.jpg)
This comparison evaluates Embeddable and Sigma Computing (referred to here as Sigma) for SaaS teams considering embedded analytics inside their products.
Sigma is a cloud analytics and business intelligence platform known for its spreadsheet-style interface that enables analysts to explore governed datasets using familiar tabular workflows. Teams can build dashboards, pivot tables, and visualizations using live queries against the analytics warehouse. While Sigma supports embedding analytics into applications, its architecture and workflows are primarily optimized for internal analytics and analyst-driven exploration rather than deeply integrated product experiences.
Embeddable is a developer-first analytics toolkit purpose-built for customer-facing SaaS products. It enables teams to embed analytics natively into their application UI, offering full control over design, interactivity, performance, and multi-tenant security patterns designed to scale with customer usage.
This guide compares both tools across architecture, developer experience, customization, performance, security, multi-tenancy, pricing, and long-term maintainability to help product and engineering teams evaluate the right fit — and if you’re building customer-facing analytics inside a SaaS product, Embeddable is generally a better fit than Sigma because it is designed for native embedding, full UI control, and scalable multi-tenant performance, while Sigma is better suited to internal analytics and governed exploration extended into applications.
TLDR;
Sigma
- Cloud analytics platform with spreadsheet-style exploration
- Strong internal analytics and ad hoc reporting
- Embedded dashboards supported but retain platform UI
- Best suited for internal data consumers and exploration
Embeddable
- Built specifically for customer-facing SaaS analytics
- Native DOM embedding with no iframes
- Full control over UI, UX, and interactions
- High performance through multi-tier caching
- SaaS-ready multi-tenant RLS
- Flat, predictable pricing with unlimited users
Quick Overview: Embeddable vs Sigma at a Glance
Embedding method
Embeddable: Native DOM rendering via web components, React, and Vue. No iframes. Two-way interaction with application logic and UI state.
Sigma: Embedded dashboards via iframe or embedded SDK panels. Analytics run inside a sandboxed BI environment with limited integration with host application state.
Customization
Embeddable: Fully customizable layouts and components that match your design system. Supports custom charts and product-specific interactions.
Sigma: Dashboards can be styled within Sigma’s UI framework, but deep design integration with host products is limited.
Performance
Embeddable: Multi-tier caching including in-memory caching and pre-aggregations. Optimized for high-concurrency customer-facing workloads.
Sigma: Performance depends on underlying warehouse queries and Sigma’s managed compute. Embedded dashboards can be subject to query latency.
Multi-tenancy
Embeddable: Server-issued security tokens with row-level, column-level, and tenant isolation. No dashboard duplication per tenant.
Sigma: Supports access controls and row-level security, but multi-tenant SaaS patterns often require dataset duplication or careful governance.
Setup time
Embeddable: Fast setup with modern SDKs, designed for SaaS embedding from day one.
Sigma: Requires workspace and dataset setup, data modeling, and security configuration prior to embedding.
Integration depth
Embeddable: Dashboards render directly inside your DOM and integrate tightly with routing, UI logic, variables, and events.
Sigma: Embedded content runs within an iframe or embedded component with limited deep two-way interaction with application logic.
Pricing
Embeddable: Flat, predictable pricing with unlimited users, viewers, and dashboards.
Sigma: Usage- or seat-based pricing that scales with the number of users and features.
Deployment options
Embeddable: Cloud or self-hosted deployment.
Sigma: Cloud-hosted managed service.
End-user experience
Embeddable: Feels fully native to the application. Analytics behave like a core product feature.
Sigma: Feels like an embedded BI tool inside the application, optimized for exploration rather than product workflows.
What Is Sigma
Overview and core philosophy
Sigma is a cloud analytics platform that combines a spreadsheet-style interface with live querying against data warehouses. Its purpose is to empower analysts to explore data, define metrics, and create dashboards without heavy reliance on data engineering.
Sigma’s core philosophy centers on governed analytics and ad hoc exploration rather than being embedded deeply into product UIs.
Strengths of Sigma
- Spreadsheet-style analytics familiar to business users
- Live querying against modern data warehouses
- Strong governance and access control
- Flexible dashboarding for internal teams
Limitations for embedded SaaS use cases
- Embedding retains Sigma’s BI interface
- Limited deep UI customization for host products
- Multi-tenant SaaS scaling requires careful dataset and security planning
- Analytics feel external to the product
- Less optimized for high-concurrency SaaS usage
What Is Embeddable
Overview and philosophy
Embeddable is a developer-first analytics toolkit designed for SaaS teams that treat analytics as part of the product experience rather than an external analytics surface.
Instead of embedding BI dashboards, teams embed native analytics components that render directly into their application UI, retaining full control over UX, performance, and security.
Key strengths of Embeddable
- Native embedding with no iframes
- Full UI and UX control
- High performance via multi-tier caching
- Powerful end-user self-serve dashboard builder
- Secure, SaaS-ready multi-tenant RLS
- Developer workflows with versioning and CI/CD
Ideal use cases
- Customer-facing dashboards inside SaaS products
- Multi-tenant platforms with large user bases
- Replacing iframe-based BI embeds
- Replacing costly custom-built analytics infrastructure
Feature Comparison Deep Dive
1. Developer experience
Sigma workflows are optimized for internal analytics and data exploration. Embedding analytics typically involves managing iframes or embedded BI components with limited control over deep integration.
Embeddable provides a code-first developer experience with native SDKs for JavaScript, React, and Vue, enabling analytics to behave like first-class product features.
2. Performance and scalability
Sigma’s performance depends on warehouse queries and Sigma’s managed compute layer. Embedded usage can be subject to query latency and warehouse performance.
Embeddable is optimized for high-concurrency SaaS environments with in-memory caching, pre-aggregations, and tenant-aware cache control.
3. UI customization and design fidelity
Sigma dashboards retain the platform’s UI conventions, making deep design integration difficult.
Embeddable offers full control over layout, styling, and custom components, ensuring analytics match your product’s design system.
4. Security and multi-tenancy
Sigma supports row-level security and access controls, but multi-tenant SaaS deployments often require dataset duplication or careful governance.
Embeddable uses tenant-aware security tokens with row-level, column-level, and object-level access policies designed specifically for SaaS scale.
5. Pricing and ROI
Sigma’s pricing typically scales with seats, features, and usage.
Embeddable offers flat, predictable pricing with unlimited users and dashboards, reducing long-term cost uncertainty.
When to Choose Sigma
Best for
- Internal analytics and data exploration
- BI teams familiar with spreadsheet-style workflows
- Organizations with strong governance needs
Where it falls short
- Deep product-level UX integration
- Highly customized embedded experiences
- SaaS-scale multi-tenant analytics
When to Choose Embeddable
Best for
- SaaS products with customer-facing dashboards
- Teams that want full UX ownership
- High-concurrency multi-tenant environments
- Developer-driven product organizations
Added value
- Native embedding without iframe overhead
- Predictable pricing as usage grows
- High performance for interactive dashboards
- Reduced engineering effort
FAQs
Is Sigma good for customer-facing analytics in SaaS products?
Sigma can support embedded dashboards, but it is primarily designed for internal analytics and data exploration. Embedded analytics often feel like BI dashboards rather than native product features.
Is Embeddable better suited for SaaS products than Sigma?
Yes. Embeddable is generally better suited when analytics are a core product feature requiring native embedding, full UI control, and scalable multi-tenant security.
What is the main difference between Embeddable and Sigma?
Sigma focuses on internal analytics and a spreadsheet-style interface for exploration, while Embeddable focuses on embedding native analytics directly into SaaS products.
How customizable is Sigma compared to Embeddable?
Sigma allows customization within its BI framework, but deep design integration is limited compared to Embeddable, which allows full control over layout, styling, and interactions.
Which platform performs better at scale?
Embeddable is designed for high-concurrency SaaS environments using multi-tier caching. Sigma performs well for internal analytics but is less optimized for large-scale embedded customer usage.
How do Embeddable and Sigma handle multi-tenancy?
Embeddable uses tenant-aware security tokens with fine-grained RLS. Sigma supports row-level security, but SaaS multi-tenant scenarios often require additional dataset and governance planning.
