AWS Lake Formation vs BigQuery comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google are both solutions in the Cloud Data Warehouse category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #7 with an average rating of 7.9, while Google is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.4. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 5.5% mindshare in CDW, compared to Google’s 8.0% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Google users who would recommend it.

AWS Lake Formation

Read 21 AWS Lake Formation reviews

1,486 Views
1,427 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

BigQuery

Read 41 BigQuery reviews

2,827 Views
2,431 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

AWS Lake Formation

BigQuery

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

AWS Lake Formation and BigQuery are competing in the cloud services market, particularly in data management and analytics. BigQuery stands out with its superior feature set, offering robust analytics capabilities, while AWS Lake Formation emphasizes strong data governance and security.

Features: AWS Lake Formation focuses on data lake creation, security, governance, and simplifies access rights management. BigQuery offers high-speed SQL analytics, real-time querying, and machine learning integration. The distinction is in AWS's strong governance compared to BigQuery's advanced analytical capabilities.

Room for Improvement: AWS Lake Formation could enhance real-time analytics and improve its machine learning features. It might also benefit from simplified ETL job setups. BigQuery could lower costs for extensive use cases, refine data governance tools, and offer better integration with non-Google services.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: AWS Lake Formation is well-integrated with the AWS ecosystem, offering seamless service integration and extensive support. BigQuery’s serverless architecture allows for quick deployment with minimal configuration. While AWS offers personalized customer service, BigQuery provides extensive documentation and online resources.

Pricing and ROI: AWS Lake Formation is cost-effective with flexible pricing models based on storage needs, potentially offering lower initial setup costs. BigQuery uses pay-as-you-go billing for queries, which might be costlier in high-use scenarios but efficient for variable workloads. AWS provides ROI through efficient data management, while BigQuery offers ROI via enhanced analytical capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Lake Formation vs. BigQuery Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Lake Formation vs. BigQuery

September 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:

Categories and Ranking

AWS Lake Formation

Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

BigQuery

Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Cloud Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of AWS Lake Formation is 5.5%, up from 5.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of BigQuery is 8.0%, up from 7.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Data Warehouse Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
BigQuery	8.0%
AWS Lake Formation	5.5%
Other	86.5%

Cloud Data Warehouse

Featured Reviews

Ciro Baldim Guerra

Sr Analytics Engineer at Itau Unibanco S.A.

Has improved data governance by enabling clear ownership and structured access across teams

In my company, Itaú, we don't utilize all AWS offerings due to rigorous security measures. We operate approximately six to eight months behind other available services. I'm uncertain if gaps exist because of this limitation, though the system functions effectively for us. AWS Lake Formation offers column-level access control for databases, but we haven't implemented this feature either because it hasn't been approved by our compliance, governance, or security areas. In our current setup, everyone from my business unit uses the same consumer account. When access is requested for a table, everyone using that business unit account receives access. This could present a security concern, though it benefits new team members who automatically receive all necessary access permissions. However, I struggle to identify specific improvements needed in AWS Lake Formation.

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Luís Silva

Chief Technical Lead at a consultancy with 201-500 employees

Handles large data sets efficiently and offers flexible data management capabilities

The features I find most valuable in this solution are the ability to run and handle large data sets in a very efficient way with multiple types of data, relational as SQL data. It is kind of difficult to explain, but structured data and the ability to handle large data sets are key features. The data integration capabilities in BigQuery were, in fact, an issue at the beginning. There are two types of integrations. As long as integration is within Google, it is pretty simple. When you start to try to connect external clients to that data, it becomes more complex. It is not related to BigQuery, it is related to Google security model, which is not easy to manage. I would not call it an integration issue of BigQuery, I would call it an integration issue of Google security model.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"A favorite feature of AWS Lake Formation is that it provides us with visibility into who has access to a particular table or database in Glue."

"In the shortest form, what I appreciated about AWS Lake Formation was that the schema definition and data cataloging were quite good."

"AWS Lake Formation significantly improves the structure of the data mesh, making it superior to previous structures we used."

"The solution is quite good at handling analytics. It's done a good job at helping us centralize them."

"The most valuable features of AWS Lake Formation were the access model itself, as it allows implementation of filters, Blueprints, and row-level and column-level security to mask data that shouldn't be accessed by certain entities, enabling granular control without exposing PII data."

"We use this to reduce latency from minutes to seconds, as we aim for real-time visibility into patient healthcare monitoring."

"AWS Lake Formation works hand in hand with other products."

"The main benefits that I have seen from using AWS Lake Formation are related to FinOps because you have control of your data and can track your costs since AWS Lake Formation is integrated into a unique platform, which is AWS Cloud Service."

More AWS Lake Formation pros

"The interface is what I find particularly valuable."

"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's similar to a Hadoop cluster, except it's managed by Google."

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

"It stands out in efficiently handling internal actions without the need for manual intervention in tasks like building cubes and defining final dimensions."

"Its integration with other tools like Atlan through a Google Chrome extension is highly beneficial."

"BigQuery processes a substantial amount of data, whether in gigabytes or terabytes, swiftly producing desired data within one or two minutes."

"It has a proprietary way of storing and accessing data in its own data store and is 100% managed without you needing to install anything. There is no need to arrange for any infrastructure to be able to use this solution."

More BigQuery pros

Cons

"I haven't seen any measurable benefits from using AWS Lake Formation, such as time saving, resource saving, or efficiency improvements."

"I think AWS Lake Formation could improve by enforcing the least privilege by design, moving from ad hoc grants to role-based access controls."

"Rather than creating an additional hundred tools, optimizing a tool to have a centralized location to do governance would be beneficial."

"AWS Lake Formation's pricing could be cheaper."

"You need to have data experience to use the product."

"Information about the pricing, cost, and setup cost of the AWS solutions would be beneficial."

"I would appreciate online support, which I don't have access to in my corporation at the bank, so that is important."

"Lake Formation could enhance its capabilities in audit logs, real-time monitoring, and advanced data governance."

More AWS Lake Formation cons

"There are some limitations in the query latency compared to what it was three years ago."

"The solution hinges on Google patterns so continued improvement is important."

"Instead of connecting directly to BigQuery, we connect to GCP, Cloud Run, and then to BigQuery, which is a long process."

"I understand that Snowflake has made some improvements on its end to further reduce costs, so I believe BigQuery can catch up."

"As a product, BigQuery still requires a lot of maturity to accommodate other use cases and to be widely acceptable across other organizations."

"The product could benefit from improvements in user-friendliness, particularly in terms of the user interface."

"It would be helpful if they could provide some dashboards where you can easily view charts and information."

"The initial setup could be improved making it easier to deploy."

More BigQuery cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"AWS Lake Formation is a bit expensive."

"The product’s pricing could be more flexible for end users."

"The solution's pricing is cheaper compared to other solutions."

"BigQuery is inexpensive."

"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."

"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 price is a bit high but the technology is worth it."

"I have tried my own setup using my Gmail ID, and I think it had a $300 limit for free for a new user. That's what Google is offering, and we can register and create a project."

"The product operates on a pay-for-use model. Costs include storage and query execution, which can accumulate based on data volume and complexity."

More BigQuery pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Media Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	15

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	20

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS Lake Formation?

It is seamlessly integrated within the AWS ecosystem, making it straightforward to manage access patterns for AWS-native services.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Lake Formation?

I don't understand much about the pricing of AWS Lake Formation, but I know how to search for the cost of Glue jobs, and I use the calculator in Amazon. I use a tool to preview the cost based on th...

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What needs improvement with AWS Lake Formation?

I don't know any features that I would want to see included in the future releases of AWS Lake Formation. Making queries in SQL is a reality now, and in the future, it would be beneficial if AWS im...

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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?

I believe the cost of BigQuery is competitive versus the alternatives in the market, but it can become expensive if the tool is not used properly. It is on a per-consumption basis, the billing, so ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with BigQuery?

I have not used BigQuery for AI and machine learning projects myself. I know how to use it, and I can see where it would be useful, but so far, in my projects, I have not included a BigQuery compon...

See all answers

Comparisons

Snowflake vs AWS Lake Formation

Compared 26% of the time

Amazon Redshift vs AWS Lake Formation

Compared 21% of the time

Azure Data Factory vs AWS Lake Formation

Compared 21% of the time

Databricks vs AWS Lake Formation

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon EMR vs AWS Lake Formation

Compared 6% of the time

More AWS Lake Formation Competitors

Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse vs BigQuery

Compared 20% of the time

Teradata vs BigQuery

Compared 14% of the time

Snowflake vs BigQuery

Compared 12% of the time

OpenText Analytics Database (Vertica) vs BigQuery

Compared 12% of the time

Dremio vs BigQuery

Compared 6% of the time

More BigQuery Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AWS Lake Formation

September 2025

Download AWS Lake Formation product report

Buyer's Guide

BigQuery

September 2025

Download BigQuery product report

Overview

AWS Lake Formation is a service that makes it easy to set up a secure data lake in days. A data lake is a centralized, curated, and secured repository that stores all your data, both in its original form and prepared for analysis.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

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

Sample Customers

bp, Cerner, Expedia, Finra, HESS, intuit, Kellog's, Philips, TIME, workday

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

AWS Lake Formation vs. BigQuery

September 2025

Free Report: AWS Lake Formation vs. BigQuery

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