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BigQuery vs Snowflake Analytics comparison

Google and Snowflake Computing are both solutions in the Cloud Data Warehouse category. Google is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3, while Snowflake Computing is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.3. Google holds a 7.0% mindshare in CDW, compared to Snowflake Computing’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Snowflake Computing users who would recommend it.
BigQuery
Read 40 BigQuery reviews
  • 3,303 Views
  • 2,698 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
Snowflake Analytics
Read 39 Snowflake Analytics reviews
  • 320 Views
  • 205 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

Snowflake Analytics and BigQuery compete in the cloud-based data warehousing and analytics sector. Snowflake seems to have an advantage with its scalability and robust cloud flexibility, while BigQuery stands out for its cost efficiency and rapid processing capabilities.

Features: Snowflake Analytics is notable for its automated infrastructure management, time travel, and secure data warehousing. It offers high scalability and flexibility across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. BigQuery excels in cost-efficient storage, rapid data processing, and seamless integration with Google's AI and machine learning tools.

Room for Improvement: Snowflake users have expressed a desire for better integration with machine learning tools and improved cost transparency. Enhancements in on-premises solutions are also needed. BigQuery users face challenges with character restrictions, caching inconsistencies, and a complex setup process, and they also seek improvements in cost optimization and local data residency.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Snowflake and BigQuery operate on public cloud platforms. Snowflake is praised for its responsive support but may have delays. BigQuery's customer service is seen positively, with organizations often managing their own support, and it offers strong documentation supported by Google's infrastructure.

Pricing and ROI: Snowflake's pricing model is flexible, aligning costs with usage by separating compute and storage, though users find it expensive. BigQuery is considered more affordable due to its cost-effective storage and execution models, but its pricing can escalate if not managed carefully. Snowflake provides time savings contributing to ROI, while BigQuery's pay-as-you-go model is budget-friendly.

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Buyer's Guide
BigQuery vs. Snowflake Analytics
March 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
8.6
Organizations saved costs and improved performance with BigQuery, achieving significant returns despite an initial learning period.
Sentiment score
6.4
Snowflake Analytics boosts ROI up to 50% by optimizing costs, improving performance, and enabling simultaneous team collaboration.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Google BigQuery support is generally reliable and agile but lacks direct engagement compared to competitors like Teradata.
Sentiment score
6.9
Snowflake Analytics' support receives mixed reviews; many praise responsiveness, while others face delays and struggle accessing direct help.
rating the customer support at ten points out of ten
For more quotes and insights, download the BigQuery report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Snowflake Analytics report
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
BigQuery excels in scalability and performance for large operations but may be costly for smaller businesses.
Sentiment score
8.0
Snowflake Analytics excels in scalability, auto-scaling CPU/GPU resources efficiently, benefiting businesses with its adaptive cloud-based architecture.
The scalability is definitely good because we are migrating to the cloud since the computers on the premises or the big database we need are no longer enough.
For more quotes and insights, download the BigQuery report
Storage is unlimited because they use S3 if it is AWS, so storage has no limit.
For more quotes and insights, download the Snowflake Analytics report
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
BigQuery is praised for stability, reliability, and performance but has minor glitches with room for improvement in some areas.
Sentiment score
8.5
Snowflake Analytics is highly rated for stability, offering reliable performance and minimal outages thanks to cloud-backed robustness.
 

Room For Improvement

BigQuery's drawbacks include special character restrictions, high pricing, integration issues, and needed improvements in user interface and support.
Snowflake Analytics requires better orchestration, integration, performance, machine learning support, user interface, cost transparency, and AI-driven analytics capabilities.
Troubleshooting requires opening each pipeline individually, which is time-consuming.
In general, if I know SQL and start playing around, it will start making sense.
For more quotes and insights, download the BigQuery report
AIML-based SQL prompt and query generation could be an area for enhancement.
Navigating the user console can be challenging, particularly when looking for details like the account ID.
For more quotes and insights, download the Snowflake Analytics report
JR
reviewer2641596 - PeerSpot reviewerKamleshPant - PeerSpot reviewerAyindeHammed - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Setup Cost

BigQuery's pricing is flexible, based on usage, with low storage costs, and customizable to enterprise needs within Google Cloud.
Snowflake Analytics uses a flexible, consumption-based pricing model, balancing costs with usability for business analytics and streaming workloads.
The price is perceived as expensive, rated at eight out of ten in terms of costliness.
For more quotes and insights, download the BigQuery report
Snowflake charges per query, which amounts to a very minor cost, such as $0.015 per query.
Snowflake is better and cheaper than Redshift and other cloud warehousing systems.
For more quotes and insights, download the Snowflake Analytics report
JR
AyindeHammed - PeerSpot reviewerKamleshPant - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Valuable Features

BigQuery provides scalable, fast, cost-effective data analytics with seamless GCP integration and supports complex queries and various data types.
Snowflake Analytics offers scalable, flexible, and secure data integration with standout features for large datasets and AI capabilities across major cloud platforms.
It is really fast because it can process millions of rows in just a matter of one or two seconds.
BigQuery processes a substantial amount of data, whether in gigabytes or terabytes, swiftly producing desired data within one or two minutes.
For more quotes and insights, download the BigQuery report
Running a considerable query on Microsoft SQL Server may take up to thirty minutes or an hour, while Snowflake executes the same query in less than three minutes.
It is a data offering where I can see data lineage, data governance, and data security.
For more quotes and insights, download the Snowflake Analytics report
reviewer2641596 - PeerSpot reviewer
JR
AyindeHammed - PeerSpot reviewerKamleshPant - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Categories and Ranking

BigQuery
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Snowflake Analytics
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Web Analytics (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Cloud Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of BigQuery is 7.0%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Snowflake Analytics is 0.5%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

VikashKumar1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to maintain and provides high availability
Since I used BigQuery over the GCP cloud environment, I'm not sure whether we can go through internal IDEAs like IntelliJ or DBeaver that we use to connect with databases. Instead of connecting directly to BigQuery, we connect to GCP, Cloud Run, and then to BigQuery, which is a long process. Sometimes, we face some issues, bugs, and defects. We must first connect with a VPN to check data issues while working from home. Then, it allows you to connect to the cloud. After logging into the cloud, it searches for the service we are looking for, and then we go to BigQuery. This is a long process. After that, we analyze the issues in a table. Instead, it would be very helpful if it could provide a tool that we can install on our MacBook or Windows system. Once we open this tool, we can connect directly to the BigQuery server and easily perform tasks.
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KamleshPant - PeerSpot reviewer
Data ecosystem thrives with advanced governance and streaming capabilities
It is a data offering where I can see data lineage, data governance, and data security. Snowflake has a streaming capability to work with real-time streaming data and delta tables. Additionally, task management, job scheduling, and connecting multiple data sources unify my data across internal and external sources. The system ecosystem for analytics is enhanced, and AI capabilities are incorporated.
Read full review
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Retailer
8%
Computer Software Company
18%
Retailer
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BigQuery?
The initial setup process is easy.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BigQuery?
The price is perceived as expensive, rated at eight out of ten in terms of costliness. Still, it offers significant cost savings.
See all answers
What needs improvement with BigQuery?
When I open many of the Google Cloud products, I am in an environment that I do not feel familiar with; it is a little overwhelming. In general, if I know SQL and start playing around, it will star...
See all answers
What do you like most about Snowflake Analytics?
Its performance speed is very good.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Snowflake Analytics?
Snowflake is better and cheaper than Redshift and other cloud warehousing systems. It's economical.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Snowflake Analytics?
Most features are already available. Perhaps AIML integration might be further needed, or Snowflake is already implementing it. AIML-based SQL prompt and query generation could be an area for enhan...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Snowflake vs BigQuery
Compared 25% of the time
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Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse vs BigQuery
Compared 16% of the time
Teradata vs BigQuery Logo
Teradata vs BigQuery
Compared 15% of the time
Vertica vs BigQuery Logo
Vertica vs BigQuery
Compared 14% of the time
Apache Hadoop vs BigQuery Logo
Apache Hadoop vs BigQuery
Compared 7% of the time
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Adobe Analytics vs Snowflake Analytics Logo
Adobe Analytics vs Snowflake Analytics
Compared 27% of the time
Amplitude vs Snowflake Analytics Logo
Amplitude vs Snowflake Analytics
Compared 22% of the time
SAP IQ vs Snowflake Analytics Logo
SAP IQ vs Snowflake Analytics
Compared 19% of the time
Teradata vs Snowflake Analytics Logo
Teradata vs Snowflake Analytics
Compared 17% of the time
Mixpanel vs Snowflake Analytics Logo
Mixpanel vs Snowflake Analytics
Compared 15% of the time
More Snowflake Analytics Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
BigQuery
April 2025
BigQuery reportDownload BigQuery product report
Buyer's Guide
Snowflake Analytics
March 2025
Snowflake Analytics reportDownload Snowflake Analytics product report
 

Overview

BigQuery is an enterprise data warehouse that solves this problem by enabling super-fast SQL queries using the processing power of Google's infrastructure. ... You can control access to both the project and your data based on your business needs, such as giving others the ability to view or query your data.

Google

Conventional data platforms and big data solutions struggle to deliver on their fundamental purpose: to enable any user to work with any data, without limits on scale, performance or flexibility. Whether you’re a data analyst, data scientist, data engineer, or any other business or technology professional, you’ll get more from your data with Snowflake.

To achieve this, we built a new data platform from the ground up for the cloud. It’s designed with a patented new architecture to be the centerpiece for data pipelines, data warehousing, data lakes, data application development, and for building data exchanges to easily and securely share governed data. The result, A platform delivered as a service that’s powerful but simple to use.

Snowflake’s cloud data platform supports a multi-cloud strategy, including a cross-cloud approach to mix and match clouds as you see fit. Snowflake delivers advantages such as global data replication, which means you can move your data to any cloud in any region, without having to re-code your applications or learn new skills.

Snowflake Computing
 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Lionsgate, Adobe, Sony, Capital One, Akamai, Deliveroo, Snagajob, Logitech, University of Notre Dame, Runkeeper
Buyer's Guide
BigQuery vs. Snowflake Analytics
March 2025
Free Report: BigQuery vs. Snowflake Analytics
Find out what your peers are saying about BigQuery vs. Snowflake Analytics and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
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