PayQuery vs Stripe Sigma: which fits your reporting?
An honest comparison of provider coverage, SQL workflows, dashboards, pricing and reporting limits in PayQuery and Stripe Sigma.
Start with the data you need to query
Stripe Sigma is a strong starting point for custom reporting inside Stripe. PayQuery is designed for payment and subscription analysis across supported Stripe and Paddle records. The right choice depends less on which editor looks familiar and more on where your data lives and which questions you need to answer.
This comparison is published by PayQuery and reflects the product and official Stripe documentation checked on 4 November 2026. It does not claim feature parity, better AI accuracy, or lower cost for every business. Both products support SQL workflows; their data coverage and delivery options differ.
If you use Paddle, or need a shared reporting workflow for Paddle and Stripe, PayQuery is worth evaluating. If your priority is detailed Stripe accounting, Connect or balance reporting, review Sigma’s schema first. A broad provider-native dataset can matter more than a simplified common model.
How the reporting workflows compare
| Capability | PayQuery | Stripe Sigma |
|---|---|---|
| Data | Supported Stripe and Paddle records in a shared schema. | Stripe datasets available through its reporting schema. |
| Query creation | PostgreSQL editor, templates and AI-assisted SQL drafts. | SQL editor, templates and a natural-language assistant. |
| Results | Tables, data bars, bars, columns, lines, donuts and summaries. | Tables and configurable line and bar charts. |
| Dashboards | Customizable canvas with saved query visualizations and refresh. | Custom metrics organized into groups in Stripe. |
| Sharing | Workspace, public-link and email-restricted report access. | Saved queries shared with Stripe account team members. |
| Scheduled delivery | Not currently available. | Daily, weekly or monthly email or webhook delivery. |
| Exports | CSV export of query results within workspace query limits. | CSV export of query results. |
Stripe’s query documentation describes its assistant, charts, sharing and scheduling. Its product guide covers custom metric groups. PayQuery’s dashboard refreshes queries on load and offers manual refresh; that is a different workflow from automatically emailing a scheduled report.
In either editor, review a generated query’s definition before relying on the output. “Churn” might mean canceled subscriptions, lost customers or lost recurring value. A runnable query is useful, but the chosen denominator and time window still need to match your question.
Look beyond the editor to financial coverage
Sigma provides Stripe-specific reporting resources, including balance and payout reconciliation templates, with availability conditions described in Stripe’s guide. It also exposes some derived reporting datasets that are not available through the Stripe API. PayQuery does not claim to reproduce that entire schema.
PayQuery focuses on supported customers, subscriptions, transactions, invoices, refunds, disputes, products, prices and related reporting views. It offers configurable current MRR and captured MRR observations. Historical coverage still matters: today’s subscription state cannot reveal every plan change or interruption that happened before observation began.
Freshness deserves the same scrutiny. Stripe currently documents approximately three-hour availability for API-backed Sigma data, while derived datasets have their own schedules. Check its freshness table for your report’s inputs. PayQuery relies on imports and configured updates; inspect connection status rather than assuming every chart represents the current second.
For both products, match your reporting period to the available data. A recently loaded table and an older related dataset can produce a technically valid join that answers a different question from the one you intended.
Compare the bill as well as the feature list
PayQuery has one paid feature set with two billing options: $29 per workspace each month with 1,000 AI drafts per month, or $299 billed yearly with 2,000 drafts each month. The yearly price is about $24.92 per month and saves $49 against twelve monthly payments. Draft allowances are shared across the workspace and reset monthly, including on yearly billing.
Both PayQuery billing options include a 30-day trial with a card required. The public demo uses fictional data and needs no account. It is not a free plan for connected production accounts. See current PayQuery pricing for the offer and checkout terms.
On the US Sigma pricing page checked for this article, the entry monthly subscription is $15 for up to 250 charges, with 6¢ per additional charge. The entry annual subscription is shown at $10 per month, with 4¢ per additional charge. Higher-volume annual tiers and custom pricing are also listed. Stripe offers new users a 30-day trial.
That means Sigma can cost less for a small Stripe-only account. Compare your eligible charge volume, billing commitment and required datasets rather than assuming a flat workspace price always wins. Check Stripe’s current regional page and your account’s terms before purchasing.
Choose with one real reporting question
Take a question you answer repeatedly: collections by currency, overdue invoices, or subscriptions behind a change in MRR. Write down the expected records and the date basis. Then see whether each product exposes the necessary fields, explains missing data, and gives you an output your team can use.
Choose Sigma when keeping analysis inside Stripe, accessing its deeper Stripe datasets, or receiving scheduled reports is central to your workflow. Choose PayQuery when a focused Stripe and Paddle workspace, editable dashboard canvas and flexible report links fit the job. For a Paddle-only business, PayQuery also works without a Stripe connection.
You can try an unpaid-invoice report in PayQuery’s sample workspace before connecting anything. Evaluate the query and result first; choose the plan once the workflow answers a useful question.