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Azure Databricks vs Databricks comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Azure Databricks
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
3.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Databricks
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
93
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (4th), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (5th), Streaming Analytics (1st)
 

Featured Reviews

VishnuReddy2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consulting Enterprise Architect at R2V2.ai
Unified data platform has supported real-time analytics and advanced machine learning workflows
The real-time processing with Azure Databricks is supported through integration from external systems, for which we have to go with tools such as Matillion's HVR or Kafka. I have experience using HVR, high-volume replication. You get real-time data replicated into Azure Databricks using these tools. When looking for performance metrics in Azure Databricks, it depends on the processing. It can process millions of records quickly, and it is driven by the Spark framework, which is pretty strong in terms of framework perspective. The columnar database is another strong feature which helps enhance its performance. Prior to the introduction of Unity Catalog, there was no metadata capability in Azure Databricks. It was very simplistic, but now with the Unity Catalog introduction and Delta Sharing capabilities, Azure Databricks is at the top-notch at this point in time. In comparison, SAP BW is a little bit more mature because apart from RBAC, it gives data-level authorization, which is a little bit not that great in Azure Databricks at this point in time.
SimonRobinson - PeerSpot reviewer
Governance And Engagement Lead
Improved data governance has enabled sensitive data tracking but cost management still needs work
I believe we could improve Databricks integration with cloud service providers. The impact of our current integration has not been particularly good, and it's becoming very expensive for us. The inefficiencies in our implementation, such as not shutting down warehouses when they're not in use or reserving the right number of credits, have led to increased costs. We made several beginner mistakes, such as not taking advantage of incremental loading and running overly complicated queries all the time. We should be using ETL tools to help us instead of doing it directly in Databricks. We need more experienced professionals to manage Databricks effectively, as it's not as forgiving as other platforms such as Snowflake. I think introducing customer repositories would facilitate easier implementation with Databricks.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Azure Databricks gives the capability to handle a lot of big data use cases and machine learning use cases, but machine learning use cases need quite a lot of compute power, and that is where the cost spikes up."
"The concept of Azure Databricks is a very good one, especially for the data products concept and idea."
"The best features in Azure Databricks for me are that it's easy to use, flexible, and has fast processing, and you can use multiple data types."
"Regarding the learning curve, it is a good technology; it is the first time I am working on a cloud platform, and before that, I have not worked on any data engineering tool that is on cloud, so it is good learning."
"Databricks serves as a single platform for conducting the entire end-to-end lifecycle of machine learning models or AI ops."
"The solution is easy to use and has a quick start-up time due to being on the cloud."
"In the current capacity as an Architect and the end user of Databricks I would say I do have confidence that Databricks can provide a wealth of functionalities to start with."
"By going through this solution, we were able to complete the processing of the data in half an hour."
"The Delta Lake data type has been the most useful part of this solution. Delta Lake is an opensource data type and it was implemented and invented by Databricks."
"Databricks has a scalable Spark cluster creation process, and the creators of Databricks are also the creators of Spark, and they are the industry leaders in terms of performance."
"This solution offers a lake house data concept that we have found exciting, as we are able to have a large amount of data in a data lake and can manage all relational activities, with all asset complaints properties available to ensure the quality of all data."
"A very valuable feature is the data processing, and the solution is specifically good at using the Spark ecosystem."
 

Cons

"At this point, I cannot comment on the cost being ideal; it is on the higher side, but in the cloud-based environment, compared to on-premise, it could be far lesser in cost."
"I have given the product a rating of six out of ten just because I do not use all of the functionalities, and I see some direction for improvement as well; also, every product has something to improve, and I have not used many features in this product."
"The only concern is perhaps related to the pricing and cost that Azure Databricks incurs."
"The product could be improved by offering an expansion of their visualization capabilities, which currently assists in development in their notebook environment."
"The solution could be improved by integrating it with data packets."
"The stability of the clusters or the instances of Databricks would be better if it was a much more stable environment. We've had issues with crashes."
"Would be helpful to have additional licensing options."
"Databricks should have more libraries for predictive analysis and machine learning. It should have more compatible and more advanced visualization and machine learning libraries."
"The solution is not exactly stable. We've faced a few bugs which have really affected it, especially when it comes to connecting with Spark."
"There could be more support for automated machine learning in the database. I would like to see more ways to do analysis so that the reporting is more understandable."
"Some of the error messages that we receive are too vague, saying things like "unknown exception", and these should be improved to make it easier for developers to debug problems."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"We implement this solution on behalf of our customers who have their own Azure subscription and they pay for Databricks themselves. The pricing is more expensive if you have large volumes of data."
"The solution is a good value for batch processing and huge workloads."
"There are different versions."
"We're charged on what the data throughput is and also what the compute time is."
"Whenever we want to find the actual costing, we have to send an email to Databricks, so having the information available on the internet would be helpful."
"The solution uses a pay-per-use model with an annual subscription fee or package. Typically this solution is used on a cloud platform, such as Azure or AWS, but more people are choosing Azure because the price is more reasonable."
"I do not exactly know the costs, but one of our clients pays between $100 USD and $200 USD monthly."
"I rate the price of Databricks as eight out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Healthcare Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise57
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Databricks?
Regarding the licensing cost of Azure Databricks, it has evolved quite a lot. The compute is the biggest cost, as with any other big data solutions. The storage cost is almost minimal or negligible...
What needs improvement with Azure Databricks?
My team handles those specific tasks, and I know that they are doing well with that. The only concern is perhaps related to the pricing and cost that Azure Databricks incurs.
What is your primary use case for Azure Databricks?
I think this is related to our internal business, as we have a data warehouse and data lakes that we use Azure Databricks for. We work for Bosch, and we have the solution internally. We purchase ev...
Which do you prefer - Databricks or Azure Machine Learning Studio?
Databricks gives you the option of working with several different languages, such as SQL, R, Scala, Apache Spark, or Python. It offers many different cluster choices and excellent integration with ...
How would you compare Databricks vs Amazon SageMaker?
We researched AWS SageMaker, but in the end, we chose Databricks. Databricks is a Unified Analytics Platform designed to accelerate innovation projects. It is based on Spark so it is very fast. It...
Which would you choose - Databricks or Azure Stream Analytics?
Databricks is an easy-to-set-up and versatile tool for data management, analysis, and business analytics. For analytics teams that have to interpret data to further the business goals of their orga...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Databricks Unified Analytics, Databricks Unified Analytics Platform, Redash
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Elsevier, MyFitnessPal, Sharethrough, Automatic Labs, Celtra, Radius Intelligence, Yesware
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Databricks vs. Databricks and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.