Cost Benefit Analysis Approach - Snowflake Vs Databricks

Cost Benefit Analysis Approach - Snowflake Vs. Databricks

In this blog, we will discuss a high-level cost-benefit analysis worksheet that you can use to compare the costs and benefits of two options:

The two options being considered:

Option A: Snowflake

Option B: Databricks

List the costs associated with each option:

Option A:

• Virtual warehouse costs
• Data storage costs
• Data transfer costs
• Optional feature costs (e,.g. data lake integration, data sharing)

Option B:

• Compute resource costs
• Data storage costs
• Data transfer costs
• Optional service costs (e,.g. data engineering, data science)

List the benefits associated with each option:

Option A:

• Pay-per-use pricing model
• Scalability and performance
• Built-in security features

Option B:

• Lower costs for specific workloads
• Ability to run on-premises or in the cloud
• Strong integration with Apache Spark and other big data tools

Assign a numerical value to the costs and benefits for each option to enable comparison:

Option A:

• Virtual warehouse costs: $X
• Data storage costs: $Y
• Data transfer costs: $Z
• Optional feature costs: $P
• Total costs: $X + $Y + $Z + $P
• Scalability and performance: $Q
• Built-in security features: $R
• Total benefits: $Q + $R

Option B:

• Compute resource costs: $A
• Data storage costs: $B
• Data transfer costs: $C
• Optional service costs: $D
• Total costs: $A + $B + $C + $D
• Lower costs for certain workloads: $E
• Ability to run on-premises or in the cloud: $F
• Strong integration with Apache Spark: $G
• Total benefits: $E + $F + $G

Compare each option's total costs and benefits to determine which option provides the best cost-benefit ratio.

This will get you started on the baseline analysis. More detailed cost factors can be added to get more insight into cost factors.