking a question and getting an answer, ThoughtSpot is designed for that. If it means building your own analysis in a spreadsheet on live data, Sigma is designed for that.

Does ThoughtSpot have writeback like Sigma input tables?

Yes, as of its 26.11 release ThoughtSpot writeback tables are generally available on Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery. They are built on a Model, and the most recent saved value wins when two people edit the same row. Writeback from its Spreadsheet view is in beta.

How much does ThoughtSpot cost compared with Sigma?

ThoughtSpot publishes starting prices of $25 per user per month for Essentials and $50 for Pro, billed annually. Sigma does not publish prices; third-party buyer data from Vendr puts its median contract around $65K a year. Your warehouse compute is extra for both.

Can I move from ThoughtSpot to Sigma?

Yes. Both read the same warehouse, so the data stays where it is. The work is rebuilding Models as Sigma data models and Liveboards as workbooks. Our migration readiness check is a good first step.

Sources and corrections

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