FAQ-page

Here, we will answer all the questions you have about the different plaftorms we use. Are there any questions left unanswered? Feel free to submit them here:

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Databricks

  • Databricks works as an integrated data and AI platform (lakehouse) built on Apache Spark. It enables ingest, processing, analytics and machine learning in one managed environment with clusters and notebooks.

  • Databricks pricing depends on usage. You pay for compute, storage and features. Light workloads can be cheap while large ETL or AI pipelines can become expensive.

  • No. Databricks is a lakehouse for data and AI on Spark; Snowflake is a cloud data warehouse for SQL-based storage and querying. They overlap but have different primary focus.

  • Databricks is primarily a PaaS (platform as a service) with a SaaS-like UI and managed services delivered in the browser.

  • The platform itself is not fully open source, but it is built on and maintains major open-source projects such as Apache Spark, Delta Lake and MLflow.

  • Yes. Databricks is a unified data and AI platform (lakehouse) for ingestion, engineering, analytics, streaming and machine learning in one environment.

Power Bi

  • Power BI is a Microsoft data analytics and dashboarding platform used to visualize, model and share data.

  • Power BI connects to data sources, transforms and models the data, and presents it through interactive reports and dashboards in desktop or web.

  • Power BI has a free desktop version. Power BI Pro is licensed per user per month, and Power BI Premium offers capacity-based pricing for larger organizations.

  • Power BI is relatively easy to learn for Excel users, but advanced modelling and DAX formulas have a learning curve.

  • Power BI delivers fast visual insights, integrates with Microsoft 365, supports DAX modelling and simplifies sharing dashboards in the cloud.

  • Power BI is built for scalable data models, scheduled refresh, governance and interactive dashboards, while Excel is better suited for ad-hoc analysis.

Microsoft fabric

  • Microsoft Fabric is an end-to-end cloud data and analytics platform that unifies data engineering, warehousing, real-time analytics and BI in one environment.

  • Yes. Microsoft Fabric runs on Azure cloud infrastructure, but is delivered as a fully managed service via the Microsoft 365 / Power BI tenant.

  • Microsoft Fabric is SaaS: it delivers a fully managed analytics experience in the browser without managing infrastructure or clusters yourself.

  • Power BI is relatively easy to learn for Excel users, but advanced modelling and DAX formulas have a learning curve.

  • Fabric is a SaaS lakehouse tightly integrated with Microsoft 365/Power BI. Databricks is a PaaS lakehouse on Spark with more engineering/AI flexibility and less opinionated integration.

  • Fabric offers a free trial and limited free capacities (F SKUs) for testing/low-scale; production use typically requires paid capacity (Premium / F Premium SKUs or Pro licenses for sharing).