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BigQuery vs Snowflake comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 16, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Organizations experienced improved performance and cost savings after adopting BigQuery, achieving a 75% cost reduction and efficient data management.
Sentiment score
6.8
Snowflake users experience mixed ROI; challenges in calculation exist, but long-term benefits include cost reduction and improved data management.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.2
Customers generally find BigQuery support helpful, but integration challenges and resource availability need improvement despite positive responsiveness.
Sentiment score
7.3
Snowflake's customer service is praised for expertise and helpfulness, though some note delays and lack of SLAs.
rating the customer support at ten points out of ten
I have been self-taught and I have been able to handle all my problems alone.
I received great support in migrating data to Snowflake, with quick responses and innovative solutions.
The technical support from Snowflake is very good, nice, and efficient.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
BigQuery offers impressive scalability and efficiency for large data, but may be costly and present integration challenges for smaller users.
Sentiment score
7.8
Snowflake is praised for scalability and efficiency, but concerns exist regarding cost-effectiveness in medium to large-scale organizations.
It is a 10 out of 10 in terms of scalability.
The scalability is definitely good because we are migrating to the cloud since the computers on the premises or the big database we need are no longer enough.
The billing doubles with size increase, but processing does not necessarily speed up accordingly.
Snowflake is very scalable and has a dedicated team constantly improving the product.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
BigQuery is highly stable and reliable for cloud data analytics, efficiently handling large volumes with minor issues.
Sentiment score
8.2
Snowflake is praised for stability and reliability, with users noting excellent performance, quick issue resolution, and robust architecture.
Snowflake as a SaaS offering means that maintenance isn't an issue for me.
Snowflake is very stable, especially when used with AWS.
 

Room For Improvement

BigQuery users face challenges with migration, integration, cost, scaling, user interfaces, and call for better machine learning capabilities.
Snowflake users seek improved UI, pricing transparency, analytics, integrations, AI features, and enhanced support, ETL, and machine learning capabilities.
BigQuery is already integrating Gemini AI into the data extraction process directly in order to reduce costs.
Troubleshooting requires opening each pipeline individually, which is time-consuming.
In general, if I know SQL and start playing around, it will start making sense.
Enhancements in user experience for data observability and quality checks would be beneficial, as these tasks currently require SQL coding, which might be challenging for some users.
Cost reduction is one area I would like Snowflake to improve.
 

Setup Cost

BigQuery offers flexible, pay-as-you-go pricing based on data usage, with low storage costs and adaptable enterprise plans.
Snowflake's pricing offers flexibility but can be unpredictable and expensive compared to Redshift or BigQuery, with room for transparency improvements.
Being able to optimize the queries to data is critical. Otherwise, you could spend a fortune.
The price is perceived as expensive, rated at eight out of ten in terms of costliness.
Snowflake's pricing is on the higher side.
Snowflake lacks transparency in estimating resource usage.
 

Valuable Features

BigQuery excels in scalability, performance, cost-efficiency, and integration with Google products, making it ideal for complex data analyses.
Snowflake excels in scalable, secure data processing with fast queries, multi-format support, and seamless third-party integration for AI/ML.
It is really fast because it can process millions of rows in just a matter of one or two seconds.
The features I find most valuable in this solution are the ability to run and handle large data sets in a very efficient way with multiple types of data, relational as SQL data.
BigQuery processes a substantial amount of data, whether in gigabytes or terabytes, swiftly producing desired data within one or two minutes.
One key feature is the separation of compute and storage, which eliminates storage limitations.
The scalability options it provides, addressing issues without tying workloads into one virtual machine, enhance functionality.
 

Categories and Ranking

BigQuery
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Snowflake
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
100
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (1st), AI Synthetic Data (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Cloud Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of BigQuery is 6.8%, down from 8.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Snowflake is 18.9%, down from 23.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

Luís Silva - PeerSpot reviewer
Handles large data sets efficiently and offers flexible data management capabilities
The features I find most valuable in this solution are the ability to run and handle large data sets in a very efficient way with multiple types of data, relational as SQL data. It is kind of difficult to explain, but structured data and the ability to handle large data sets are key features. The data integration capabilities in BigQuery were, in fact, an issue at the beginning. There are two types of integrations. As long as integration is within Google, it is pretty simple. When you start to try to connect external clients to that data, it becomes more complex. It is not related to BigQuery, it is related to Google security model, which is not easy to manage. I would not call it an integration issue of BigQuery, I would call it an integration issue of Google security model.
Snehasish Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Transformation in data querying speed with good migration capabilities
Snowflake is a data lake on the cloud where all processing happens in memory, resulting in very fast query responses. One key feature is the separation of compute and storage, which eliminates storage limitations. It also has tools for migrating data from legacy databases like Oracle. Its stability and efficiency enhance performance greatly. Tools in the AI/ML marketplace are readily available without needing development.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Retailer
8%
Educational Organization
24%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BigQuery?
The initial setup process is easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BigQuery?
I believe the cost of BigQuery is competitive versus the alternatives in the market, but it can become expensive if the tool is not used properly. It is on a per-consumption basis, the billing, so ...
What needs improvement with BigQuery?
I have not used BigQuery for AI and machine learning projects myself. I know how to use it, and I can see where it would be useful, but so far, in my projects, I have not included a BigQuery compon...
What do you like most about Snowflake?
The best thing about Snowflake is its flexibility in changing warehouse sizes or computational power.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Snowflake?
It is complicated to understand how requests impact warehouse size. Unlike competitors such as Microsoft and Databricks ( /products/databricks-reviews ), Snowflake lacks transparency in estimating ...
What needs improvement with Snowflake?
There is a need for a tool to help me estimate the cost of using Snowflake. Enhancements in user experience for data observability and quality checks would be beneficial, as these tasks currently r...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Snowflake Computing
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Accordant Media, Adobe, Kixeye Inc., Revana, SOASTA, White Ops
Find out what your peers are saying about BigQuery vs. Snowflake and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.