Pigment Review
Pigment is an enterprise planning platform where finance, HR, sales and supply chain teams share one multidimensional model with scenarios and AI agents, plus a hosted MCP server that lets Claude or ChatGPT read and edit plans.
Independently scored, one dimension at a time. Every dimension is sourced, and we say whether a claim is published, reported, or estimated.
Pigment's KB documents a hosted MCP server with read-only default tools and an advanced mode that creates applications, blocks, formulas, boards and data inputs under the user's own permissions; a test call on 30 September 2026 got a 401 Bearer challenge, so the endpoint is live. Official plugins for Claude Code and Cursor bundle 36 Skills on GitHub. In-product Modeler, Analyst and Custom agents run on metered AI credits, and their outcome claims are vendor-claimed.
Pigment's KB and use-case pages document multidimensional blocks, scenarios and versions, driver-based budgets, headcount and sales capacity planning, three-statement models and ML forecasting with ARIMA or Prophet. Financial consolidation with multi-GAAP starter kits arrived in September 2025. Excel, Google Sheets and PowerPoint connectors keep spreadsheets in the loop, though the formula language itself is proprietary.
Pigment's security page (checked 30 September 2026) lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001, announced 29 April 2026, and its AI info page adds SOC 1 Type 2 and CSA STAR 1. Block-level update history, Test & Deploy environments, snapshots and attribute-based data access rights cover plan governance, with hosting in Frankfurt, Oregon or the S3NS SecNumCloud cloud. It loses points because the Audit Logs API looks back only 180 days, the SOX guidance doc dates from April 2024 and puts most controls on the customer, and no FedRAMP authorization is listed.
Pigment's Anaplan comparison page (updated 21 January 2026) says workspaces are not limited in storage capacity, a vendor claim, and its September 2025 release describes compute that expands in peak cycles. Plans still meter populated cells, snapshots and 10 to 50 GB of file storage per workspace, and the public API allows 500 requests per 5 minutes per IP. Evidence such as Europcar moving from 1 to 24 months of live data is vendor-published, and Workday's comparison page argues Pigment's record at thousands of users is short.
Pigment's KB publishes response SLAs by plan: a P1 incident gets a first response in 4 business hours on Essentials, 2 on Professional and 1 hour on Enterprise. Support desks in AMER and EMEA run weekday business hours, backed by a community, the Pigment Academy and a customer success manager. Pigment's AI info page quotes a Gartner Peer Insights service and support score of 4.7 out of 5 (vendor-reported on Pigment's site, 30 September 2026), but with partners leading most builds, day-to-day help often comes from the partner.
Pigment said on 27 August 2026 that close to 90 percent of implementations are partner-led. Vendor customer stories cite 10 weeks at Europcar and under two months at Carta, while Planful's comparison page cites a G2 average of 4 months. Models use Pigment's own formula language; the Modeler Agent and the 14-day trial can speed a first draft, though those speed claims are vendor-claimed.
Pigment's KB lists native import connectors for NetSuite (saved searches), Sage Intacct, Xero, QuickBooks, SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, Salesforce, Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks and Redshift, with up to four schedules per import. Workday HCM data arrives through a Workday EIB that pushes CSV to the Import API, and other SAP versions need CSV, SFTP or Workato. No native Dynamics 365 Business Central or Oracle connector was found, and connectors only import, so pushing plans back to an ERP takes the API or an iPaaS.
Pigment publishes no prices; its KB (updated 12 May 2026) says plans combine a platform fee, licenses and features across Essentials, Professional and Enterprise, with annual AI credits that do not roll over. Vendr's public page (checked 30 September 2026) shows a $74,000 a year median across 117 purchases, with a 10th to 90th percentile band of $33,640 to $168,100. Licenses upgrade automatically from Explorer to Contributor or Editor when a member gets write or build rights, so seat cost moves with security design.
Flexible cross-functional CPM with a read-and-write MCP server; expect quote-only pricing and a partner build.
Written by the Audit Friendly research team. No vendor edits, no sponsored placement.
You are buying a multidimensional planning engine that finance, HR, sales and supply chain teams share, with scenarios, versions and AI agents built in. Pigment's docs describe native import connectors for NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Salesforce, Snowflake and BigQuery, and a free Excel add-in that pushes and pulls data. The standout, checked 30 September 2026, is the hosted MCP server: Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor can query live metrics and, in advanced mode, build blocks, formulas and boards under each user's own permissions.
Nothing about the price is public. Vendr's public page puts the median contract at $74,000 a year across 117 purchases, and Vendr reports implementation services often add 20 to 50 percent of first-year subscription. Pigment says close to 90 percent of implementations are partner-led. Consolidation only arrived in September 2025, so it has far less mileage than Planful's or Anaplan's. AI runs on annual credits that expire, and the Modeler Agent started drawing on them on 9 June 2026.
Get in writing: the license mix (Explorer, Contributor, Editor) and what triggers an automatic upgrade, the cell and snapshot limits on your plan, the AI credit allowance and whether MCP calls consume it, true-up pricing for added users, the partner's fixed-fee scope, and how data and model logic leave at exit. If you report under SOX, ask how to keep audit logs past the 180-day API lookback.
- Upper mid-market and enterprise finance teams that want FP&A, headcount and sales capacity planning in one shared model.
- Teams leaving Anaplan, Adaptive or spreadsheets that will fund a partner-led build and want business users to own the model afterward.
- CFO offices that want Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor to query and edit live plans through a governed MCP server.
- Groups whose main pain is a complex statutory close across dozens of entities; Pigment's consolidation launched in September 2025.
- Teams that need a published price or a small-business budget; Vendr's 10th percentile Pigment contract is $33,640 a year (checked 30 September 2026).
- Public sector buyers that need FedRAMP, or Dynamics 365 Business Central and Oracle shops expecting a native ERP connector.
The jobs a finance team actually hires Pigment for
Jobs, mapped to how finance teams actually buy.
Ask Claude about live plan numbers
An FP&A lead connects Claude or ChatGPT to the workspace MCP endpoint and asks why marketing opex moved this month. Answers come from live metrics the user is already allowed to see. Text and date metrics stay out of reach, and admins can switch off AI data access per block.
Headcount and workforce planning
Pigment documents native connectors for HiBob, BambooHR, Personio, Lucca, Paylocity, Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby. Workday HCM data arrives through a Workday EIB that pushes a CSV to Pigment's Import API, which IT has to build. Hiring plans, cost per employee and to-be-hired approvals sit in the same model as the P&L.
Rebuild a legacy planning model
Pigment says over half its 2025 new customers migrated from older planning tools. Europcar's story says it left Anaplan in 10 weeks against roughly 9 months for the prior rollout; that figure is vendor-published. Plan for a partner to translate the old logic into Pigment's formula language.
Consolidation next to the forecast
Pigment added financial consolidation in September 2025, with currency translation, intercompany eliminations and multi-GAAP starter kits. Actuals and plans share one model, so variance work starts from consolidated numbers. The module is young, so ask for references at your entity count.
Sales capacity, territory and quota planning
RevOps and finance share one model for capacity, quotas and territories, fed by Salesforce report data. Gong, Snowflake and Algolia are named customers for this use. The efficiency figure comes from Pigment's own AI info page and is not independently confirmed.
Watch the same task in each tool
Forget the 40-row feature grid. Pick a finance workflow and see how this tool and its closest peers actually do it, with our verdict on who wins for whom.
Compare on what matters
What it actually costs
Here's what it really costs: published rates where a vendor lists them, aggregated quote data where they don't, plus a path to your own number.
Entry plan named in Pigment's docs; 10 GB of file storage and a 4 business hour first response on P1 incidents.
Middle plan; 25 GB of file storage and a 2 business hour first response on P1 incidents.
Top plan; 50 GB of file storage and a 1 hour first response on P1 incidents.
Per-member licenses on top of the platform fee; members move up a license type automatically when given write or build permissions.
Extra credits for agents and Predictions; they count toward the current billing period and expire at the contract anniversary.
Close to 90 percent of builds are partner-led; Vendr reports services often run 20 to 50 percent of first-year subscription.
Private workspace with modeling, planning and AI agents for 14 days, then read-only; no credit card required.
Free Office add-in on Microsoft AppSource that pulls views into Excel and pushes ranges back into Pigment.
What it actually takes to go live
Pigment's license doc (updated 12 May 2026) says every new member starts as an Explorer and is upgraded automatically when given permissions beyond display and the formula playground. Any account type above Standard Member counts as an Editor, and default access rights set to Write or Unspecified also trigger an upgrade. Map roles before go-live and fix true-up pricing in the contract; Vendr reports mid-term additions price at or near list.
Pigment's AI credit docs (updated 17 September 2026) say credits are granted annually, do not roll over, and AI features may be limited or paused at the threshold. The Modeler Agent was free from 9 March to 9 June 2026 and has consumed credits since. Usage by feature or user is not guaranteed to be visible. Ask whether MCP calls count against the pool, since the docs checked do not say.
Pigment said on 27 August 2026 that partners lead close to 90 percent of customer implementations, naming Deloitte, RSM and Grant Thornton among them. Vendr's public page reports services often add 20 to 50 percent of first-year subscription, and Planful's comparison page cites a G2 average implementation of 4 months for Pigment. Ask for a fixed-fee statement of work and who maintains the model in year two.
The native SAP connector covers S/4HANA Public Cloud only; ECC and private S/4HANA go through CSV, SFTP or Workato, per Pigment's SAP doc. Workday HCM needs a Workday EIB pushing to the Import API. No native Dynamics 365 Business Central or Oracle connector appears in the KB checked 30 September 2026, and Pigment's guide for sending data to Salesforce runs through Azure Data Factory.
Pigment's AI docs say the MCP server and agents can query every block in an application by default until an admin turns AI data access off. The official plugin README notes that advanced-mode search exposes all block metadata, such as names, data types and dimensions, to users, though no data values. The KB also notes that the View History permission shows all updates whatever a member's data rights. Review all three before connecting Claude or ChatGPT.
Pigment's SOX guidance, dated 8 April 2024, says the Audit Logs API has a 180-day lookback and recommends ingesting at least a year of logs elsewhere. It places access reviews, change testing and log retention on the customer. Hosting is Frankfurt or Oregon, or S3NS in France; Pigment lists no FedRAMP authorization, a gap Workday's comparison page highlights.
Scored on what an outside agent can actually reach: the documented API, how it authenticates, and whether the vendor ships an MCP server.
Exists: Yes. Pigment's knowledge base documents a hosted MCP server (checked 30 September 2026); each workspace gets its own endpoint of the form pigment.app/api/mcp/public/{id}. A test call on 30 September 2026 returned 401 with a Bearer challenge, which shows a live endpoint. Pigment announced the server on 18 November 2025, and the docs carry no beta label.
Scope: Read and write. Default mode is read-only: find applications, blocks and boards, read metric structure and dependencies, and pull metric and list data. Advanced mode adds tools to create applications, build dimensions, metrics and tables, write formulas, design views and boards, input data and audit performance. Only Number, Integer and Boolean metrics are readable, and only where AI data access is on.
Turnkey: Admin-configured. A Security Administrator, Workspace Administrator or Primary Owner switches MCP on, which generates the endpoint; people then sign in through OAuth with their Pigment credentials, and each user opts into advanced mode for write tools. Pigment publishes setup steps for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Microsoft Copilot Studio and Mistral, plus Claude Code and Cursor plugins that bundle modeling Skills.
In-product AI: the Modeler, Analyst, Custom and Documentation agents and ML Predictions run on AI credits granted annually. Pigment says the Modeler Agent turns weeks or months of model building into hours or minutes; that is vendor-claimed. The Planner Agent is still listed on the roadmap.
Build a driver-based budget and reforecast
Who wins for whom: Teams that want driver-based blocks, headcount and sales capacity in one model with ML forecasts: Pigment. Enterprises extending one model into consolidation, workforce and supply chain: Anaplan. Teams that want rolling and zero-based forecasts with OfficeConnect for Excel: Workday Adaptive Planning.
Pigment
Driver-based blocks, scenarios, versions. Pigment models driver-based budgets in multidimensional blocks with scenarios and versions, covers headcount, sales capacity and three-statement plans plus ARIMA or Prophet ML forecasts, and keeps Excel, Google Sheets and PowerPoint in the loop.
Where it loses: The formula language is proprietary, and Pigment says partners lead close to 90 percent of builds, so plan for a partner to translate a legacy model's logic.
- Modeling depth: 86/100
- Time to live: 2 to 4 months (vendor; G2)
Source: AF score rationale: Modeling depth 86; Pigment use cases and watch-outs.
Watch: Budget Planning and Forecasting in Pigment 2:09 · Official demo · Pigment on YouTube (official)
Anaplan
Three statements in one model. Anaplan plans revenue, opex and capex across all three statements in its Integrated Financial Planning app, and the same platform carries workforce, consolidation, sales and supply chain models with scenario modeling and Forecaster ML forecasts.
Where it loses: Builds are mostly partner-led, Vendr says services often cost 50 to 150 percent of first-year subscription, and a workspace's Polaris or Classic engine cannot be changed later.
- Modeling depth: 91/100
- Time to live: Few months to 1 year+ (Vendr)
Source: AF score rationale: Modeling depth 91; Anaplan use cases, implementation note and watch-outs.
Watch: Anaplan Planning 101 How to Plan, Budget & Forecast (+Demo) 1:00:15 · Official demo · Business Solution on YouTube
Workday Adaptive Planning
Driver-based and rolling forecasts. Adaptive Planning runs driver-based, top-down and bottom-up budgets plus rolling and zero-based forecasts on standard, modeled and cube sheets, with workforce and sales plans in the same model and OfficeConnect for Excel.
Where it loses: Workday markets unlimited what-if scenarios, but its limits reference caps them at 15 per user and each cube sheet at 10 custom dimensions, so test complex designs in the sandbox.
- Modeling depth: 83/100
- Time to live: 4.5 months average (vendor)
Source: AF score rationale: Modeling depth 83; Workday Adaptive Planning watch-outs.
Watch: How to Manage What-If Scenarios | Workday Adaptive Planning 4:32 · Official demo · Workday on YouTube (official)
Pull ERP actuals into the plan
Who wins for whom: Teams on NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Xero or QuickBooks that want native scheduled imports: Pigment. Enterprises on SAP HANA, BW or ECC with Snowflake or Databricks alongside: Anaplan. Workday HCM and Financials customers that want plans published back to Workday: Workday Adaptive Planning.
Pigment
Native mid-market ERP imports. Pigment's knowledge base lists native import connectors for NetSuite saved searches, Sage Intacct, Xero, QuickBooks, SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, Salesforce, Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks and Redshift, with up to four schedules per import.
Where it loses: Connectors only import, SAP ECC and private S/4HANA need CSV, SFTP or Workato, and no native Dynamics 365 Business Central or Oracle connector was found.
- ERP & data connectivity: 68/100
- Time to live: 2 to 4 months (vendor; G2)
Source: AF score rationale: ERP & data connectivity 68; Pigment watch-outs.
Watch: Pigment Strengths - EPM Spotlight | Accelytics Consulting 40:03 · Consultant walkthrough · Accelytics Consulting, LLC on YouTube
Anaplan
SAP and warehouse connectors built in. Anaplan's Data Orchestrator lists 14 import connectors, including SAP HANA, BW and ECC over OData v4, Salesforce, Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks and Oracle Database, with writeback pipelines to Snowflake, Databricks, Oracle and cloud storage.
Where it loses: There is no native NetSuite, Workday HCM or Sage Intacct connector, so those systems arrive through files, CloudWorks or an integration platform, and Data Orchestrator is sold in capacity packages.
- ERP & data connectivity: 76/100
- Time to live: Few months to 1 year+ (Vendr)
Source: AF score rationale: ERP & data connectivity 76; Anaplan use cases and watch-outs.
Watch: Introduction to Anaplan 17:16 · Consultant walkthrough · Source Corp on YouTube
Workday Adaptive Planning
Native NetSuite, Intacct and Workday sources. Design Integrations lists native data sources for NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Salesforce, Dynamics GP and Workday HCM and Financials, plus Cloud Data Connect for Snowflake, Fabric and Incorta, with NetSuite drill-through and plan publishing back to Workday.
Where it loses: QuickBooks Online, Xero, Business Central, SAP and Oracle have no named adapter, so they connect through JDBC via an On-Prem Data Connector, scripted sources, spreadsheets or partners.
- ERP & data connectivity: 77/100
- Time to live: 4.5 months average (vendor)
Source: AF score rationale: ERP & data connectivity 77; Workday Adaptive Planning watch-outs.
Watch: Mission Cloud's Success with Workday Adaptive Planning and Kainos 1:38 · Customer story · Workday on YouTube (official)
Pigment, kept current
Pigment announced Frames, AI-built planning interfaces on live data with open beta from 28 September, plus Agent Connectors that pull context from Notion, Google Drive and Slack.
After a free period that began 9 March, Modeler Agent sessions now draw on each workspace's annual AI credit pool.
Pigment announced ISO 27001 certification after an independent audit, alongside its existing SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports.
Pigment launched the Modeler Agent, which builds models from plain-language descriptions, and said it was approaching $100 million in ARR.
Pigment opened an MCP server so ChatGPT, Claude and other assistants can query live Pigment data and trigger agent missions under existing permissions.
Pigment added financial consolidation with a Consolidation Agent and expanded access to the Analyst Agent for variance analysis and reporting.
Pigment FAQ
Pigment does not publish prices. Its knowledge base says a plan combines a platform fee, a number of Explorer, Contributor and Editor licenses and features, under Essentials, Professional or Enterprise plans, with AI credits on top.
Vendr's public Pigment page shows a median of $74,000 a year across 117 purchases, with the 10th to 90th percentile running from $33,640 to $168,100 (checked 30 September 2026). Vendr also reports that implementation services often add 20 to 50 percent of first-year subscription, so budget year one above the subscription.
Vendr reports one-, two- and three-year terms, with multi-year deals and prepayment earning larger discounts, and mid-term user additions priced near list unless negotiated up front. AI credits reset at each contract anniversary.
Pigment's online MSA (updated 21 May 2026) makes the customer solely responsible for exporting its data before termination, at no extra charge. Data leaves as CSV or Excel downloads or through the REST export API. The docs checked do not describe a portable export of model logic, so ask how formulas and structure are handed over at exit.
Plan on a partner. Pigment said in August 2026 that close to 90 percent of implementations are partner-led, and its own solution architects run some builds with an AI toolkit it calls the Pigment Harness.
Pigment-published stories cite 10 weeks at Europcar, under two months at Carta and a long-range plan rebuilt in 60 days at Lightspeed. Planful's comparison page cites a G2 average of 4 months. The 14-day free trial lets a team test the Modeler Agent before signing.
Yes, within limits. Pigment runs a hosted MCP server; once an admin enables it, Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Microsoft Copilot Studio and Mistral can connect through OAuth with each person's Pigment login.
Default tools are read-only: find applications and boards, inspect metric structure and pull data. A user who switches on advanced mode lets the AI create applications, dimensions, metrics, formulas, views and boards and input data, still bounded by that user's permissions. Only Number, Integer and Boolean metrics are readable, and only where AI data access is on.
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