Pigment vs Anaplan
Both replace spreadsheets with a proprietary modelling engine. Pigment, from France, connects finance, sales and headcount planning in one model that an internal owner can reshape in hours. Anaplan, from the United States, handles very large models including supply chain and sales capacity, built in its own modelling language by certified modellers, usually from a partner.
Niels AbrahamsenAnalyst, Security & Infrastructure
Sebastiaan Smits
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Choose Pigment ifyou are a scale-up planning revenue, headcount and cost together, have a dedicated planning owner in house, and want to reshape models and run scenarios quickly without a partner.
Choose Anaplan ifyou are an enterprise planning supply chain, territories and quotas or large workforce models with millions of cells, and you can fund certified modellers and a partner-led implementation.
Pigment and Anaplan side by side
| Pigment | Anaplan | |
|---|---|---|
| Our budgeting and planning rank | #6 of 13 | #13 of 13 |
| Established in | France | United States |
| Pricing | Quoted per organisation | Quoted, by workspace capacity and users |
| Free tier | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Built for | Scale-ups planning revenue, headcount and cost inside one connected model | Enterprises planning supply chain or sales capacity at scale |
| Not for | Companies without someone to own the model full-time | Finance teams that only need a departmental budget |
Both are reviewed in full in our budgeting and planning ranking: Pigment and Anaplan.
Where they differ
Pigment 2 · Anaplan 1 · open 1- 01
Changing the model when the business changes
Pigment wins on speed of change: reshaping a model or running a new scenario takes hours instead of a partner engagement, and scenario switching is genuinely fast. Anaplan's modelling language is expressive once someone knows it, but changes generally run through certified modellers. For a company whose plan changes shape often, Pigment keeps pace more easily.
Edge: Pigment
- 02
Size and kind of planning problem
Anaplan exists for planning problems that break everything else: supply chain, territory and quota, large workforce models with real dependencies, scaling to millions of cells. Pigment is aimed at scale-ups connecting revenue, headcount and cost. Our data makes no claim about Pigment at that scale, so for the largest and most operational models Anaplan is the proven choice.
Edge: Anaplan
- 03
Who builds and maintains it
Pigment assumes a planning owner inside the company; without one, models decay quietly until a forecast is wrong. Anaplan depends on certified modellers, and most implementations are delivered by a partner, which adds a services bill. Pigment's requirement is one capable employee, Anaplan's is a skills market. The internal route is cheaper to sustain.
Edge: Pigment
- 04
Pricing and the way out
Both are quoted. Anaplan charges by workspace capacity and users, so the bill grows as the model does; Pigment's entry point is well above what a fifty-person business will pay. Both hold logic in proprietary formats, so leaving either means rebuilding the model elsewhere. Neither offers an advantage on transparency or portability.
Depends on the buyer
When neither fits
If nobody will own a model full-time, or you only need a departmental budget, neither is right. Cube keeps Excel and Google Sheets as the front end with a governed data layer behind, at published prices. Vena does similar for Microsoft-centred finance teams, with a database and workflow behind Excel.
Pigment or Anaplan: questions
3 answersIs Pigment a realistic alternative to Anaplan?
Yes, for connected planning across finance, sales and headcount. Pigment is quicker to change and produces board-ready output. Anaplan remains the choice for very large models such as supply chain or sales capacity planning, where it scales to millions of cells.
Do Pigment and Anaplan need an implementation partner?
Anaplan normally does: it depends on certified modellers, usually supplied by a partner. Pigment is designed so that an internal planning owner can reshape models in hours, but it needs that person full-time. Without a named owner, neither will stay accurate.
How are Pigment and Anaplan priced?
Both are quoted, with no published prices. Anaplan prices by workspace capacity and users, which rises with model size. Pigment is quoted per organisation, with entry pricing that rules out small companies. Ask each vendor for licence and any implementation services in one written total.