Databricks excels at unified data analytics with Apache Spark-based processing and AI/ML capabilities, while Snowflake specializes in cloud data warehousing with superior query performance and broader SQL compatibility. Databricks is better for complex data processing pipelines, while Snowflake is better for traditional analytics and business intelligence.
Databricks vs Snowflake — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Unified lakehouse platform combining data warehousing with Apache Spark-based processing and native ML capabilities.
Cloud-agnostic data platform with decoupled compute/storage and instant elasticity.
Primary Architecture. Query Performance (TPC-DS Benchmark). ML/AI Integration. Starting Monthly Cost (Small Workload). SQL Support & Compatibility. Data Format Support. Users Reporting High Satisfaction (2025 G2)
Choose Databricks if you need unified data processing with strong ML/AI capabilities, require ETL/ELT pipeline flexibility, or want to avoid vendor lock-in with open data formats like Delta Lake. Choose Snowflake if you prioritize fast SQL queries for analytics, prefer a simpler data warehouse architecture, have primarily structured data, or need the broadest ecosystem of third-party BI tool integrations.
Databricks: 3-7 days | Snowflake: 1-3 days
Databricks: All formats (Delta, Parquet, Images, Videos, Audio) | Snowflake: Structured (Parquet, CSV, JSON)
Databricks: Delta Sharing (open standard) | Snowflake: Snowflake Marketplace (proprietary)
Databricks: SQL, Python, Scala, R, Java | Snowflake: SQL primarily
Databricks: AWS, Azure, GCP | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: $0.30 (1 DBU compute) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 12+ model families via AutoML | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Unlimited simultaneous editing | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 15+ (S3, RDS, Kinesis) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Native Delta Lake engine | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Up to 70% savings | Snowflake: N/A
SQL Query Performance (sample 1TB table)
Databricks: 8-15 (native optimizations) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: $2,000-$15,000/month | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 1-2 weeks | Snowflake: 10-15 hours
Databricks: Minimal (<5 hours/month) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Unlimited with real-time sync | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 6+ (SSO, RBAC, audit logging, IP controls, encryption, workspace isolation) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: All Spark formats + native Delta Lake optimization | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 8,000+ questions | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: ANSI SQL with Spark extensions | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 15+ native connectors | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: MLflow, Feature Store, AutoML included | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Yes, into Delta Lake | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 1-5 seconds (on cached data) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 10x (Photon engine) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 25+ integrated | Snowflake: N/A
BigQuery/Equivalent Query Speed (1TB dataset)
Databricks: 15-30 sec (via Databricks SQL) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: MLflow + Databricks Intelligence Engine (built-in) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Native Delta Lake with ACID, time travel, schema evolution | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Cloud-only (3 regions) | Snowflake: SaaS only (AWS/Azure/GCP)
Databricks: Native MLflow Feature Store included | Snowflake: N/A
Data Governance (Unity Catalog equivalent)
Databricks: Unity Catalog with lineage, tags, access control | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 5-15 seconds | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Structured, semi-structured, unstructured | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 3 (AWS, Azure, GCP) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Manual cluster setup and scaling | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: MLflow, Spark MLlib, TensorFlow, PyTorch | Snowflake: N/A
Minimum Learning Curve (months for competency)
Starting Monthly Cost (1 TB storage + compute)
Databricks: $400-800 (variable compute) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 10-100x faster (Photon engine) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: ~15 core data/AI services | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: $0.50-$2.50 (depends on cloud provider) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: MLflow, Feature Store, Model Registry | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Limited (Power BI via connector only) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Unity Catalog, lineage, access control, Delta Lake | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 3-6 months (focused data/AI projects) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 10-100x faster | Snowflake: N/A
Monthly Cost (100GB monthly data ingestion, 1,000 compute hours)
Required Team Skills (FTE equivalents for operations)
Databricks: 0.25 (minimal management) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Full ANSI SQL (100%) | Snowflake: N/A
Query Latency (median, standard ETL workload)
Databricks: 3.5-8 seconds | Snowflake: N/A
Built-in Collaboration Tools (notebooks, dashboards, repos)
Databricks: Notebooks, Dashboards, SQL Editor, Repos, MLflow | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 8,200 stars (databricks/databricks-cli) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 285 seconds | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 3-5x faster (Photon engine) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 8 frameworks (via MLflow ecosystem) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Column, row, and table-level with tags | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 60+ (via partner clouds) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 50+ (data/AI focused) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: $3,500-$5,000 | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: Native (Delta Lake) | Snowflake: N/A
Databricks: 8-15 seconds | Snowflake: 2-5 seconds
Databricks: Native (MLflow, AutoML, Feature Store) | Snowflake: Limited (external integration required)
Databricks: Any format (structured, unstructured, images, video) | Snowflake: Structured (optimized for tables/CSV/JSON)
Databricks: Unlimited (serverless SQL analytics) | Snowflake: Unlimited (multi-cluster shared warehouse)
Databricks: 15-30 minutes | Snowflake: 5-10 minutes
Databricks: 18% of lakehouse market | Snowflake: 32% of cloud data warehouse market
Databricks: 1.0x baseline (integrated ML platform) | Snowflake: 2.8x baseline (external ML tools required)
Starting Monthly Cost (10GB active data)
SQL Query Performance (TPC-DS Benchmark)
Databricks: MLflow + Spark ML | Snowflake: Cortex AI (basic)
Databricks: Low (open Delta/Iceberg formats) | Snowflake: High (proprietary format)
Maximum Concurrent Queries Per Warehouse
Databricks: Unlimited (Spark clusters) | Snowflake: 8-128 (warehouse-dependent)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: $2-4 per credit
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 3 (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 20-30 minutes
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: Limited by warehouse size
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 1,000+ datasets
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: Limited by warehouse size, manual tuning
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: AWS, Azure, GCP
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 2-4 seconds
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: Native, cross-account/cross-cloud
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: Complete separation
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: Available (instant, free)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 100,000 events/sec
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: Consumption-based (compute + storage)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 3/10 (very easy)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 30-120 seconds
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 0.3-0.5 weeks (1-2 days)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: $120,000-180,000
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: Up to 50+ PB (cloud limits)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: SQL, Python, Java, JavaScript, Scala
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 1-2 years (SQL knowledge)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: Yes (sub-second latency)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 8 (Parquet, CSV, JSON, ORC, AVRO, XML, PDF, Images)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 1,000-10,000ms
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: Batch-based (bulk loading)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 95% (full ANSI)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: ~10,000 enterprises
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: $10,000-1,000,000 (credits-based)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 3-15 (depends on data size)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: Unlimited (petabyte-scale)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 3/10 (managed cloud service)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 30-45 minutes
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: $4.00-$6.00 (Medium warehouse)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: $23 (on-demand)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: ~14 seconds
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: ~1 (auto-scaling, no downtime)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: 4-8 (clustering hints optional)
Annual TCO (100TB storage, average usage)
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: Independent scaling
Databricks: N/A | Snowflake: None (on-demand only)
How to choose between Databricks and Snowflake
Databricks vs Snowflake — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Databricks vs Snowflake. Contains 157 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Databricks vs Snowflake — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Databricks vs Snowflake.
Which is cheaper for small data teams under 10GB?
Snowflake is typically 25-30% cheaper at small scale ($480-600/month vs Databricks $650-800/month). However, Databricks' open data format saves expensive data egress fees if you later migrate, offsetting some cost difference over 2-3 years.
Can I run machine learning workloads on both platforms?
Yes, but differently. Databricks has native MLflow integration and Spark ML built-in, making ML workflows seamless. Snowflake requires external tools (Python/scikit-learn in notebooks) or its weaker Cortex AI, adding 3-5 integration steps.
What happens if I want to switch from Snowflake to another platform?
Switching is difficult. Snowflake uses a proprietary format; exporting large datasets incurs 10-15% egress overhead and requires data reprocessing. Databricks' Delta Lake format is open-source and portable to other Apache Spark or Iceberg-compatible platforms, reducing switching costs by ~60%.
Which handles real-time streaming data better?
Databricks excels at real-time streaming via Apache Spark Structured Streaming with sub-second latency. Snowflake handles streaming through Snowpipe (file-based, 1-5 minute latency) or external Kafka connectors, making it less suitable for true real-time requirements.
How do query speeds compare for standard business analytics?
Snowflake is 35-40% faster on structured SQL analytics (TPC-DS benchmark: 28s vs 45s). This matters for BI dashboards refreshing 50+ times daily. Databricks closes this gap for unstructured data and complex multi-stage transformations where Spark's parallel processing wins.
How to Choose Between Databricks and Snowflake
Primary Architecture: Databricks has Lakehouse (unified storage + compute), while Snowflake has Data Warehouse (separate storage & compute).
Consider: Query Performance (TPC-DS Benchmark)
Query Performance (TPC-DS Benchmark): Databricks has ~45 seconds (Delta Lake), while Snowflake has ~28 seconds (native).
ML/AI Integration: Databricks has Native MLflow + Apache Spark ML, while Snowflake has Limited native ML (requires integrations).
Consider: Starting Monthly Cost (Small Workload)
Starting Monthly Cost (Small Workload): Databricks has $500-800, while Snowflake has $400-600.
SQL Support & Compatibility: Databricks has ANSI SQL + Spark SQL extensions, while Snowflake has ANSI SQL (T-SQL dialect native).
Data Format Support: Databricks has Parquet, Delta, Iceberg, Hudi (open formats), while Snowflake has Proprietary internal format (data lock-in).
Consider: Users Reporting High Satisfaction (2025 G2)
Users Reporting High Satisfaction (2025 G2): Databricks has 82%, while Snowflake has 85%.