Comparison

Databricks vs Snowflake

On the evidence we track, Snowflake leads this comparison with a composite score of 68/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Databricks53
★Snowflake68
Score
vioscaleAI score
Databricks53 / 100low · 47%
Snowflake68 / 100medium · 63%
Pricing
Free tier
Databricks✓
Snowflake✗
Model
Databricksfree
Snowflakecommercial
Price level
Databricksfree
Snowflakeunknown
Transparent
Databricks✗
Snowflake✓
Integrations
Count
Databricks14
Snowflake750
Security
Disclosure policy
Databricks✓
Snowflake✓
Fedramp
Databricks–
Snowflake✓
Gdpr
Databricks–
Snowflake✓
Iso27001
Databricks–
Snowflake✓
Pci
Databricks–
Snowflake✓
Soc2
Databricks–
Snowflake✓
Reliability
Status page
Databricks✓
Snowflake✓
Market
Content
Faq
Databricks6 items
Snowflake6 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for data warehouse software. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Deployment
Deployment
DatabricksManaged cloud
SnowflakeManaged cloud
Architecture
Architecture
DatabricksSeparated storage/compute
Snowflake-
Compute model
DatabricksServerless
SnowflakeVirtual warehouses
Query
SQL dialect
DatabricksVendor-specific
Snowflake-
Federation / lakehouse query-in-place
Databricks-
Snowflake✓
Interoperability
Table-format support
DatabricksDelta, Iceberg
SnowflakeApache Iceberg
Scale
Concurrency scaling
DatabricksAutomatic
SnowflakeAutomatic
Ingestion
Streaming ingest
Databricks✓
Snowflake✓
Data model
Semi-structured (JSON/VARIANT)
DatabricksFirst-class
SnowflakeFirst-class
Analytics
ML / in-DB functions
Databricks✓
Snowflake✓
Sharing
Data sharing / marketplace
Databricks✓
Snowflake✓
Licensing
Licence class
DatabricksProprietary
SnowflakeProprietary

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Databricks

An integrated data and AI platform built on open formats that merges transactional reliability with analytics and machine learning capabilities, enabling organizations to manage data, models, and AI applications together without vendor lock-in.

Independently observed

Snowflake

Leader

Snowflake is a fully managed cloud service that unifies data storage, analytics, machine learning and AI capabilities in a single platform. It enables organizations to process structured and unstructured data, build AI applications and share live data across organizations and cloud environments.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Databricks

from $0.07/moUsage-basedFree tier

Pay-as-you-go usage-based pricing from $0.069 / DBU or CU per second. Committed Use Contracts available for volume discounts. Free tier available.

  • Data EngineeringFrom $0.15 / DBU per second
    • Orchestrate data processing
    • Build streaming and batch pipelines
    • Ingest data from multiple sources
  • Data WarehousingFrom $0.22 / DBU per second
    • SQL analytics
    • BI reporting
    • Available in Classic and Serverless compute
  • Interactive WorkloadsFrom $0.40 / DBU per second
    • Data science workloads
    • Build custom applications
    • Security and governance
  • Operational DatabaseFrom $0.069 / CU per second
    • Postgres database
    • Data and feature serving
  • Artificial IntelligenceFrom $0.07 / DBU per second
    • GenAI applications
    • Model Serving
    • AI Functions
    • Model Training
  • GenieFree
    • Natural language Q&A
    • AI Coding Assistant
    • Enterprise Knowledge access
as of verify ↗

Snowflake

Leader
Usage-based
  • Standard-
  • Enterprise-
  • Business CriticalContact sales
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Databricks✓
Snowflake✓
Android
Databricks✓
Snowflake✗
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Databricks✓
Snowflake✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (2)
  • Apache Iceberg
  • PyTorch

Databricks

22 total - 20 not shared
  • Teams
  • Slack
  • Confluence
  • Power Platform
  • Copilot Studio
  • Zerobus
  • Microsoft Power Platform
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Apache Spark
  • MLflow
  • Delta Lake
  • Unity Catalog
  • Lakeflow
  • Databricks SQL
  • Databricks Genie
  • Lakebase
  • dbt
  • Trino
  • LangChain
  • DSPy
Independently observed

Snowflake

Leader
9 total - 7 not shared
  • AWS
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Google Cloud Platform
  • Streamlit
  • NVIDIA
  • Jira
  • GitHub
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Databricks or Snowflake: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.