{"id":849,"date":"2023-05-26T22:15:10","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T22:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/?p=849"},"modified":"2023-07-20T14:19:28","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T14:19:28","slug":"differences-between-databricks-and-snowflake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/differences-between-databricks-and-snowflake\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Differences Between Databricks And Snowflake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>While Databricks and Snowflake may seem similar at first glance, the two cloud-based platforms have distinct features, capabilities, and primary use cases that set them apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Databricks provides an analytics platform designed for massive-scale data engineering and collaborative data science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Snowflake is a managed service that offers a cloud-based data warehousing platform built for easy and elastic scalability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite their shared emphasis on data and cloud technology, Databricks and Snowflake offer fundamentally different solutions. This article dives into the key differences, their unique features, and what they are best used for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/databricks-vs-snowflake.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-850\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/databricks-vs-snowflake.jpg 600w, https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/databricks-vs-snowflake-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_64 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6611296000995\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6611296000995\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/differences-between-databricks-and-snowflake\/#Differences_In_Company_Origins\" title=\"Differences In Company Origins\">Differences In Company Origins<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/differences-between-databricks-and-snowflake\/#Databricks_Has_An_On-Premise_Option\" title=\"Databricks Has An On-Premise Option\">Databricks Has An On-Premise Option<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/differences-between-databricks-and-snowflake\/#Both_Systems_Are_Managed_Cloud_Services\" title=\"Both Systems Are Managed Cloud Services\">Both Systems Are Managed Cloud Services<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/differences-between-databricks-and-snowflake\/#Snowflake_Is_For_Data_Storage_Databricks_Is_Not\" title=\"Snowflake Is For Data Storage, Databricks Is Not\">Snowflake Is For Data Storage, Databricks Is Not<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/differences-between-databricks-and-snowflake\/#Databricks_Is_Better_For_Complex_Data_Processing\" title=\"Databricks Is Better For Complex Data Processing\">Databricks Is Better For Complex Data Processing<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/differences-between-databricks-and-snowflake\/#Databricks_Has_Inbuilt_Machine_Learning_Functions_Snowflake_Does_Not\" title=\"Databricks Has Inbuilt Machine Learning Functions, Snowflake Does Not\">Databricks Has Inbuilt Machine Learning Functions, Snowflake Does Not<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/differences-between-databricks-and-snowflake\/#Snowflake_Has_An_Easier_Learning_Curve_For_SQL_Developers\" title=\"Snowflake Has An Easier Learning Curve For SQL Developers\">Snowflake Has An Easier Learning Curve For SQL Developers<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/differences-between-databricks-and-snowflake\/#Typical_Customers\" title=\"Typical Customers\">Typical Customers<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Differences_In_Company_Origins\"><\/span>Differences In Company Origins<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Databricks was founded in 2013 by seven of the creators of Apache Spark, a distributed computing system for big data processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The drawback of Spark is that the installation, configuration, and tuning present a complex process. Seven members of the Spark development team created Databricks to simplify the platform as a commercial venture. It basically provides a user-friendly GUI to manage Spark clusters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Snowflake was <a href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/who-founded-snowflake\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"843\">co-founded in 2012<\/a> by three data warehousing experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two French founders had worked for many years at Oracle and the Dutch founder had developed his own database management system. They formed Snowflake from a shared vision of a highly scalable parallel-processing database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Databricks_Has_An_On-Premise_Option\"><\/span>Databricks Has An On-Premise Option<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Both Databricks and Snowflake were designed as cloud-based deployments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Databricks first launched, it didn\u2019t offer an on-premise version. However, it\u2019s possible now to deploy Databricks within a private data center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If customers go this route, they must provide the servers, storage, and network. This is going to be more expensive than the standard cloud deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Snowflake doesn\u2019t offer an on-premise installation at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/data-center-databricks-vs-snowflake.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-851\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/data-center-databricks-vs-snowflake.jpg 600w, https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/data-center-databricks-vs-snowflake-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Both_Systems_Are_Managed_Cloud_Services\"><\/span>Both Systems Are Managed Cloud Services<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Databricks is a cloud-based service, which means that you don\u2019t install it in the traditional sense. Instead, you&#8217;ll set up an account and use the Databricks interface to configure your workspace on the cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To get started with Databricks, you sign up for an account and choose a cloud provider such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. Alternatively, you integrate Databricks with your existing cloud platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the service provider side, Databricks manages the underlying infrastructure, including server management, software updates, and ensuring the overall availability of the Databricks service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly, when you start using Snowflake you will choose which cloud provider and platform you want for your data. You do not interact directly with the underlying cloud storage. Instead, you interact with your data through Snowflake&#8217;s SQL interface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Snowflake as a company manages all the underlying storage details. As a user, you are responsible for managing your data within Snowflake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/cloud-databricks-vs-snowflake.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-852\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/cloud-databricks-vs-snowflake.jpg 600w, https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/cloud-databricks-vs-snowflake-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Snowflake_Is_For_Data_Storage_Databricks_Is_Not\"><\/span>Snowflake Is For Data Storage, Databricks Is Not<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The main function of Snowflake is to store large volumes of data on a cloud platform. It can store structured and semi-structured data in formats such as JSON, AVRO, XML, and Parquet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Snowflake stores data on several cloud platforms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>S3 on AWS<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Blob Storage on Microsoft Azure<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Google Cloud Storage on GCP (Google Cloud Platform)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike Snowflake, Databricks is not designed to be a primary data storage system. Instead, it&#8217;s built to integrate with and process data stored in data storage systems. That system could be Snowflake, Azure, Amazon S3, or others. This picture shows the relationship:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I should mention that Databricks has the capability to temporarily store data as part of its processing work. This includes situations like caching data for performance optimization or managing intermediate data in computations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, it is not meant for permanent storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Databricks_Is_Better_For_Complex_Data_Processing\"><\/span>Databricks Is Better For Complex Data Processing<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While both platforms are capable of data processing, Databricks is better suited for complex and large-scale data processing needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Databricks is optimized for real-time analytics. It also has support for multiple programming languages, like Python, R, Scala, and SQL). These factors make it a robust choice for sophisticated data analytics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Snowflake can also process data. However, it is primarily SQL-based and is more focused on data storage and retrieval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Snowflake is excellent for running large SQL queries and aggregating data but is less suited for more complex data processing tasks or machine learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/big-data-analytics-databricks-vs-snowflake.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-853\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/big-data-analytics-databricks-vs-snowflake.jpg 600w, https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/big-data-analytics-databricks-vs-snowflake-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Databricks_Has_Inbuilt_Machine_Learning_Functions_Snowflake_Does_Not\"><\/span>Databricks Has Inbuilt Machine Learning Functions, Snowflake Does Not<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Databricks has strong machine-learning capabilities. It integrates well with ML libraries and frameworks. The platform also provides a collaborative environment for ML development and supports MLflow for experiment tracking and model deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In contrast, Snowflake doesn\u2019t offer built-in machine-learning capabilities. While it can store and query the data needed for machine learning, you typically connect Snowflake to a separate tool or platform that supports machine learning processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Snowflake_Has_An_Easier_Learning_Curve_For_SQL_Developers\"><\/span>Snowflake Has An Easier Learning Curve For SQL Developers<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Snowflake&#8217;s interface is SQL-based. This makes it easier to adopt if your team is already familiar with SQL e.g., your company has been running SQL Server instances for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Databricks uses a variety of languages like Python, R, Java, and Scala. This could have a steeper learning curve for data engineers. However, it offers more flexibility for complex data processing and machine learning tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Typical_Customers\"><\/span>Typical Customers<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are plenty of large companies that are incorporating both Databricks and Snowflake into their technology stack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out are article on <a href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/who-uses-databricks-major-customers-explored\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1040\">who uses Databricks<\/a> to see some household brand names.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Databricks and Snowflake may seem similar at first glance, the two cloud-based platforms have distinct features, capabilities, and primary use cases that set them apart. Databricks provides an analytics platform designed for massive-scale data engineering and collaborative data science. Snowflake is a managed service that offers a cloud-based data warehousing platform built for easy &#8230; <a title=\"Key Differences Between Databricks And Snowflake\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/differences-between-databricks-and-snowflake\/\" aria-label=\"More on Key Differences Between Databricks And Snowflake\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1044,"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions\/1044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}