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Snowflake vs Teradata comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 6, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Snowflake
Ranking in Data Warehouse
1st
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
98
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Teradata
Ranking in Data Warehouse
3rd
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
Customer Experience Management (5th), Backup and Recovery (19th), Data Integration (18th), Relational Databases Tools (7th), BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (10th), Marketing Management (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of Snowflake is 17.1%, down from 19.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Teradata is 17.1%, up from 14.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

VivekSingh 1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides good data ingestion capability, but should include more AI capabilities
The solution's integration aspect is good, and all the connectors are in place. I found Snowflake similar to RDS. We use it for both data in motion and data in transit. It looks like the tool handles the data quite securely. We create ETL patterns. We ingest data from different source systems, and we have to create data pipelines. It would be useful if we could have AI features added to identify what I'm going to do with this data. It would be good if it could look at the data and help me create an automated pipeline instead of me creating a pipeline by myself. I'm from a retail background. I completed my Oracle DBA training a long time ago, about 18 years ago. I was quite familiar with the Snowflake and relational database concepts since I had already completed the Oracle ops, DBA ops, OCP, and OPA courses. For me, it was a journey similar to when I shifted from Oracle RDS to Snowflake. Although I was quite familiar with most of the concepts, there were some learnings. Whosoever is in the data field should at least try Snowflake once. They will then realize the best features in the solution and can continue using it. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
SurjitChoudhury - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers seamless integration capabilities and performance optimization features, including extensive indexing and advanced tuning capabilities
We created and constructed the warehouse. We used multiple loading processes like MultiLoad, FastLoad, and Teradata Pump. But those are loading processes, and Teradata is a powerful tool because if we consider older technologies, its architecture with nodes, virtual processes, and nodes is a unique concept. Later, other technologies like Informatica also adopted the concept of nodes from Informatica PowerCenter version 7.x. Previously, it was a client-server architecture, but later, it changed to the nodes concept. Like, we can have the database available 24/7, 365 days. If one node fails, other nodes can take care of it. Informatica adopted all those concepts when it changed its architecture. Even Oracle databases have since adapted their architecture to them. However, this particular Teradata company initially started with its own different type of architecture, which major companies later adopted. It has grown now, but initially, whatever query we sent it would be mapped into a particular component. After that, it goes to the virtual processor and down to the disk, where the actual physical data is loaded. So, in between, there's a map, which acts like a data dictionary. It also holds information about each piece of data, where it's loaded, and on which particular virtual processor or node the data resides. Because Teradata comes with a four-node architecture, or however many nodes we choose, the cost is determined by that initially. So, what type of data does each and every node hold? It's a shared-no architecture. So, whatever task is given to a virtual processor it will be processed. If there's a failure, then it will be taken care of by another virtual processor. Moreover, this solution has impacted the query time and data performance. In Teradata, there's a lot of joining, partitioning, and indexing of records. There are primary and secondary indexes, hash indexing, and other indexing processes. To improve query performance, we first analyze the query and tune it. If a join needs a secondary index, which plays a major role in filtering records, we might reconstruct that particular table with the secondary index. This tuning involves partitioning and indexing. We use these tools and technologies to fine-tune performance. When it comes to integration, tools like Informatica seamlessly connect with Teradata. We ensure the Teradata database is configured correctly in Informatica, including the proper hostname and properties for the load process. We didn't find any major complexity or issues with integration. But, these technologies are quite old now. With newer big data technologies, we've worked with a four-layer architecture, pulling data from Hadoop Lake to Teradata. We configure Teradata with the appropriate hostname and credentials, and use BTEQ queries to load data. Previously, we converted the data warehouse to a CLD model as per Teradata's standardized procedures, moving from an ETL to an EMT process. This allowed us to perform gap analysis on missing entities based on the model and retrieve them from the source system again. We found Teradata integration straightforward and compatible with other tools.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tool is very easy to use. The solution’s desktop features are also very easy to use. Also, the product’s SQL-based connectivity is also good. It can connect with any tool."
"I like the ability to work with a managed service on the cloud and that is easy to start with."
"The way it is built and designed is valuable. The way the shared model is built and the way it exploits the power of the cloud is very good. Certain features related to administration and management, akin to Oracle Flashback and all that, are very important for modern-day administration and management. It is also good in terms of managing and improving performance, indexing, and partitioning. It is sort of completely automated. Everything is essentially under the hood, and the engine takes care of it all. As a data warehouse on the cloud, Snowflake stands strong on its ground even though each of the cloud providers has its own data warehouse, such as Redshift for AWS or Synapse for Azure."
"The most valuable feature is the clone copy."
"Its performance is most valuable. As compared to SQL Server, we are able to see a significant improvement in performance with Snowflake."
"The most efficient way for real-time dashboards or analytical business intelligence reports to be sent to the customer."
"Time travel is one feature that really helps us out."
"Great scalability and near zero maintenance."
"The feature that we find most valuable is its ability to perform Massive Parallel Processing."
"​Building a data warehouse with Teradata has definitely helped a lot of our downstream applications to more easily access information."
"Designing the database is easy."
"Auto-partitioning and indexing, and resource allocation on the fly are key features."
"Teradata's pretty fast."
"The flexibility in design is very good."
"​We really enjoy the FastLoad, TPump, and MultiLoad features.​"
"A conventional and easily defined way to build a data warehouse or a layer of data marts."
 

Cons

"Pricing is an issue for many customers."
"I think that Snowflake could improve its user interface. The current one is not interactive."
"These aren't as crucial, but there are common errors sometimes where the database is down, or a table is nullified and a new table is added and you are not given access to that. With those errors, you don't have permissions."
"There are a lot of features that they need to come up with. A lot of functions are missing in Snowflake, so we have to find a workaround for those. For example, OUTER APPLY is a basic function in SQL Server, but it is not there in Snowflake. So, you have to write complex code for it."
"To ensure the proper functioning of Snowflake as an MDS, it relies heavily on other partner tools."
"Their strategy is just to leverage what you've got and put Snowflake in the middle. It does work well with other tools. You have to buy a separate reporting tool and a separate data loading tool, whereas, in some platforms, these tools are baked in. In the long-term, they'll need to add more direct partnerships to the ecosystem so that it's not like adding on tools around Snowflake to make it work. They can also consider including Snowflake native reporting tools versus partnering with other reporting tools. It would kind of change where they sit in the market."
"Currently, Snowflake doesn't support unstructured data."
"The cost of the solution could be reduced."
"Teradata is a bit late for the cloud."
"There is some improvement required on OLTP level and some analytical function is missing."
"​I think the UI is not there yet. It could be improved by being more user-friendly.​"
"An additional feature I would you like to see included in the next release, is that it needs to be more cloud-friendly."
"It could be a bit more user-friendly."
"When backups are performed, it locks the database, preventing user access, which is a concern."
"The setup is not straightforward."
"The solution is stable. However, there are times when we are using large amounts of data and we can see some latency issues."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The whole licensing system is based on credit points. You can also make a license agreement with the company so that you buy credit points and then you use them. What you do not use in one year can be carried over to the next year."
"I believe that pricing is reasonable for this solution."
"The product's price range falls between average to a bit expensive range. I think the tool is worth the money if you use it properly."
"Pricing can be confusing for customers."
"Part of the problem with the pricing is that it is very difficult for businesses to get an idea of how expensive it might be until they actually start using Snowflake."
"The price of Snowflake is very reasonable."
"There is a license needed to use this solution. There are a few licensing options available. They have a pay-as-you-go option, but it is recommended to pay upfront."
"We're based on credits. So, we're paying four and a half dollars of credit. There are no additional costs. I would rate it a two out of five in terms of pricing."
"The price needs to be more competitive as Hadoop, Redshift, Snowflake, etc are constantly making way into EDW space."
"​I would advise others to look into migration and setup as a fixed price and incorporate a SaaS option for other Teradata services​."
"I am using the free version of Teradata."
"Make sure you have the in-house skills to design and support the solution, as relying on external sources is extremely costly and tends to lock you into specific platforms, tools, and paradigms."
"The cost is significantly high."
"Teradata is expensive but gives value for money, especially if you don't want to move your data to the cloud."
"The tool costs about 30,000 euros a month, while Azure Synapse SQL only costs 10,000."
"I rate the product price a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."
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Comparison Review

it_user232068 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 5, 2015
Netezza vs. Teradata
Original published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/should-i-choose-net Two leading Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) architectures for Data Warehousing (DW) are IBM PureData System for Analytics (formerly Netezza) and Teradata. I thought talking about the similarities and differences…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
36%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
26%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Snowflake?
The best thing about Snowflake is its flexibility in changing warehouse sizes or computational power.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Snowflake?
The pricing part is based on the computing and storage. The costs are different and then there are services costs as well. I have heard that Snowflake is costlier than Redshift or GCP BigQuery. A s...
What needs improvement with Snowflake?
I think people do not want to create pipelines for many customers now. Normally, we have this layer architecture, like layer one, layer two, layer three, or layer four, where we have raw data, inte...
Comparing Teradata and Oracle Database, which product do you think is better and why?
I have spoken to my colleagues about this comparison and in our collective opinion, the reason why some people may declare Teradata better than Oracle is the pricing. Both solutions are quite simi...
Which companies use Teradata and who is it most suitable for?
Before my organization implemented this solution, we researched which big brands were using Teradata, so we knew if it would be compatible with our field. According to the product's site, the comp...
Is Teradata a difficult solution to work with?
Teradata is not a difficult product to work with, especially since they offer you technical support at all levels if you just ask. There are some features that may cause difficulties - for example,...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Snowflake Computing
IntelliFlex, Aster Data Map Reduce, , QueryGrid, Customer Interaction Manager, Digital Marketing Center, Data Mover, Data Stream Architecture
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Accordant Media, Adobe, Kixeye Inc., Revana, SOASTA, White Ops
Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about Snowflake vs. Teradata and other solutions. Updated: November 2024.
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