Why teams choose Sigma vs Looker

Closed-loop Execution

Collapse the insight-to-action loop. Safely write governed decisions to the warehouse via Input Tables and instantly trigger enterprise workflows from a single environment.

Sigma Agents

Turn insights into automated work. Sigma Agents read, write, and trigger external workflows while inheriting warehouse security, ensuring every action is fully auditable.

AI Applications

Move beyond read-only dashboards. Empower all users to build interactive AI Apps so that they can take action and safely write decisions directly back to your cloud data warehouse.

Secure Governance

AI security must be architectural. Sigma Agents and AI Apps automatically inherit your cloud data warehouse Row-Level Security (RLS) and Column-Level Security (CLS).

Enterprise SDLC

Get production-grade controls without the engineering overhead. Sigma isolates draft and live states using connection-aware deployment and version tagging.

AI Ecosystem

Sigma is your OS for live data and AI. Securely unify external agents via MCP with warehouse LLMs and Sigma Agents for natural language discovery and action without vendor lock-in.

AI, Apps, and Agents with all the BI that you expect.

We excel in the cloud

Analyze billions of rows of live warehouse data using spreadsheet formulas you already know. No stale extracts, row limits, or proprietary coding languages. Ask Sigma Assistant if you have a question.

Dashboards built the way you’ve always wanted

Use Sigma Assistant to help you build dynamic, interactive dashboards without writing SQL or waiting on data engineering. Drill down to the underlying row level instantly on live, governed data.

Write directly back to your warehouse

If you know how to use a spreadsheet, you can safely capture data, run live scenarios, and trigger downstream workflows. Deploy Sigma Agents to fully automate those actions with a complete audit trail.

Scale with unmatched performance

Securely embed live analytics and writeback capabilities into your customer portals. Automatically inherit warehouse security for strict multi-tenant data isolation without duplicate permission models.

Sigma is the enterprise leader in self-service analytics and operational workflows.

FEATURE COMPARISON

As of March 26, 2026

Sigma

Looker

Spreadsheet Interface

Familiar spreadsheet UI for accessible analysis and no-code AI App building without added licenses or waiting on IT.

No spreadsheet view, forces users into rigid, read-only dashboards. Any spreadsheet-style exploration requires an engineer to write proprietary LookML.

Required Skills

Combine familiar spreadsheet formulas, SQL, and Python on a single governed canvas. Everyone from non technical users to data engineers can build immediately.

Must know LookML to write formulas and requires manual adjustments. Even basic metric creation or formula changes require data engineers trained in LookML syntax.

Warehouse Integration

Leverages your cloud data warehouse’s native caching. Performance accelerates automatically without ever extracting data, duplicating logic, or breaking inherited security policies.

Relies on proprietary caching layers to mask performance issues, moving data outside the warehouse and complicating enterprise security governance.

Real-Time Collaboration

Cloud-native architecture enables real-time, synchronous collaboration. Multiple users can build, edit, and explore the same live workbook simultaneously without locking files or overwriting work.

No live multiplayer editing. When multiple users try to build simultaneously, it causes overwrites and lost effort, forcing development into slow, siloed efforts.

Writeback

Safely write governed decisions back to the warehouse and instantly trigger enterprise workflows from one environment.

Fundamentally a read-only reporting tool. Capturing user inputs or triggering actions requires exporting data or buying expensive, disconnected third-party workflow extensions.

AI Applications

Move beyond read-only dashboards. Empower all teams to build interactive, no-code AI Apps, safely writing decisions and actions to your cloud data warehouse.

Stops at dead-end reporting. Cannot build applications or workflows, forcing teams to rely on separate engineering-heavy platforms to take action.

Python + SQL

Combine SQL, Python, and spreadsheet formulas in one secure canvas. Technical teams can build advanced Python logic that all users can easily pivot and explore.

SQL requires LookML. No native Python support so teams must execute more sophisticated data science in disconnected notebooks, breaking governance and isolating data.

Drilldowns & Pivots

Empower users to instantly drill down to the underlying row level or pivot massive datasets on the fly, directly against live warehouse data.

Severely restricts data discovery. Every customized drill path and pivot must be painstakingly predefined in LookML by an engineer before a user can explore it.

Lineage & Governance

Visual lineage traces data origin and transformations at data-element level.

IT must rebuild and maintain a duplicate semantic security model within LookML, creating dangerous gaps between warehouse permissions and access policies.

Customer Support

All users have access to live, in-product chat support averaging a 23-second initial response time from a real human, ensuring zero lost momentum.

Available for admins only.

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