Sigilweaver vs Alteryx
Alteryx Designer is defined as the industry standard for visual data preparation. Sigilweaver was built to offer a modern, open-source alternative that doesn't compromise on power.
At a Glance
| Feature | Sigilweaver | Alteryx Designer |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free / Open Source | $5,195 / user / year |
| Engine | Polars (Rust/Arrow) | Proprietary C++ |
| Execution | Lazy (Processing optimized at run time) | Eager (Process row-by-row) |
| OS Support | Windows, Mac, Linux | Windows Only |
| Row Limits | Hardware Dependent | Hardware Dependent |
| Extensibility | Native Python | Python SDK / R |
Key Differences
1. Performance Architecture
Alteryx uses a row-based engine. If you filter data at the end of your workflow, Alteryx often still reads the entire dataset from the source.
Sigilweaver uses Lazy Evaluation. It looks at your entire workflow before running it. If you only need the top 100 rows of a sorted calculation, it optimizes the read to only fetch what is necessary.
2. Licensing and Lock-in
Alteryx files (.yxmd) are XML-based but proprietary. You need Alteryx to run them.
Sigilweaver workflows (.swwf) are open JSON. You can run them with our open-source server, inspecting the code, and even generating standalone Python scripts. You execute your data pipeline forever, even if we disappear.
3. Python Integration
In Alteryx, Python is a "tool" that spins up a separate Jupyter notebook or requires data serialization to move broadly between the engine and Python.
In Sigilweaver, Python is the native tongue. Writing a custom tool is just writing a Python function that accepts a Polars DataFrame.
Migration Path
We are building tools to help migrate Alteryx concepts to Sigilweaver.
- Input Data -> File Input
- Select -> Select Tool
- Filter -> Filter Tool
- Formula -> Formula Tool