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BigQuery vs Vertica comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

BigQuery
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Vertica
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Cloud Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of BigQuery is 9.1%, up from 7.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Vertica is 6.2%, up from 5.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

Sathishkumar Jayaprakash - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient large dataset handling with seamless service integration
BigQuery allows for very fast access, and it is efficient in handling large datasets compared to other SQL databases. It integrates well with other GCP products, and creating subscriptions in the UI is straightforward. The whole ecosystem of GCP products makes BigQuery beneficial for our data-handling tasks. Additionally, it is more cost-effective compared to alternatives like AWS.
T Venkatesh - PeerSpot reviewer
Processes query faster through multiple systems simultaneously, but it could support different data types
We use the solution for various tasks, including preparing data marts and generating offers. It helps extract data based on rules from the policy team and provides insights to enhance business operations. We also analyze transactions to target customers and improve business performance The…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's straightforward to set up."
"The product’s most valuable feature is its ability to manage the database on the cloud."
"The solution is very useful nowadays for keeping a huge number of records."
"The main thing I like about BigQuery is storage. We did an on-premise BigQuery migration with trillions of records. Usually, we have to deal with insufficient storage on-premises, but in BigQuery, we don't get that because it's like cloud storage, and we can have any number of records. That is one advantage. The next major advantage is the column length. We have some limits on column length on-premises, like 10,000, and we have to design it based on that. However, with BigQuery, we don't need to design the column length at all. It will expand or shrink based on the records it's getting. I can give you a real-life example based on our migration from on-premises to GCP. There was a dimension table with a general number of records, and when we queried that on-premises, like in Apache Spark or Teradata, it took around half an hour to get those records. In BigQuery, it was instant. As it's very fast, you can get it in two or three minutes. That was very helpful for our engineers. Usually, we have to run a query on-premises and go for a break while waiting for that query to give us the results. It's not the case with BigQuery because it instantly provides results when we run it. So, that makes the work fast, it helps a lot, and it helps save a lot of time. It also has a reasonable performance rate and smart tuning. Suppose we need to perform some joins, BigQuery has a smart tuning option, and it'll tune itself and tell us the best way a query can be done in the backend. To be frank, the performance, reliability, and everything else have improved, even the downtime. Usually, on-premise servers have some downtime, but as BigQuery is multiregional, we have storage in three different locations. So, downtime is also not getting impacted. For example, if the Atlantic ocean location has some downtime, or the server is down, we can use data that is stored in Africa or somewhere else. We have three or four storage locations, and that's the main advantage."
"BigQuery allows for very fast access, and it is efficient in handling large datasets compared to other SQL databases."
"It's pretty stable. It's fast, and it is able to go through large quantities of data pretty quickly."
"BigQuery excels at data analysis. It processes vast amounts of information using its advanced architecture and sophisticated querying capabilities, making it crucial for critical insights and safe for handling sensitive data."
"There are some performance features like partitioning, which you can do based on an integer, and it improves the performance a lot."
"Its projections and encoding are excellent tools for tuning large volumes."
"The performance is very good and the aggregate records are fast."
"The Vertica architecture means it can process/ingest data in parallel to reporting and analyzing because of its in-memory Write-Optimized Storage sitting alongside the analytics optimized Read-Optimized Storage."
"The most valuable feature is Vertica's performance and the ease of using the database."
"We are also opening new areas of business and potential new revenue streams using Vertica's analytic functions, most notably geospatial, where we are able to run billions of comparisons of lat/long point locations against polygon and point/radius locations in seconds. ​"
"Any novice user can tune vertical queries with minimal training (or no training at all)."
"It has improved my organization's functionality and performance."
"Vertica is a columnar database, this support our developments in analytics, advanced analytics, and ETL process with large sets of data."
 

Cons

"I noticed recently it's more expensive now."
"The main challenges are in the areas of performance and cost optimizations."
"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."
"As a product, BigQuery still requires a lot of maturity to accommodate other use cases and to be widely acceptable across other organizations."
"When it comes to queries or the code being executed in the data warehouse, the management of this code, like integration with the GitHub repository or the GitLab repository, is kind of complicated, and it's not so direct."
"I rate BigQuery six out of 10 for affordability. It could be cheaper."
"I would like to see version-based implementation and a fallback arrangement for data stored in BigQuery storage. These are some features I'm interested in."
"It would be helpful if they could provide some dashboards where you can easily view charts and information."
"They could improve on customer service."
"It's hard to make it slow for a small data volume. For large volumes, it's hard to make it work. It's also hard to make it faster, and to make it scale."
"Vertica offers a platform-as-a-service version, but their software-as-a-service solution is only available on AWS. They need to get a SaaS version on Azure and GCP as fast as possible."
"Vertica can improve automation and documentation. Additionally, the solution can be simplified."
"Whatever's out, the core is not always as great as the engine, especially their first version."
"The biggest problem is the cost of cloud deployment."
"When it is about to reach the maximum storage capacity, it becomes slow."
"We faced some challenges when trying to use the temporary tables feature."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price could be better. Usually, you need to buy the license for a year. Whenever you want more, you can subscribe to it, and you can use it. Otherwise, you can terminate the license. You can use it daily or monthly, and we use it based on a project's requirements."
"The solution is pretty affordable and quite cheap in comparison to PDP or Cloudera."
"The platform is inexpensive."
"The product’s pricing could be more flexible for end users."
"Its cost structure operates on a pay-as-you-go model."
"1 TB is free of cost monthly. If you use more than 1 TB a month, then you need to pay 5 dollars extra for each TB."
"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 BigQuery charges based on how much data is inserted into the tables. 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 are different and it becomes a key consideration in the decision of which platform to use."
"The price is a bit high but the technology is worth it."
"Vertica is an expensive tool."
"Work with a vendor, if possible, and take advantage of more aggressive discounts at mid-fiscal year (April) and fiscal year-end (October).​"
"It's difficult today to compete with open-source solutions. In these areas, there is a lot of competition and the price of this solution is a bit pricy."
"I am aware that we have licensed it, but I have no knowledge of its cost."
"The pricing for this solution is very reasonable compared to other vendors."
"The pricing could improve, it is a little expensive."
"It is fast to purchase through the AWS Marketplace."
"The pricing and licensing depend on the size of your environment and the zone where you want to implement."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Retailer
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
5%
 

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.
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.
What needs improvement with BigQuery?
When I execute a query, the dashboard doesn't always present the output seamlessly. Troubleshooting requires opening each pipeline individually, which is time-consuming. Moreover, pricing, the abse...
What do you like most about Vertica?
Vertica is easy to use and provides really high performance, stability, and scalability.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Vertica?
The solution is relatively cost-effective. Pricing and licensing are reasonable compared to other solutions.
What needs improvement with Vertica?
The product could improve by adding support for a wider variety of data types and enhancing features to better compete with other databases.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Micro Focus Vertica, HPE Vertica, HPE Vertica on Demand
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Cerner, Game Show Network Game, Guess by Marciano, Supercell, Etsy, Nascar, Empirix, adMarketplace, and Cardlytics.
Find out what your peers are saying about BigQuery vs. Vertica and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.