Databricks is a specialized Apache Spark-based data and AI platform focused on unified analytics and machine learning workflows, while Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a comprehensive cloud infrastructure provider offering 200+ services across compute, storage, networking, and analytics. Databricks runs on top of cloud providers including GCP, whereas GCP is the underlying infrastructure.
Databricks vs Google Cloud Platform — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
AI and data lakehouse platform built on Apache Spark for unified analytics and ML workflows
Comprehensive cloud platform offering 200+ services for compute, storage, databases, AI, analytics, and enterprise solutions
Primary Purpose. Apache Spark Optimization. Service Count. Multi-Cloud Support. AI/ML Capabilities. Starting Cost (Monthly). Market Adoption (2024)
Choose Databricks if you need a dedicated, Spark-optimized platform for data engineering and AI workflows with multi-cloud flexibility and sophisticated data governance. Choose Google Cloud Platform if you need a comprehensive, enterprise-grade infrastructure foundation with broad service coverage, lower starting costs for diverse workloads, and integration with Google's AI services like Vertex AI and BigQuery.
Databricks: $1,500-$4,000 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 3-7 days | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 18-25 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 9/10 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 6,500+ | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: All formats (Delta, Parquet, Images, Videos, Audio) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Delta Sharing (open standard) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: SQL, Python, Scala, R, Java | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: AWS, Azure, GCP | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: $0.30 (1 DBU compute) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 12+ model families via AutoML | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Unlimited simultaneous editing | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 15+ (S3, RDS, Kinesis) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Native Delta Lake engine | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Up to 70% savings | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
SQL Query Performance (sample 1TB table)
Databricks: 8-15 (native optimizations) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: $2,000-$15,000/month | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 1-2 weeks | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Minimal (<5 hours/month) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Unlimited with real-time sync | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 6+ (SSO, RBAC, audit logging, IP controls, encryption, workspace isolation) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: All Spark formats + native Delta Lake optimization | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 8,000+ questions | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: $500-2,000 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: ANSI SQL with Spark extensions | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 15+ native connectors | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 99.9% | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: MLflow, Feature Store, AutoML included | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Yes, into Delta Lake | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 1-5 seconds (on cached data) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: $600-900 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $50-200
Databricks: 10x (Photon engine) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 1.5-2x (Dataproc optimization)
Databricks: 25+ integrated | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 200+ services
BigQuery/Equivalent Query Speed (1TB dataset)
Databricks: 15-30 sec (via Databricks SQL) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 8-12 sec (native BigQuery)
Databricks: 30,000+ | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 4,000,000+ (GCP users across Alphabet ecosystem)
Databricks: MLflow + Databricks Intelligence Engine (built-in) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Vertex AI (robust, separate service)
Databricks: Native Delta Lake with ACID, time travel, schema evolution | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): BigLake (preview), requires external ACID solutions
Databricks: 10,000+ | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Cloud-only (3 regions) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Native MLflow Feature Store included | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 40-100 ms | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: $0.40-0.50 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Data Governance (Unity Catalog equivalent)
Databricks: Unity Catalog with lineage, tags, access control | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 7/10 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 40% | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 5-15 seconds | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Structured, semi-structured, unstructured | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 3 (AWS, Azure, GCP) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Manual cluster setup and scaling | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: MLflow, Spark MLlib, TensorFlow, PyTorch | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Minimum Learning Curve (months for competency)
Databricks: 2-3 months | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Starting Monthly Cost (1 TB storage + compute)
Databricks: $400-800 (variable compute) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 10-100x faster (Photon engine) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: ~15 core data/AI services | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: $0.50-$2.50 (depends on cloud provider) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: MLflow, Feature Store, Model Registry | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Limited (Power BI via connector only) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Unity Catalog, lineage, access control, Delta Lake | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 3-6 months (focused data/AI projects) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 10-100x faster | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Monthly Cost (100GB monthly data ingestion, 1,000 compute hours)
Databricks: $550-850 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Required Team Skills (FTE equivalents for operations)
Databricks: 0.25 (minimal management) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Full ANSI SQL (100%) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Query Latency (median, standard ETL workload)
Databricks: 3.5-8 seconds | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Built-in Collaboration Tools (notebooks, dashboards, repos)
Databricks: Notebooks, Dashboards, SQL Editor, Repos, MLflow | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 8,200 stars (databricks/databricks-cli) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 285 seconds | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 3-5x faster (Photon engine) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 8 frameworks (via MLflow ecosystem) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Column, row, and table-level with tags | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 60+ (via partner clouds) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 50+ (data/AI focused) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: $3,500-$5,000 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Native (Delta Lake) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 8-15 seconds | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: $500+ | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Native (MLflow, AutoML, Feature Store) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Delta, Parquet, ORC, CSV, JSON (open-source native) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Unlimited (serverless SQL analytics) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 15-30 minutes | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 18% of lakehouse market | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 1.0x baseline (integrated ML platform) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Starting Monthly Cost (10GB active data)
Databricks: $650 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
SQL Query Performance (TPC-DS Benchmark)
Databricks: 45 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: MLflow + Spark ML | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Low (open Delta/Iceberg formats) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 65 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Maximum Concurrent Queries Per Warehouse
Databricks: Unlimited (Spark clusters) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 82% | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 7 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 8/10 (requires IAM, VPC, networking knowledge)
Databricks: 0.25 weeks (15 minutes) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 50-100x faster (Spark + Photon) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 0.5-3 seconds (Photon) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Annual Cost (100TB/year, 5-node baseline)
Databricks: $120,000-$180,000 | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Yes (Unity Catalog native) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Automatic (5-30 min provisioning) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Collaborative Notebooks with Version Control
Databricks: Yes (built-in with Git integration) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: No (cloud-only) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 8-12 seconds | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 30-60 minutes (cluster creation) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: $2,400-3,600 (on-demand, m5.large cluster) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: $0.03-0.05/GB ($30-50/TB) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: SQL, Python, Scala, R, Java (full support) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 20+ languages (Python, Go, Java, Node.js, etc.)
Databricks: Native MLflow, Feature Store, AutoML, Model Registry | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 24 hours (configurable) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 2-5x speedup with Photon | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 30-45 minutes (cluster setup) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 9/10 (native MLflow, AutoML, Feature Store) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: $0.40-$1.20 per DBU | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 18% enterprise market share (2025) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Excellent (images, videos, text, PDFs) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: Partial (Delta Sharing, emerging) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: 8-15 minutes (Spark optimized) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): N/A
Databricks: $600 (for 2 DBUs minimum) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $300 (for starter tier resources)
Databricks: 15 integrated services | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 200+ services across categories
Databricks: 10-100x faster with Photon engine | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Standard Spark speed (baseline)
Databricks: Not primary strength | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 50+ PB query capability
Databricks: 3 clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 1 cloud (GCP ecosystem)
Databricks: 10+ (via Mosaic AI and MLflow) | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 20+ (via Vertex AI)
Databricks: 10 GB compute hours free | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 1 TB BigQuery queries free
Databricks: Data discovery, lineage, access control, PII detection | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Data Catalog with metadata management
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 11%
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 100+
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 42
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 9/10
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 10/10
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Good (Anthos)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 3/10
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Growing
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Best (GKE native)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Native (BigQuery)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 40+ regions
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 99.9% (Cloud DNS)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $0.0298
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $0.12
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 2-3 hours (Vertex AI)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 2-5 seconds (BigQuery, 1TB scan)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $12,500
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 3-4 steps (GKE)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 500-2000ms
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 200+ services
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $300
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Variable (usage-based)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $6.25
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $65-$78
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): No discount
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 7.6 million
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 99.95%
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 40+ models in Vertex AI
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $0.04/hour ($29.20/month)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 25+ (including Spanner, Firestore, Bigtable)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $300 (90 days)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 30-45 minutes
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Advanced (Vertex AI, AutoML, BigQuery ML)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Supported (GKE) - industry standard with advanced networking
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 300-900 seconds (App Engine)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 300 e2-micro hours (App Engine)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 8 (SQL, Firestore, Spanner, BigQuery, Datastore, Memorystore, AlloyDB, DynamoDB)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Vertex AI, TensorFlow, Vision API, NLP API, AutoML (5+ major services)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $0.04-0.48 depending on machine type
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 35+ cloud regions worldwide
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $19.25/month (e2-micro)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): GKE (Enterprise-grade, full API support)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 15-20 minutes
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 15+ (Cloud SQL, Firestore, Bigtable, Spanner, Memorystore)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $500/month
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): ~75ms
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Limited in standard tier, requires Cloud Armor
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $25-50 (1 VM + storage)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 8+ (SQL, NoSQL, Graph, Time-series)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Vertex AI, BigQuery ML, TensorFlow, AutoML
Serverless Function Cost (1M executions/month)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $4-8 (Cloud Functions)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): GKE with full managed support
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 2-4 hours (GKE managed)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Starts at $0.31 per cluster/hour
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Docker, Containerd, CRI-O (via GKE)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): High (proprietary services)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 99.95% SLA guaranteed
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 5-10 hours/month (managed GKE)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): GCP only
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $25
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 40+
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $73
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 8
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $0 (free tier)
Typical Production Compute Cost (2vCPU, 4GB RAM)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $60-90/month
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $0.12/GB
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $73+/month (GKE cluster fee)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Full suite (Vertex AI, BigQuery ML, TensorFlow native)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 90 days ($300 credits)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 50-150ms (varies by region)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Included (capacity varies by plan)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Limited free tier ($25-$100/month minimum for production)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 150+ pre-trained models via Vertex AI
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 60-120 minutes (includes VPC, IAM, networking)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Part of Alphabet Inc. (~$2.2 trillion market cap)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $0.0396
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 1.8 seconds
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 35%
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Vertex AI (best-in-class)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 3 months (but $300 credit)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): $20-50
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 500ms
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 40 regions
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 60-120 minutes
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 1GB free tier (paid after)
Databricks: N/A | Google Cloud Platform (GCP): 20+ languages (Python, Go, Java, Node, .NET, Ruby, PHP)
How to choose between Databricks and Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Compare Databricks vs Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Databricks vs Google Cloud Platform — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Databricks vs Google Cloud Platform. Contains 221 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Databricks vs Google Cloud Platform — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Databricks vs Google Cloud Platform.
Can Databricks run on Google Cloud Platform?
Yes. Databricks is a SaaS platform that runs on top of cloud infrastructure providers including GCP, AWS, and Azure. You deploy Databricks workspaces on GCP infrastructure, and Databricks manages the Spark cluster orchestration. This gives you Databricks' optimization and features while using GCP's underlying compute and storage.
Which platform is better for large-scale data analytics?
For Spark-native workloads: Databricks wins due to Photon engine (10x faster) and optimized Delta Lake. For general analytics: BigQuery on GCP wins for SQL speed (8-12 sec vs 15-30 sec on Databricks) and lower cost at scale. For mixed workloads (analytics + web apps + APIs): GCP's 200+ services provide better integration.
How do pricing models compare for a small startup?
GCP is significantly cheaper for startups: small workloads cost $50-200/month with pay-per-use pricing and no minimum. Databricks has a $600+/month minimum DBU commitment. However, if your startup uses Spark extensively, Databricks' performance gains may justify higher costs compared to GCP's Dataproc.
Does Google Cloud offer Apache Spark support?
Yes, through Google Cloud Dataproc, which provides managed Hadoop and Spark clusters. However, Dataproc is not as optimized as Databricks; you manage cluster lifecycle, and Spark queries run at native speed without Photon acceleration. GCP's strength is BigQuery for SQL analytics, not Spark optimization.
Which platform better supports machine learning workflows?
Both excel at ML but differently. Databricks integrates MLflow for end-to-end ML lifecycle (experiment tracking, model registry, serving) natively. GCP's Vertex AI provides AutoML, custom training, and generative AI models. Choose Databricks for Spark-based feature engineering + MLflow, or GCP for broader AI services (vision, NLP, large language models via Vertex AI).
How to Choose Between Databricks and Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Primary Purpose: Databricks has Unified data and AI platform (SaaS layer), while Google Cloud Platform (GCP) has Full-stack cloud infrastructure provider.
Apache Spark Optimization: Databricks has Native optimization with Photon engine (up to 10x faster), while Google Cloud Platform (GCP) has Spark available but not core offering.
Service Count: Databricks has 25+ integrated services, while Google Cloud Platform (GCP) has 200+ services across all cloud domains.
Multi-Cloud Support: Databricks has Runs on AWS, Azure, and GCP, while Google Cloud Platform (GCP) has GCP-only (proprietary).
AI/ML Capabilities: Databricks has Databricks Intelligence Engine + MLflow for model management, while Google Cloud Platform (GCP) has Vertex AI, BigQuery ML, TensorFlow native support.
Starting Cost (Monthly): Databricks has $0.30-$0.50 per DBU (compute unit), min ~$600/month, while Google Cloud Platform (GCP) has Pay-per-use: $0.04-$0.25 per hour for compute, often <$200/month for small workloads.
Market Adoption (2024): Databricks has Used by 30,000+ organizations, $43B valuation (IPO 2023), while Google Cloud Platform (GCP) has Used by 90%+ of Fortune 500, $2T+ market cap parent (Alphabet).