Why teams choose Sigma vs MicroStrategy (now Strategy)

Built for the cloud, runs live queries on billions of rows with seamless scalability, no extracts or pre-aggregations required. Leverages cloud data warehouse compute power.

Offers both on-prem and cloud solutions, however on-prem support will sunset by 2027 with reports of legacy customers being forced to migrate to cloud with significant price increases. Retains legacy dependencies on cubes, leading to performance bottle-necks in real-time analytics and limited scalability for large datasets.

GUI-based semantic layer lets you create governed, reusable metrics, define joins, and visualize relationships. Use the semantic layer from your CDW or build and manage it directly in Sigma. View table structures and lineage in an intuitive visual format.

Provides semantic modeling capabilities via Intelligent Cubes and Semantic Graph, but requires significant upfront modeling and specialized technical expertise to implement.

Spreadsheet UI uses familiar formulas — fast adoption with minimal training.

No native spreadsheet interface; steep learning curve.

Write data back to update the cloud warehouse from the UI, without additional complexity or IT overhead.

Transaction Services supports extensive writeback functionality for legacy report service documents, while capabilities for more modern dashboards is not at parity. Setup requires multiple, complex SQL reports and relies on legacy admin tools, making it difficult to scale.

Native integration with Snowflake Cortex, enabling dynamic ML-driven analysis within the cloud data warehouse.

Limited to proprietary LLM, does not allow direct integration or utilizations of 3rd party LLMs.

Full white-label, live query embeds with interactive dashboards, writeback capabilities, and APIs. Native embed sandbox and quickstarts enable rapid development and deployment.

Supports embedded capabilities through SDK and REST APIs, but implementations require custom development for seamless UX in external applications.

One-click, contextual drill down — no setup required.

Drill-down limited to pre-configured paths in semantic model by technical teams. Slowing down exploratory analysis and self-service for business users.

Offers extensive customization of dynamic text, images, colors, and interactive elements.

Extensive customization and advanced formatting features; using tools like object templates, allow for detailed personalization. Easily aligning to snappable grid and designing objects can be challenging.

Intuitive drag-and-drop functionality with spreadsheet UI for building reports easily. No technical skills required for reporting creation.

Offers drag-and-drop report building, but requires understanding of underlying data model structure and relationships.

Cloud-native security with row- and role-level controls simplifies user management and compliance.

Comprehensive enterprise governance and granular controls, but requires specialized admins and complex configurations across multiple environments and federation layers.

Robust security with comprehensive row– and column-level permissions ensures precise data governance.

Comprehensive security features, but requires complex configuration and maintenance across federated environments.

Intuitive built-in version control with tracking, granular rollback capabilities, and minimal admin overhead.

Offers version control functionality to migrate and manage objects at the project level via Object Manager, though its legacy UI and complexity makes it difficult to use. Change Journal provides detailed audit trails by logging object changes.

Tag-based promotion system enables dev/test/production workflows without maintaining multiple environments. User can dynamically swap data connections at time of promotion.

Facilitates content promotion and deployment by running separate dev, test, and prod environments through Object Manager. Maintaining multiple environments increases costs and can lead to maintenance challenges with complex projects.

Dynamic Connection Swapping (DCS) simplifies and automates the transition between different data environments without duplicating content.

Supports connection swapping capabilities and features to manage database connections, but requires manual oversight when transitioning connections across multiple environments which can lead to configuration errors.

Utilizes warehouse caching mechanisms to securely enhance performance, reduce query times, and avoid multiple copies of data.

Intelligent Cube caching provides performance benefits, but requires significant storage infrastructure and demand ongoing maintenance, with risks of stale data and data governance when copies are cached across environments.

Easily evaluate or manipulate string data using text functions and perform operations like text modification, formatting, and extraction.

Supports data wrangling for transformations, but limited to a predefined set of options and must be completed prior to table import—no post-import adjustments allowed.

Data never leaves your cloud warehouse. Live queries ensure data governance and eliminate data sprawl.

Requires persistent data storage within cubes and caching layers. Creates multiple copies of data across environments, increasing risk of data security breaches and compliance issues.

Design, generate, and distribute reports end-to-end at cloud scale with live data connections.

Strong reporting capabilities with advanced formatting options, though performance depends on cube and dataset optimization.

Flexible, intuitive UI with granular controls and easy-to-understand interfaces.

Offers customizable dashboard layouts with advanced formatting controls, but interface complexity can overwhelm non-technical users and requires training to use effectively.

Assistance and resources are accessible using live chat for all users within the platform.

No in-product support, but does offers documentation and community forums; direct support via phone and email based on support tier.

Built to be functional across all leading operating systems and browsers.

Strategy’s ‘Workstation’ developer tool not Mac supported. Mac users required to RDP into VM to launch workstation. Certain admin and editing features is client-only.

Low learning curve using spreadsheet interface, familiar functions (e.g. VLOOKUP) and standard SQL for analysis; simplified administration for platform management.

While investments have been made in making platform easier to use, there remains a high technical barrier for proprietary configurations, reducing accessibility for non-technical users.

Includes data apps, AI agents (Ask Sigma), workflows, and write-back. Goes beyond traditional dashboards.

Primarily known for traditional BI reporting and legacy-style dashboards. Lacks support for truly interactive data apps, limited integration of AI agents, and minimal writeback capabilities.