Adea vs Sigma

Adea is the Sigma alternative for teams that would rather ask than build a workbook. Ask in plain words, get dashboards and reports built for you, and hear when a number moves, and why.

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Free planNo cardRead-only access

Sigma

“Sigma feels like a spreadsheet, so anyone can use it.”

Anyone who is good at spreadsheets. Everyone else still waits for someone to build the workbook. In Adea you ask in plain words, and the answer, the chart and the query come back in seconds.

The Sigma alternative that sets itself up.

Choose Adea when:

1
You'd rather ask a question than build a workbook
2
You want dashboards and reports from a question, sent on a schedule
3
Your data is in a database, not only a warehouse, and you want to start in minutes
4
You want every number watched without building anything, and the likely cause when one moves

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Adea vs Sigma side by side

Question		Sigma
Built for	Answering questions, building reports and dashboards, and watching every number of the business	Spreadsheet-style analysis directly on a cloud data warehouse
Asking a question	Ask in plain words and get the answer in seconds, with the query and its sources shown	Build it in a workbook, with spreadsheet-style formulas
Reports and dashboards	Dashboards from a question in plain words. Bring a report you already have as a PDF, screenshot or Excel file, and Adea rebuilds it from your live data. Send any of it on a schedule	Workbooks and dashboards on live warehouse data
Who can build them	Anyone who can ask a question	People at home building in spreadsheets
Getting started	Connect a read-only database. Adea learns what the tables mean, works out what's normal and suggests the numbers to watch, the same day	Connect a warehouse, then build workbooks
When a number moves	Checks every number each night against what is normal for it, tells you in the morning, and tests the likely causes	Alerts and scheduled exports from workbooks
Where answers arrive	In Adea, Slack, Teams, mail and the AI assistant you already use	In Sigma, by mail and in Slack
Personal data	Guardian checks every query before it runs and flags large pulls of personal data. On Business it can hold them until an admin says yes	Permissions in the warehouse and in Sigma

About Sigma

A cloud analytics tool with a spreadsheet-like screen that works directly on your data warehouse.

Written from how each tool describes itself, in October 2026. Tools change, so check theirs for today's details. Found something wrong? Write to us and we'll correct it.

Choose Sigma when

Your people think in spreadsheets and your data is in a warehouse
You write data back alongside the analysis

Switching from Sigma takes three steps

Start on the same database. Nothing in Sigma has to change until you're ready.

1
Connect the same database, read-only
The one Sigma already reads from. Adea only reads, and refuses a user that can write.
2
Adea sets itself up
It learns what your tables mean, works out what's normal and suggests the numbers to watch. You check the first ones.
3
Recreate the reports you rely on
Bring a screenshot or PDF of a Sigma report, or its Excel export. Adea rebuilds it from your live data, ready to send on a schedule.

Not ready to switch everything? Run both while you move. Adea only reads the database, so Sigma keeps working as it does today.

Questions

What is the best alternative to Sigma?

If your people would rather ask than build, Adea: it answers in plain words, builds dashboards and reports, sends them on a schedule and watches every number.

How is Adea different from Sigma?

Sigma gives you a spreadsheet on your warehouse to build in. Adea gives you the answer: ask in plain words and get the chart and the query, with every number watched each night.

Is Adea a replacement for Sigma?

For questions, dashboards and scheduled reports, yes. If your team writes data back into workbooks, keep Sigma for that.

Can I use Adea with Sigma?

Yes. Adea connects to your database, not to Sigma, so Sigma keeps working exactly as it does today.

Is my data safe with Adea?

Adea connects with a database user that can only read, and refuses one that can write. Guardian checks every query before it runs and flags large pulls of personal data. Everything travels over HTTPS, the passwords you give Adea are encrypted with a key that belongs to your company alone, and no other company can see your numbers.

How long does it take to set up?

A couple of minutes to connect a database. Then Adea sets itself up: it learns what your tables mean and suggests the numbers to watch, and you check the first one. You can start free, with no card.