BigQuery Reviews

Right now, we are downloading raw Google Analytics four data to BigQuery and then manipulating it. It's mostly used for behavioral data in online datasets.

It has not impacted our operational costs and productivity much; however, it offers a valuable solution for our use case.

BigQuery's querying capabilities are very optimized for large datasets. It generally works faster, making it effective for large data analytics projects.

It would be beneficial if BigQuery could be made more affordable.

I have been familiar with BigQuery for at least four years, probably around six.

I would rate the stability of BigQuery as seven out of ten.

Scalability is easier with BigQuery, and I would rate it as ten out fo ten.

We haven't really needed to use Google's technical support.

Positive

We previously worked with Redshift. We found BigQuery to be the only option for our current use case. Redshift is mostly cheaper, especially if you want to manage your own data warehouse. 

We had some issues with BigQuery, which, when combined with cost, influenced our decision to move back to Redshift as our main data warehouse.

No cloud solution is straightforward. We faced difficulties in configuration, permissions, etc. All cloud providers use their own terminology, and while documented, adapting to their terminology takes time.

We have internal people for maintenance, so we don't pay for additional support.

We are above the free threshold, so we are paying around 40 euros per month for BigQuery. It is generally low cost.

In addition to working with Redshift earlier, we also had integration with Alooma as an ETL solution. However, Alooma doesn't exist anymore.

I would recommend BigQuery to others. However, making it more affordable would be appreciated.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

This is a solution from Google that is 100% cloud-based, based on GCP. BigQuery is similar to Snowflake in the way it manages data analytics. It completely decouples storage from Compute. It has a proprietary way of storing and accessing data in its own data store and is 100% managed without you needing to install or deploy anything. There is no need to arrange for any infrastructure in order to use this solution. Go to BigQuery.com, create an account and you will get a console on your browser where you can start creating the end to end data platform - databases, data warehouses, roles, users, ETL / ELT pipelines and write transformations - all via the workspace.

Although BigQuery in completely managed on cloud, one has to use many services of BigQuery and GCP in order to create the end-to-end data setup. BigQuery acts as the core Data Warehouse mechanism, but it needs additional services like - Google Cloud Dataflow, Cloud pub/sub, Cloud BigTable, Cloud DataPrep, Cloud DataProc, Cloud SQL. Being different from the traditional way of setting up end-to-end data engineering platform, the learning curve for BigQuery is a bit steeper. Google BigQuery ecosystem can surely make the ecosystem a bit more leaner.  

I have been using this solution for 3 years. 

A very stable solution. All native abilities of Google solutions are inbuilt in BigQuery. I would predict that Snowflake and BigQuery will occupy a much larger share of the cloud data analytics space in the coming years than Azure Synapse in the future. 

This is a very scalable solution. BigQuery's pricing is more suitable for large operations that plan to scale. For smaller businesses, this may be an expensive solution. Creating a BigQuery account is free, but as soon as you start using computations and data capabilities, charges start adding up.

There is no installation involved while using BigQuery. It is as simple as opening a Gmail account and creating your own end-to-end setup. You can start creating a database schema, data bases, create pipelines with step-by-step activities ranging from ingestion to transformation to updating the data marts. Its completely managed and one does not need to worry about licenses of installations.

At e-Zest, in our projects for our enterprise customers, typically between 2 to 8 people were needed for end-to-end data platform development. This included one or two admins, 2-3 ETL developers and 2-3 data warehouse members with strong SQL and database skills.

One terabyte of data costs $20 to $22 per month for storage on BigQuery and $25 on Snowflake. Snowflake is costlier for one terabyte but only marginally. Both charge differently for compute. BigQuery charges based on how much data is inserted into the tables. Reading values from tables has no cost.

BigQuery charges you based on the amount of data that you handle and not the time in which you handle it. This is why the pricing models of Snowflake and BigQuery are different and this becomes a key consideration in the decision of which platform to use. 

We evaluated Snowflake, Azure Synapse and Amazon Redshift along with BigQuery. Snowflake and BigQuery are very similar in the way they operate. However, I would rate Snowflake slightly higher than BigQuery. I would rate Azure Synapse third and AWS Redshift fourth. The way Snowflake operates, and allows integration with other systems makes it a better alternative to BigQuery. Also Snowflake's and BigQuery's underlying architectures are quite different, although for the end user they may be appearing similar for use.

BigQuery takes a different approach to design and this is important to consider. BigQuery on its own is not enough and you need other tools also offered by Google to transform data (some of which I have mentioned in an earlier section).

The BigQuery ecosystem is a little more complex than the Snowflake ecosystem. Those who have traditionally worked on on-premise data warehouses, find Snowflake much easier to set up. Those who are trying to establish warehouses for the first time, find Google easier. 

I would rate this solution a 7 out of 10. 

BigQuery has got a lot of traditional functionalities. You can store the data. You can process the data.

In Teradata, it's very fast compared to BigQuery. The processing capability and inbuilt MPP architecture support processing millions or billions of records in a few seconds. BigQuery faces challenges in processing and retrieving the same data.

So, the processing capability can be an area of improvement. 

Another area of improvement is in terms of the storage area, as BigQuery does support some limited types of data storage file format. In order to see the data, we need to store the data in a relational database. So, in the future, they should be capable of querying the data from the data lake. 

Before storing it in the RDBMS. At the moment, they don't have this feature for how my raw data looks unless you store the data in tables. Never know what sort of data. 

That's one thing, like, definitely they need to improve because before we model the data to explore what kind of data I'm getting in the raw stage then it's easy to, like model and process the data.

It supports petabytes of data like Teradata. One advantage of using BigQuery is that it's cloud-based. You don't need additional space or nodes to process growing data. It's auto-scalable, eliminating the need to plan and expand infrastructure as your organization's data grows.

We never had any major issues. However, when comparing technical support between Teradata and BigQuery, Teradata has a larger global support team. BigQuery has comparatively less support from the company to the customer.

We haven't experienced major issues or outages, so it's always available. It's multi-region, and if one server goes down, another server in that region takes over.

Positive

BigQuery can be used for any type of company. It has the capability of building applications and storing data. It can be used for OLTP or OLAP. It has many other products within the Google space.

Teradata, on the other hand, mainly focuses on building databases, storing and processing SysTrack data. BigQuery is an analytical platform where you can store and process data, and Google Cloud Platform has different products for other purposes.

You can build your application or organize data, structure, and structure. You can build reporting solutions on the Google Cloud Platform itself. It has everything - storing, processing, integrating, and building solutions, all in one product.

When comparing BigQuery with Azure scenarios, there are differences. It depends on the organization's requirements and use case.

There are two types of pricing: the storage price and the processing price. Storage is very, very cheap compared to Teradata. But processing, it depends, like, how much of an amount of data you are processing. They charge the query you run on the big query.

In terms of the data warehousing, and data analytical platform, BigQuery is one of the products in the Google Cloud platform. So, I would rate it a nine out of ten in terms of data warehousing.  

In the current landscape where organizations prioritize cloud solutions like Google Cloud, BigQuery plays a pivotal role in delivering scalability, flexibility, and numerous benefits for data management and analysis for our clients.

BigQuery's managed nature ensures that it's always up-to-date and maintained by Google on its cloud platform. This aspect makes it an ideal choice for organizations seeking cloud-based solutions instead of on-premises ones.

It allows our customers to adapt to various data types, including unstructured and flat data sets. BigQuery excels at structuring data, performing predictions, and conducting insightful analyses and it leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities, powered by Google's Duarte AI. It seamlessly integrates with Duarte AI, enabling the use of simple SQL queries to access Vertex AI foundation models directly within BigQuery. This unique capability is especially valuable for text-processing tasks, such as sentiment analysis. It provides a unified interface for all data practitioners, making it versatile for both traditional and sentiment analysis tasks. It's particularly adept at extracting specific entities from large datasets without the need for specialized models. Another notable aspect of BigQuery is its serverless architecture, which means there's no need for dedicated servers which is a great benefit.

SQL queries remain a preferred choice for many IT database administrators, and BigQuery's ability to handle SQL queries efficiently enhances its appeal. However, there's a challenge when it comes to integrating BigQuery with homegrown database solutions, which some medium and small-sized clients rely on. While it's possible to test database integration with it using a sandbox environment, achieving seamless integration can be complex, especially for open data solutions. For greater flexibility and ease of use, it would be beneficial if BigQuery offered more third-party add-ons and connectors, particularly for databases that don't have built-in integration options.

In my previous roles at different organizations, I had around three to four years of experience with GCP products. During the last five months, my engagement has focused on BigQuery specifically.

All GCP products, including BigQuery, are known for their stability and reliability. In instances where issues arise, such as product bugs or challenges, Google steps in with its robust support and maintenance services. They provide a direct helpline for organizations, allowing clients to reach out to Google and swiftly address their queries. The product itself has reached a level of maturity where most challenges have been addressed.

It provides impressive scalability capabilities.

Google's support services, particularly for GCP (Google Cloud Platform) products, are known for their agility and effectiveness. As a partner, we place a significant reliance on Google's support system, which is highly responsive and adaptable. Certain challenges can still surface, particularly in the realm of integration. Issues may arise if there's a mismatch in languages, systems, or configurations within the integration layer. These technical challenges can be addressed through thorough investigation and resolution. It's worth noting that not only does Google offer comprehensive support, but partners also contribute to providing excellent support and managed services for BigQuery and other GCP products.

Positive

In my previous organization, I had experience working with IBM's data warehouse solution, specifically IBM Db2 on Cloud. However, it's important to note that IBM's solution was primarily a database service, whereas BigQuery serves a different purpose. Users find it exceptionally user-friendly, allowing them to request data in plain language, with Google's machine learning and artificial intelligence taking care of the technical aspects. BigQuery also offers robust integration options. It seamlessly connects with various data sources and tools, including Google Cloud Storage, Google Sheets, Google Data Studios, and third-party BI tools like Tableau and Looker.

To acquire and use BigQuery, the typical process involves obtaining a GCP (Google Cloud Platform) license specific to the product. The initial setup of the product is relatively straightforward and static. Typically, it takes around one to two weeks to integrate BigQuery into your existing architecture.

BigQuery stands out as an attractive option for organizations seeking a hassle-free, plug-and-play solution. It's a robust choice that delivers strong returns on investment and addresses various needs efficiently.

The pricing is adaptable, ensuring that organizations can tailor their usage and costs based on their specific requirements and configurations within the Google Cloud Platform. You don't need multiple licenses; a single GCP BigQuery license suffices. Once you have this license in place, you will be billed according to your chosen pricing model. Google offers flexibility in pricing models to accommodate the unique needs of different customers, making it a versatile and customer-centric solution.

When it comes to evaluating competitors in the data warehouse and analytics space, it's essential to consider the strengths and differences among major players, especially Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Google's BigQuery, Amazon's Redshift, and Microsoft's Azure Synapse Analytics are three prominent contenders in this market. Redshift is a robust database and analytics platform known for its scalability and tight integration with AWS services. BigQuery shares several strengths with Amazon Redshift and Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics. All three are scalable and capable of handling large datasets. However, where Google shines is in its integration capabilities and architectural design, which many users find straightforward and user-friendly.

My advice would be to first understand your client's weak points, the challenges they face, their ambitions, vision, and data-related dreams. It's crucial to identify their desired analytical capabilities for informed decision-making within their organization. Once these critical aspects are on the table, the choice between BigQuery or any other data warehouse and analytical platform can be made. Through this approach, clients will gradually build their understanding of how BigQuery can serve as a database house and analytical platform within their architecture. It empowers them to efficiently store, analyze, and query large datasets, making it an ideal choice for organizations dealing with substantial data volumes and the need for rapid, data-driven decision-making. I would rate it nine out of ten.

I use it to deal a lot with marketing, specifically Google Ads, YouTube, and Google Analytics. But mostly, I utilize it for its capabilities to sync directly up with Google ads transfers.

Instead of having to go directly into the platform, pull various reports after and save those reports, port them over into Google Sheets, and then import ranges and queries. Then, having to transform the data to my needs, I can build a SQL script that is to my needs directly within the platform so that when the data comes out at the platform, it's already essentially punched into the format that I needed.

Its SQL editor is very easy to use and very easy to conceptualize. The way that it breaks data down into silos is easily discernible. So, I guess that's really it.

There is a good amount of documentation out there, but they're consistently making changes to the platform, and, like, their literature hasn't been updated on some plans.

I have been using BigQuery for a little over a year.

It's pretty stable. It's fast, and it is able to go through large quantities of data pretty quickly.

I think that it's easy to scale. For instance, when I need the data for a new client, I just ask to have their account added to my MCC, and the MCC deploys through basically, rolls out all the accounts available really quickly.

I am the sole user of the solution in my company.

I've tried getting in touch with the support, and that's actually the difficult part. So, unless you're using a higher-tiered version of the platform, getting support can be problematic.

I got into Google Big Query since it met my needs.

Regarding the deployment model, I work in its native GUI. I'm not sure what the SaaS version is, so I just utilize it with Google Cloud's native console.

Regarding the deployment process, I would have to create your own instance within Google Cloud. You create a project, that project. Then, you start nesting your data streams into that project. And then we do have to backfill some of the data because it'll only start grabbing data from the date that you tell it to in thirty days before. So if you need data that is previous to thirty days, then you've got it going to backfill it. After that, I found that it was a pretty easy and quick deployment.

Speaking about the time for deployment, I would say that having the knowledge I have now, it wouldn't take me even an afternoon. But at the time, because I didn't know what I was doing, it took about two-three days.

I did the deployment myself.

Price-wise, I think that is very reasonable. Like, I don't use a ton of computing when it comes to the platform, so I haven't ever really had to pay when it comes to the product. I really don't have to pay from month to month.

I did not go through other solutions.

I would tell those planning to use the solution to just go out and utilize as much information as possible. There's a ton of great information on the platform and how it can be best utilized.

The solution doesn't necessarily require maintenance.

It's a great platform. It's pretty easy to use. You do have to have some skill and uptake when it comes to actually writing SQL and writing queries. But then it does need better support capabilities. But aside from that, it's a pretty good platform.

I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

We use BigQuery to perform data warehouse migration for clients willing to move to GCP from their on-premise solution.

The solution's pricing is really competitive compared to other peers. The most valuable features of BigQuery is that it supports standard SQL and provides good performance.

I have been using BigQuery for three years.

I rate BigQuery a nine out of ten for stability.

Around 30 to 40 users use BigQuery in our organization.

I rate BigQuery ten out of ten for scalability.

I previously worked with Microsoft SQL Server.

The solution’s initial setup is very easy. You just have to spin up a data set and start using it.

I rate BigQuery ten out of ten for the ease of its initial setup.

The solution can be deployed by one person in a few minutes.

The solution's pricing is cheaper compared to other solutions. On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a two or three out of ten.

Potential users can trust BigQuery without any second thoughts. The solution's pricing is great compared to other solutions. The solution provides more flexibility and supports standard SQL, and anyone coming out from a different platform would not face any challenges adopting BigQuery.

Overall, I rate BigQuery a nine out of ten.

My company uses BigQuery as a data warehouse.

What I like most about BigQuery is that it's fast and flexible.

Another advantage of BigQuery is that it's easy to learn.

You can also use it from anywhere.

An area for improvement in BigQuery is its UI because it's not working very well.

Pricing for the solution is also very high.

In general, though, I like the solution very much.

I've been using BigQuery for six months now.

I found BigQuery stable in my six months of using it, and I'd rate its stability as ten out of ten.

BigQuery is a scalable solution, and it's a nine out of ten in terms of scalability.

I've never interacted with BigQuery support.

We used Redshift as a database for our operations, but now, we've moved to BigQuery because BigQuery is much more than a database. It has more features than Redshift, and we hope to pay less than what we paid when we were using Redshift because Redshift required us to pay ahead each month, and the total cost was too much.

BigQuery was easy to set up, but you'll need to learn how to do it. In general, the initial setup is straightforward.

I'd rate the BigQuery setup as eight out of ten.

Our in-house team implemented BigQuery for the company.

BigQuery pricing can increase quickly. It's a high-priced solution.

It would help if you researched how to reduce the price. It would take some time to find out how to set up BigQuery in a way that reduces its pricing.

My company is using a data warehouse solution called BigQuery.

My advice to anyone deciding on using BigQuery is to be aware of the pricing mechanism and have a better understanding of it to avoid surprises. You pay for what you use, so it could be very easy to lose control, which means the BigQuery costs could go up fast.

I'd rate BigQuery as nine out of ten.

I usually need to catalog. In my case, it's more related to data governance. I need to catalog information from BigQuery. I want to ensure the data quality tool is in sync with BigQuery, so I go to BigQuery and do queries to make sure it was synced with Atlan, for example, for data quality tools. I create validation rules and need to write the rule in BigQuery to create a query there, see how long it takes to run, and evaluate its performance in a data quality tool.

What I have seen is that they are using BigQuery as a central repository. They bring dispersed information to BigQuery, which facilitates exploring the data and gaining insights. Consequently, it improves operations, response time, and the business overall.

As a user, I have liked using BigQuery to create queries. They have a table explorer feature that allows you to select a table, choose fields, and generate queries easily, which significantly facilitates my workflow. I also appreciate the lineage feature, which shows how tables relate to each other and enables end-to-end usage visualization. 

Furthermore, its integration with other tools like Atlan through a Google Chrome extension is highly beneficial. Using BigQuery's central repository brings dispersed information together, which facilitates exploring the data and gaining insights. Consequently, it improves operations, response time, and the business overall.

There are integration challenges, particularly with performance when exporting data to BigQuery from other tools like Qualitics. It can be slower and more problematic compared to other platforms such as Snowflake.

I have been working with BigQuery for one year.

I have not seen a lot of problems, so I would say BigQuery is quite stable.

In my opinion, BigQuery is very scalable yet has some limitations regarding performance that are not always as required.

I don't have direct contact with BigQuery's support team. Our organization manages this through internal communication, and I contact my company’s team when issues arise.

Positive

I would recommend using BigQuery because it's a very good tool, easy to manage, and similar to other databases. Those familiar with SQL Server or Oracle can adapt to BigQuery easily. It's a scalable cloud solution. 

Overall, I would rate BigQuery as nine out of ten.