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Databricks vs Google Cloud Datalab comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

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

Databricks
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
94
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (4th), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (3rd), Streaming Analytics (1st)
Google Cloud Datalab
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
22nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Data Visualization (26th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of Databricks is 6.8%, down from 14.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud Datalab is 1.7%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Science Platforms Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Databricks6.8%
Google Cloud Datalab1.7%
Other91.5%
Data Science Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

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.
LJ
System Architect at UST Global España
dashboards are good and data visualization is more meaningful for the end-user
Access is always via URL, and unless your network is fast, it would be a little tough in India. In India, if we had a faster network, it would be easier. In a big data environment, like when forcing your database with over a billion records, it can be tough for the end-user to manage the data. You need to have a single entity system in each environment. It's not because of GCP, but it would be great to have options like MongoDB or other similar tools in GCP. Then, we wouldn't always need to connect to the cloud and execute SQL queries. Even if your application is always connected to its database, the processing can be cumbersome. It shouldn't be so complicated. Once the data is collected, it should be easily sorted.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Databricks' capability to process data in parallel enhances data processing speed."
"It can send out large data amounts."
"Databricks is a scalable solution. It is the largest advantage of the solution."
"Databricks helps crunch petabytes of data in a very short period of time."
"Databricks offers various courses that I can use, whether it's PySpark, Scala, or R."
"Ability to work collaboratively without having to worry about the infrastructure."
"The most significant benefit Databricks has brought to my company is the Unity Catalog."
"The most valuable feature of Databricks is the notebook, data factory, and ease of use."
"In MLOps, when we are designing the data pipeline, the designing of the data pipeline is easy in Google Cloud."
"The APIs are valuable."
"Google Cloud Datalab is very customizable."
"All of the features of this product are quite good."
"The infrastructure is highly reliable and efficient, contributing to a positive experience."
"For me, it has been a stable product."
 

Cons

"I present a lot of projects in various forums and seminars and there aren't a lot of credits and trial options with Databricks. Even if we want to explore, we're not able to and that's a challenge."
"As a data engineer, I see cluster failure in our Databricks user databases as a major issue."
"The solution could be improved by integrating it with data packets. Right now, the load tables provide a function, like team collaboration. Still, it's unclear as to if there's a function to create different branches and/or more branches. Our team had used data packets before, however, I feel it's difficult to integrate the current with the previous data packets."
"I think the automatic categorization of variables needs to be improved; the current functionality is not always efficiently identifying the features of the data that is collected."
"For a small workload, Databricks may not be worth the costs."
"When I used the support, I had communication problems because of the language barrier with the agent. The accent was difficult to understand."
"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."
"Cluster failure is one of the biggest weaknesses I notice in our Databricks."
"Connectivity challenges for end-users, particularly when loading data, environments, and libraries, need to be addressed for an enhanced user experience."
"Even if your application is always connected to its database, the processing can be cumbersome. It shouldn't be so complicated."
"The interface should be more user-friendly."
"There is room for improvement in the graphical user interface. So that the initial user would use it properly, that would be a good option."
"We have also encountered challenges during our transition period in terms of data control and segmentation. The management of each channel and data structure as it has its own unique characteristics requires very detailed and precise control. The allocation should be appropriate and the complexity increases due to the different time zones and geographic locations of our clients. The process usually involves migrating the existing database sets to gcp and ensure data integrity is maintained. This is the only challenge that we faced while navigating the integers of the solution and honestly it was an interesting and unique experience."
"The product must be made more user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an expensive tool. The licensing model is a pay-as-you-go one."
"The licensing costs of Databricks is a tiered licensing regime, so it is flexible."
"Databricks' cost could be improved."
"I do not exactly know the costs, but one of our clients pays between $100 USD and $200 USD monthly."
"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 billing of Databricks can be difficult and should improve."
"The solution is affordable."
"Databricks are not costly when compared with other solutions' prices."
"The pricing is quite reasonable, and I would give it a rating of four out of ten."
"The product is cheap."
"It is affordable for us because we have a limited number of users."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
6%
Healthcare Company
6%
Construction Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise60
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Elsevier, MyFitnessPal, Sharethrough, Automatic Labs, Celtra, Radius Intelligence, Yesware
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Databricks vs. Google Cloud Datalab and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.