Sigma > Connection limitations and alternatives
Sigma Computing
Sigma Computing can’t connect directly to AWS Athena - which is the query engine behind Tallyfy Analytics. If you’re set on using Sigma, you’ll need a workaround.
Sigma is a cloud-native BI platform that gives business users a spreadsheet-like interface on top of cloud data warehouses. No SQL required. If you’re comfortable with Excel, you’ll pick it up fast.
Sigma requires persistent, always-on connections to data warehouses. It supports these platforms natively:
| Platform | Connection type |
|---|---|
| Snowflake | Native connector |
| Google BigQuery | Native connector |
| Amazon Redshift | Native connector |
| Databricks | Native connector |
| PostgreSQL | Native connector |
| MySQL | Native connector |
| Microsoft SQL Server | Native connector |
| AlloyDB | Native connector |
| Starburst | Native connector |
AWS Athena isn’t on this list because it’s serverless - it doesn’t maintain persistent connections. Athena runs queries on demand against S3 storage, which is a fundamentally different pattern than what Sigma expects.
Three paths forward:
Bridge through Redshift Spectrum - If you already have Amazon Redshift, use Redshift Spectrum to query the S3 data where Tallyfy Analytics stores everything. Then connect Sigma to Redshift normally.
Migrate to a supported warehouse - Copy your analytics data into Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift. Any of these work natively with Sigma.
Switch BI tools instead - If you’d rather keep Athena, use a tool that supports it directly:
- Power BI (with the appropriate ODBC drivers)
- Tableau (via JDBC connection)
- AWS QuickSight (built specifically for Athena)
If you’re already using Tallyfy Analytics, Power BI or Tableau are the straightforward choices - they connect to Athena without extra infrastructure. Sigma is a strong platform, but the Athena gap means added complexity you probably don’t need.
Keep an eye on Sigma’s roadmap. They may add Athena support in the future, and submitting a feature request to Sigma directly helps signal demand.
Sigma > Alternatives for spreadsheet-style analytics
Integrations > Tallyfy Analytics
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