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Anaconda vs Databricks comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 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

Anaconda
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Databricks
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (8th), Streaming Analytics (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of Anaconda is 2.1%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Databricks is 15.9%, down from 19.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Science Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Rohan Sharma - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides all the frameworks and makes it easy to create environments for multiple projects
The best thing is that it provides all the frameworks and makes it easy to create environments for multiple projects using Anaconda. It is easy for a beginner to learn to use Anaconda. Comparatively, it is easier than using virtual environments or other environments because of the Conda environment. However, there are many things in Anaconda that people need to be aware of, so it can be challenging.
ShubhamSharma7 - PeerSpot reviewer
Capability to integrate diverse coding languages in a single notebook greatly enhances workflow
Databricks offers various courses that I can use, whether it's PySpark, Scala, or R. I can leverage all these courses in a single notebook, which is beneficial for clients as they can access various tools in one place whenever needed. This is quite significant. I usually work with PySpark based on client requirements. After coding, I feed the Databricks notebooks into the ADF pipeline for updates. Databricks' capability to process data in parallel enhances data processing speed. Furthermore, I can connect our Databricks notebook directly with Power BI and other visualization tools like Qlik. Once we develop code, it allows us to transform raw data into visualizations for clients using analysis diagrams, which is very helpful.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The notebook feature is an improvement over RStudio."
"The best part of Anaconda is the media distribution that comes as part of it. It gets us started very quickly."
"The most valuable feature is the Jupyter notebook that allows us to write the Python code, compile it on the fly, and then look at the results."
"The most advantageous feature is the logic building."
"Anaconda is an open-source platform that can integrate numerous other kits and models in one place."
"It provides a unified platform where you can install Jupyter, Python Spider, and other related tools without needing separate installations."
"The virtual environment is very good."
"The most valuable feature is the set of libraries that are used to support the functionality that we require."
"Databricks' capability to process data in parallel enhances data processing speed."
"Having one solution for everything, from data engineering to machine learning, is beneficial since everything comes under one hood."
"The technical support is good."
"The ease of use and its accessibility are valuable."
"Databricks is a robust solution for big data processing, offering flexibility and powerful features."
"I like how easy it is to share your notebook with others. You can give people permission to read or edit. I think that's a great feature. You can also pull in code from GitHub pretty easily. I didn't use it that often, but I think that's a cool feature."
"The solution is built from Spark and has integration with MLflow, which is important for our use case."
"Databricks is definitely a very stable product and reliable."
 

Cons

"Anaconda should be optimized for RAM consumption."
"One feature that I would like to see is being able to use a different language in a different cell, which would allow me to mix R and Python together."
"Anaconda consumes a significant amount of processing memory when working on it."
"When you install Anaconda for the first time, it's really difficult to update it."
"I think that the framework can be improved to make it easier for people to discover and use things on their own."
"Anaconda can't handle heavy workloads."
"The solution would benefit from offering more automation."
"A lot of people and companies are investing in creating automated data cleaning and processing environments. Anaconda is a bit behind in that area."
"Databricks has added some alerts and query functionality into their SQL persona, but the whole SQL persona, which is like a role, needs a lot of development. The alerts are not very flexible, and the query interface itself is not as polished as the notebook interface that is used through the data science and machine learning persona. It is clunky at present."
"Databricks could improve in some of its functionality."
"Databricks is not geared towards the end-user, but rather it is for data engineers or data scientists."
"The integration features could be more interesting, more involved."
"Databricks would benefit from enhanced metrics and tighter integration with Azure's diagnostics."
"Databricks can improve by making the documentation better."
"The solution could be improved by adding a feature that would make it more user-friendly for our team. The feature is simple, but it would be useful. Currently, our team is more familiar with the language R, but Databricks requires the use of Jupyter Notebooks which primarily supports Python. We have tried using RStudio, but it is not a fully integrated solution. To fully utilize Databricks, we have to use the Jupyter interface. One feature that would make it easier for our team to adopt the Jupyter interface would be the ability to select a specific variable or line of code and execute it within a cell. This feature is available in other Jupyter Notebooks outside of Databricks and in our own IDE, but it is not currently available within Databricks. If this feature were added, it would make the transition to using Databricks much smoother for our team."
"The initial setup is difficult."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Anaconda is free to use, but in terms of hardware costs, you might need heavy GPUs to run CUDA and other demanding tasks."
"My company uses the free version of the tool. There is also a paid version of the tool available."
"The licensing costs for Anaconda are reasonable."
"The tool is open-source."
"The product is open-source and free to use."
"The product pricing is moderate."
"The licensing costs of Databricks depend on how many licenses we need, depending on which Databricks provides a lot of discounts."
"We pay as we go, so there isn't a fixed price. It's charged by the unit. I don't have any details detail about how they measure this, but it should be a mix between processing and quantity of data handled. We run a simulation based on our use cases, which gives us an estimate. We've been monitoring this, and the costs have met our expectations."
"Databricks' cost could be improved."
"Databricks are not costly when compared with other solutions' prices."
"The solution requires a subscription."
"I would rate Databricks' pricing seven out of ten."
"The solution is a good value for batch processing and huge workloads."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Anaconda?
The tool's most valuable feature is its cloud-based nature, allowing accessibility from anywhere. Additionally, using Jupyter Notebook makes it easy to handle bugs and errors.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Anaconda?
Anaconda is an open-source tool, so I do not pay anything for it. It is compatible with every tool, regardless of whether it is open source or a paid package.
What needs improvement with Anaconda?
There is room for improvement, especially regarding deployment. The process could be streamlined as the number of actions needed to deploy is quite large compared to other tools.
Which do you prefer - Databricks or Azure Machine Learning Studio?
Databricks gives you the option of working with several different languages, such as SQL, R, Scala, Apache Spark, or Python. It offers many different cluster choices and excellent integration with ...
How would you compare Databricks vs Amazon SageMaker?
We researched AWS SageMaker, but in the end, we chose Databricks. Databricks is a Unified Analytics Platform designed to accelerate innovation projects. It is based on Spark so it is very fast. It...
Which would you choose - Databricks or Azure Stream Analytics?
Databricks is an easy-to-set-up and versatile tool for data management, analysis, and business analytics. For analytics teams that have to interpret data to further the business goals of their orga...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Databricks Unified Analytics, Databricks Unified Analytics Platform, Redash
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

LinkedIn, NASA, Boeing, JP Morgan, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, DARPA, Microsoft, Amazon, HP, Cisco, Thomson Reuters, IBM, Bridgestone
Elsevier, MyFitnessPal, Sharethrough, Automatic Labs, Celtra, Radius Intelligence, Yesware
Find out what your peers are saying about Anaconda vs. Databricks and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.