Embeddable vs Sigma: A Complete Technical Comparison for SaaS Teams

SaaS teams evaluating embedded analytics often find themselves balancing ease of embedding, developer experience, and scale for customer-facing use cases.

Sigma is a cloud-native analytics platform built around spreadsheet-style BI that enables analysts and business users to explore data and build dashboards using a familiar UI. Sigma also supports embedding through iframes and SDKs.

Embeddable is a developer-first analytics toolkit purpose built for customer-facing dashboards in SaaS products, with native embedding, fine-grained UI control, and performance patterns designed for multi-tenant use cases.

This guide compares both tools across architecture, developer experience, customization, performance, security, multi-tenancy, pricing, and long-term maintainability to help product and engineering leaders make an informed choice.

If you’re building customer-facing analytics inside a SaaS product, Embeddable is usually a better fit than Sigma because it provides native embedding and full control over UX and performance. Sigma is better suited to internal, spreadsheet-style analytics and analyst-driven workflows.

TLDR;

Sigma

• Analyst-friendly analytics with spreadsheet-like exploration.
  
• Embedding via iframes and SDK integrations.
  
• Strong for internal data exploration and light dashboards.
  
• UI loyal to Sigma’s own experience.
  
• Pricing can scale with seats and usage.
  

Embeddable

• Built for scalable customer-facing SaaS analytics.
  
• Native DOM embedding with no iframes.
  
• Full UI/UX control and custom interaction patterns.
  
• High performance through multi-tier caching.
  
• Predictable pricing with unlimited users.
  

Quick Overview: Embeddable vs Sigma at a Glance

Embedding method

Embeddable:

• Native DOM rendering through web components, React, or Vue.
  
• No iframes.
  
• Two-way interaction with app state and logic.
  

Sigma:

• Embedding via iframes and JavaScript API.
  
• Dashboards run in a sandboxed environment.
  
• Interaction managed through postMessage events and SDK communication.
  

Customization

Embeddable:

• Full control over layout, CSS, and interaction patterns.
  
• Supports custom charts and UI behaviors.
  

Sigma:

• Limited visual customization within Sigma’s dashboard canvas.
  
• The embedded UI maintains Sigma’s own style and controls.
  

Performance

Embeddable:

• Multi-tier caching including L1 in-memory and L2 pre-aggregations.
  
• Designed for high concurrency and fast UX.
  

Sigma:

• Performance depends on query load and concurrency.
  
• Dashboard rendering inside iframes can add UI latency under load.
  

Multi-tenancy

Embeddable:

• Tenant-aware security tokens with built-in RLS.
  
• No dashboard duplication per tenant.
  

Sigma:

• Multi-tenant scenarios supported via workspace isolation and filtering.
  
• Often requires careful configuration per tenant.
  
• Managing this at SaaS scale can be operationally heavy.
  

Setup time

Embeddable:

• Fast setup with minimal infrastructure.
  
• Designed for embedding from the start.
  

Sigma:

• Quick initial setup for analysts.
  
• Embedding setup requires workspace and security configuration.
  

Integration depth

Embeddable:

• Dashboards render directly inside your DOM.
  
• Full access to app events, variables, and UI logic.
  

Sigma:

• Dashboards live inside an iframe.
  
• Interaction depends on API and messaging bridges.
  

Pricing

Embeddable:

• Flat, predictable pricing with unlimited users and dashboards.
  

Sigma:

• Seat-based pricing with analytics and viewer roles.
  
• Costs scale with usage and users.
  

Deployment options

Embeddable:

• Cloud or self-hosted.
  

Sigma:

• Cloud only.
  

End-user experience

Embeddable:

• Feels like a native product feature.
  

Sigma:

• Feels like an embedded BI experience inside your app.
  

What Is Sigma

Overview and core philosophy

Sigma is a cloud analytics platform built around a spreadsheet-like interface that enables data analysts to explore data, create dashboards, and share insights without writing SQL. It democratizes analytics with a familiar interface and integrates with cloud data warehouses.

Sigma’s embedding features allow dashboards and components to be embedded into external apps, but experiences remain framed within Sigma’s UI and are often iframe-based.

Strengths of Sigma

• Familiar spreadsheet UI for analysts.
  
• No-code/low-code exploration for business users.
  
• Fast prototyping of dashboards.
  
• Works well for internal analytics and ad-hoc reporting.
  

Limitations for embedded SaaS use cases

• Embedding uses iframes with limited UX control.
  
• UI and interactions remain Sigma-centric.
  
• Customization is limited compared to fully native embedding.
  
• Multi-tenant configurations can become complex.
  
• Pricing scales with seats and usage.
  

What Is Embeddable

Overview and philosophy

Embeddable is a developer-first analytics toolkit for SaaS teams that view analytics as a core part of the product rather than an add-on. Instead of embedding an entire BI surface, teams embed native components directly in their application, retaining full control over interactions, design, and performance.

Key strengths of Embeddable

• Native DOM embedding without iframe limitations.
  
• Full UI customization and interaction control.
  
• High performance backed by multi-tier caching strategies.
  
• Built-in multi-tenant RLS with flexible access controls.
  
• Developer workflow optimized with versioning, environments, and CI/CD support.
  

Ideal use cases

• SaaS products delivering analytics to end customers.
  
• Platforms requiring tight UI/UX consistency.
  
• High-concurrency, multi-tenant workloads.
  
• Teams iterating quickly on analytics features.
  

Feature Comparison Deep Dive

1. Developer experience

Sigma

• Analyst-focused UI with spreadsheet-style exploration.
  
• Embedding requires API work and iframe embedding.
  
• Limited flexibility for custom interactions.
  

Embeddable

• Code-first approach with SDKs for JavaScript, React, and Vue.
  
• Full access to variables, events, and app logic.
  
• Versioned environments and CI/CD workflows.
  

What it implies
Sigma is optimized for business analysts and internal reporting.
Embeddable fits engineering teams building product features.

2. Performance and scalability

Sigma

• Performance tied to backend query execution and concurrency.
  
• iframe overhead adds UI latency.
  

Embeddable

• L1 in-memory caching for hot queries.
  
• L2 pre-aggregations for large datasets.
  
• Caching API for tenant-aware refresh control.
  
• Lightweight native rendering.
  

What it implies
Sigma scales well for internal analysis but can struggle with high concurrency SaaS usage.
Embeddable is designed for high traffic customer-facing analytics.

3. UI customization and design fidelity

Sigma

• Visualization and layout constrained by Sigma UI.
  
• Embedded components retain Sigma’s design language.
  

Embeddable

• Complete control over styling and layout.
  
• Supports custom charts and components.
  
• Dashboards feel like a native feature of the host application.
  

What it implies
Embeddable offers significantly deeper UX control for product-centric analytics.

4. Security and multi-tenancy

Sigma

• Row-level security and workspace isolation.
  
• Multi-tenant setups often require careful workspace planning.
  

Embeddable

• Tenant-aware tokens define access.
  
• Row/column/object level policies.
  
• Simple and scalable multi-tenant design.
  

What it implies
Sigma’s multi-tenant patterns work but become operationally heavy at scale.
Embeddable’s model is built for SaaS multi-tenant contexts.

5. Pricing and ROI

Sigma

• Seat-based pricing with additional usage metrics.
  
• Costs increase with user adoption.
  

Embeddable

• Flat, predictable pricing.
  
• Unlimited users and dashboards.
  

What it implies
Sigma is better suited for internal analytics teams.
Embeddable aligns pricing with SaaS product growth without per-seat cost.

When to Choose Sigma

Best for

• Internal data exploration and reporting.
  
• Teams comfortable with spreadsheet-style analytics.
  
• Business users building and iterating dashboards.
  

Where it falls short

• iframe-based embedding UX.
  
• Limited UI control for product integration.
  
• Pricing scales with seats.
  
• Harder to manage at large SaaS scale.
  

When to Choose Embeddable

Best for

• SaaS products delivering analytics as a core feature.
  
• Teams focused on UX consistency and performance.
  
• Multi-tenant, high-concurrency environments.
  
• Developer-driven analytics workflows.
  

Added value

• Native rendering without iframe boundaries.
  
• Predictable pricing as usage grows.
  
• High performance for interactive dashboards.
  
• Lower engineering overhead long term.
  
• Strong end-user self-serve capabilities.
  

Case Studies and Proof Points

• Pledge, for supply chain sustainability analytics.
  
• Fashion Cloud, with new revenue opportunities driven by embedded analytics.
  
• Resident Advisor, with large scale live event data analytics.
  
• HONK, with improved product management experimentation and reduced engineering load.
  
• mpathic AI, with seamless branding and user experience integration.

Closing perspective

Sigma shines when internal exploration and ease of use for business analysts are the priority. Its spreadsheet-like interface and quick dashboard creation make it excellent for internal reporting and self-serve BI workflows.

Embeddable is a better fit when analytics are part of the product itself. By prioritizing native embedding, performance at scale, and full UX control, it enables SaaS teams to deliver customer-facing analytics that feel seamless, integrated, and maintainable as the product and customer base grow.

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FAQ

Is Sigma good for customer-facing analytics in SaaS products?

Sigma can support customer-facing analytics, but it is primarily designed for internal, analyst-led workflows. Its spreadsheet-style interface and iframe-based embedding make it better suited for internal exploration rather than deeply integrated product analytics.

Is Embeddable better suited for SaaS products than Sigma?

Embeddable is generally better suited for SaaS products where analytics are part of the core product experience. Its native embedding, full UI control, and SaaS-ready multi-tenancy align more closely with customer-facing use cases.

What is the main difference between Embeddable and Sigma?

The main difference lies in their intended use. Sigma is built for internal analytics and ad hoc analysis using a spreadsheet-like interface, while Embeddable is designed for embedding analytics directly into SaaS products as a native feature.

How do Embeddable and Sigma compare on embedding approach?

Sigma embeds analytics using iframes, which limits how tightly dashboards can integrate with an application’s UI. Embeddable renders analytics natively in the DOM, allowing dashboards to behave like part of the product rather than an embedded tool.

How customizable are Embeddable and Sigma?

Sigma offers limited customization focused on internal usability and spreadsheet-style workflows. Embeddable allows full customization of layout, styling, interactions, and components to match a product’s design system.

Which platform performs better at scale?

Embeddable is designed for high-concurrency, multi-tenant SaaS environments using multi-layer caching and pre-aggregations. Sigma performs well for internal teams but is not optimized for large-scale customer-facing usage.

How do Embeddable and Sigma handle multi-tenancy?

Embeddable uses tenant-aware security tokens with row-level and object-level access controls designed for SaaS scale. Sigma supports access controls but multi-tenant customer use cases typically require additional configuration and operational overhead.

Which tool requires more engineering effort to get started?

Sigma generally requires less engineering effort upfront for internal analytics teams. Embeddable requires more initial setup but provides significantly more flexibility and control for long-term product use.

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