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Databricks pros and cons

Vendor: Databricks

4.1 out of 5

93 reviews
96% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

Databricks offers quick insights with built-in optimization and fast Spark cluster support, connecting to diverse data sources with API automation. It supports multiple programming languages for flexible model building and processes large-scale data efficiently. However, expanded integration, better documentation, improved error messages, and enhanced business intelligence connectors are needed. Pricing adds up quickly, so cost efficiency requires attention. Databricks appeals to tech buyers seeking fast and scalable data solutions despite these limitations.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Built-in optimization recommendations significantly improve query speed and enable quick insight delivery.

Databricks effortlessly connects to different data sources and simplifies the automation process through its API.

Performance is great, benefiting from a fast Spark cluster and scalable Spark cluster creation process.

The integration supports multiple programming languages, enhancing flexibility in building models.

Databricks is renowned for efficiently processing large-scale data with ease and speed.

CONS

Databricks could improve by offering expanded integration features and more compatibility with various platforms.

More comprehensive documentation is needed to help users understand and implement use cases effectively.

Error messages should be more descriptive to help developers debug issues efficiently.

Databricks has limitations with respect to connectors and integration with various business intelligence tools.

Pricing could be improved as costs can add up quickly.

Databricks Pros review quotes

Data Scientist at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

Mar 16, 2020

The built-in optimization recommendations halved the speed of queries and allowed us to reach decision points and deliver insights very quickly.

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CEO at Inosense

Dec 3, 2019

We are completely satisfied with the ease of connecting to different sources of data or pocket files in the search

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Business Intelligence and Analytics Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Dec 9, 2019

Automation with Databricks is very easy when using the API.

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Data Science Developer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Dec 11, 2019

Databricks is based on a Spark cluster and it is fast. Performance-wise, it is great.

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Machine Learning Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

Dec 25, 2019

The most valuable aspect of the solution is its notebook. It's quite convenient to use, both terms of the research and the development and also the final deployment, I can just declare the spark jobs by the load tables. It's quite convenient.

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SH

ShrikanthHebbar

Data Science Consultant at Syniti

Jan 7, 2020

I work in the data science field and I found Databricks to be very useful.

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reviewer1276107

Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Feb 4, 2020

The time travel feature is the solution's most valuable aspect.

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reviewer1270416

Vice President, Business Intelligence and Analytics at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Feb 5, 2020

I haven't heard about any major stability issues. At this time I feel like it's stable.

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reviewer1276782

Data Scientist at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Feb 9, 2020

Imageflow is a visual tool that helps make it easier for business people to understand complex workflows.

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Pre-sale Leader, Big Data Enterprise Solutions at Ness Technologies

Apr 13, 2020

The most valuable feature is the ability to use SQL directly with Databricks.

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Databricks Cons review quotes

Data Scientist at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

Mar 16, 2020

The product could be improved by offering an expansion of their visualization capabilities, which currently assists in development in their notebook environment.

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CEO at Inosense

Dec 3, 2019

The integration features could be more interesting, more involved.

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Business Intelligence and Analytics Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Dec 9, 2019

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.

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Free Report: Databricks Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Databricks. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.

884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Data Science Developer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Dec 11, 2019

It should have more compatible and more advanced visualization and machine learning libraries.

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Machine Learning Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

Dec 25, 2019

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.

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ShrikanthHebbar

Data Science Consultant at Syniti

Jan 7, 2020

It would be very helpful if Databricks could integrate with platforms in addition to Azure.

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reviewer1276107

Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Feb 4, 2020

Databricks is an analytics platform. It should offer more data science. It should have more features for data scientists to work with.

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reviewer1270416

Vice President, Business Intelligence and Analytics at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Feb 5, 2020

Pricing is one of the things that could be improved.

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reviewer1276782

Data Scientist at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Feb 9, 2020

The product needs samples and templates to help invite users to see results and understand what the product can do.

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Pre-sale Leader, Big Data Enterprise Solutions at Ness Technologies

Apr 13, 2020

I have seen better user interfaces, so that is something that can be improved.

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Show 10 more reviews (out of 92)

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