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Databricks Data Intelligence Platform vs. Azure SQL Database

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Databricks Data Intelligence Platform

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ADatabricks offers the Databricks Lakehouse Platform (formerly the Unified Analytics Platform), a data science platform and Apache Spark cluster manager. The Databricks Unified Data Service provides a platform for data pipelines, data lakes, and data platforms.

    $0.07

    Per DBU

    Azure SQL Database

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AAzure SQL Database is Microsoft's relational database as a service (DBaaS).

    $0.50

    Per Hour

    Pricing
    Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformAzure SQL Database
    Editions & Modules
    Standard
    $0.07
    Per DBU
    Premium
    $0.10
    Per DBU
    Enterprise
    $0.13
    Per DBU
    2 vCORE
    $0.5044
    Per Hour
    6 vCORE
    $1.5131
    Per Hour
    10 vCORE
    $2.52
    Per Hour
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformAzure SQL Database
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformAzure SQL Database
    Considered Both Products
    Databricks
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    16 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    17 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    16 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    16 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    15 Answers
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    16 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    14 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    92%
    Implementation went as expected
    12 Answers
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    16 Answers
    Features
    Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformAzure SQL Database
    Database-as-a-Service
    Comparison of Database-as-a-Service features of Databricks Data Intelligence Platform and Azure SQL Database
    Feature
    Databricks Data Intelligence Platform
    -
    Ratings
    Azure SQL Database
    7.2
    32 Ratings
    16% below category average
    Automatic software patching00 Ratings6.330 Ratings
    Database scalability00 Ratings7.832 Ratings
    Automated backups00 Ratings7.832 Ratings
    Database security provisions00 Ratings8.832 Ratings
    Monitoring and metrics00 Ratings6.831 Ratings
    Automatic host deployment00 Ratings6.127 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformAzure SQL Database
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    MongoDB Atlas
    Score7.8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    SAP Business Data Cloud
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Azure Database
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    SAP Business Data Cloud
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Google Cloud SQL
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformAzure SQL Database
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.4
    (21 ratings)
    8.0
    (32 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.7
    (7 ratings)
    8.5
    (5 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.7
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Professional Services
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformAzure SQL Database
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Databricks
    Medium to Large data throughput shops will benefit the most from Databricks Spark processing. Smaller use cases may find the barrier to entry a bit too high for casual use cases. Some of the overhead to kicking off a Spark compute job can actually lead to your workloads taking longer, but past a certain point the performance returns cannot be beat.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We have found it's a great alternative for making older legacy applications work with online databases instead of only on-premises databases. We've converted over a dozen applications this way, and it has allowed our clients to have a distributed workforce using their applications without incurring the expense of a complete application rewrite.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Databricks
    • Process raw data in One Lake (S3) env to relational tables and views
    • Share notebooks with our business analysts so that they can use the queries and generate value out of the data
    • Try out PySpark and Spark SQL queries on raw data before using them in our Spark jobs
    • Modern day ETL operations made easy using Databricks. Provide access mechanism for different set of customers
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Maintenance is always an issue, so using a cloud solution saves a lot of trouble.
    • On premise solutions always suffer from fragmented implementations here and there, where several "dba's" keep track of security and maintenance. With a cloud database it's much easier to keep a central overview.
    • Security options in SQL database are next level... data masking, hiding sensitive data where always neglected on premise, whereas you'll get this automatically in the cloud.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Databricks
    • Sometimes, when multiple jobs depend on each other in different environments, it is not always easy to see the full workflow in one place.
    • It is sometimes difficult to determine which job or cluster contributes more to the overall cost.
    • For beginners, cluster configuration may be a little difficult. So more recommendation in the platform can help.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • One needs to be aware that some T-SQL features are simply not available.
    • The programmatic access to server, trace flags, hardware from within Azure SQL Database is taken away (for a good reason).
    • No SQL Agent so your jobs need to be orchestrated differently.
    • The maximum concurrent logins maybe an unexpected problem.
    • Sudden disconnects.
    • The developers and admin must study the capacity and tier usage limits https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-subscription-service-limits otherwise some errors or even transaction aborts never seen before can occur.
    • Only one Latin Collation choice.
    • There is no way to debug T-SQL ( a big drawback in my point of view).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Databricks
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    This is best solution as a DBA one could expect from a service provider and as a cloud service, it removes all your hassles.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Databricks
    Because it is an amazing platform for designing experiments and delivering a deep dive analysis that requires execution of highly complex queries, as well as it allows to share the information and insights across the company with their shared workspaces, while keeping it secured.

    in terms of graph generation and interaction it could improve their UI and UX
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    The interfaces are intuitive once you are familiar with all the functions. The ability to use different tools to interact with the platform, such as directly via a browser or code editors such as VS Code or Visual Studio is a great option and allows for integrating withn the project and other testing and developing tools.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Databricks
    One of the best customer and technology support that I have ever experienced in my career. You pay for what you get and you get the Rolls Royce. It reminds me of the customer support of SAS in the 2000s when the tools were reaching some limits and their engineer wanted to know more about what we were doing, long before "data science" was even a name. Databricks truly embraces the partnership with their customer and help them on any given challenge.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We give the support a high rating simply because every time we've had issues or questions, representatives were in contact with us quickly. Without fail, our issues/questions were handled in a timely matter. That kind of response is integral when client data integrity and availability is in question. There is also a wealth of documentation for resolving issues on your own.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Databricks
    The most important differentiating factor for Databricks Lakehouse Platform from these other platforms is support for ACID transactions and the time travel feature. Also, native integration with managed MLflow is a plus. EMR, Cloudera, and Hortonworks are not as optimized when it comes to Spark Job Execution. Other platforms need to be self-managed, which is another huge hassle.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We moved away from Oracle and NoSQL because we had been so reliant on them for the last 25 years, the pricing was too much and we were looking for a way to cut the cord. Snowflake is just too up in the air, feels like it is soon to be just another line item to add to your Azure subscription. Azure was just priced right, easy to migrate to and plenty of resources to hire to support/maintain it. Very easy to learn, too.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Databricks
    • The ability to spin up a BIG Data platform with little infrastructure overhead allows us to focus on business value not admin
    • DB has the ability to terminate/time out instances which helps manage cost.
    • The ability to quickly access typical hard to build data scenarios easily is a strength.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Perfect for small and medium databases, being very cost effective.
    • As a Platform as a Service, there is no concern about patches, upgrades and end of life.
    • Be aware of security and network capabilities. The service cannot run in the VNET as Azure Virtual Machines do.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots