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Databricks vs MathWorks Matlab 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

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)
MathWorks Matlab
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of Databricks is 15.3%, down from 19.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MathWorks Matlab is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Science Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Ioannis Kalathas - PeerSpot reviewer
Creating digital twins significantly reduces time for marine engine diagnostics
MathWorks Matlab has numerous libraries, making it challenging to have a holistic understanding of all of them. I can only speak about the libraries I have used. Additional GUIs and add-ons for MathWorks Matlab would help, especially for users who are not familiar with the software. The cost is a significant concern. While university pricing is reasonable, a cheaper version with fewer libraries would be beneficial. In Greece, we struggle to purchase licenses, and we also use Ansys. There are technical differences in simulation, but the price of MathWorks Matlab is too high for a Greek mechanic to use it. A license with fewer features would be more appropriate.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is easy to use and has a quick start-up time due to being on the cloud."
"Databricks serves as a single platform for conducting the entire end-to-end lifecycle of machine learning models or AI ops."
"Easy to use and requires minimal coding and customizations."
"Databricks is hosted on the cloud. It is very easy to collaborate with other team members who are working on it. It is production-ready code, and scheduling the jobs is easy."
"It's very simple to use Databricks Apache Spark."
"It's easy to increase performance as required."
"The most valuable features of the solution are the hardware and the resources it quickly provides without much hassle."
"Databricks' most valuable feature is the data transformation through PySpark."
"The platform's most valuable feature is its field-specific packages, which make it very easy to use."
"Personally for me, because I do a lot of development, I like that it is easy to test mathematical algorithms with several matrix calculations. It's perfect for that."
"The tool's most valuable feature is the Simulink environment. This feature provides an incredible capability to visually represent the system behavior before creating the code. It allows you to see the flow and interactions of the system, which is extremely beneficial for software development. With this visual representation, you can better understand the system's behavior, make necessary adjustments, and ensure maintenance and updates. This capability is why I love working with the product."
 

Cons

"I would like more integration with SQL for using data in different workspaces."
"In the next release, I would like to see more optimization features."
"I would like to see the integration between Databricks and MLflow improved. It is quite hard to train multiple models in parallel in the distributed fashions. You hit rate limits on the clients very fast."
"They release patches that sometimes break our code. These patches are supposed to fix issues, but sometimes they cause disruptions."
"My experience with the pricing and licensing model is that it remains relatively expensive. Though it's less expensive than AWS, we still need a more cost-effective solution."
"There could be more support for automated machine learning in the database. I would like to see more ways to do analysis so that the reporting is more understandable."
"The data visualization for this solution could be improved. They have started to roll out a data visualization tool inside Databricks but it is in the early stages. It's not comparable to a solution like Power BI, Luca, or Tableau."
"The solution could improve by providing better automation capabilities. For example, working together with more of a DevOps approach, such as continuous integration."
"In the area of improvement, sometimes there are issues with the speed of MathWorks Matlab, particularly in the Simulink environment. The tool's latest versions can be slow to open, taking significant time to load. Additionally, saving data and integrating models can also be time-consuming processes."
"One area where the product could improve is in the ease of learning."
"To make use of the GPU, you have to have an Nvidia card. What I would want it to do is to run in Next Generation with Intel or AMD, and not just with Nvidia."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product pricing is moderate."
"We find Databricks to be very expensive, although this improved when we found out how to shut it down at night."
"Databricks are not costly when compared with other solutions' prices."
"The solution uses a pay-per-use model with an annual subscription fee or package. Typically this solution is used on a cloud platform, such as Azure or AWS, but more people are choosing Azure because the price is more reasonable."
"Databricks is a very expensive solution. Pricing is an area that could definitely be improved. They could provide a lower end compute and probably reduce the price."
"We have only incurred the cost of our AWS cloud services. This is because during this period, Databricks provided us with an extended evaluation period, and we have not spent much money yet. We are just starting to incur costs this month, I will know more later on the full cost perspective."
"Databricks' cost could be improved."
"We implement this solution on behalf of our customers who have their own Azure subscription and they pay for Databricks themselves. The pricing is more expensive if you have large volumes of data."
"We have a single user license. Support and add-ons are an extra fee."
"The pricing for the software itself is reasonable, and I didn't encounter any additional costs beyond the initial purchase or license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Educational Organization
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Hospitality Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What do you like most about MathWorks Matlab?
The tool's most valuable feature is the Simulink environment. This feature provides an incredible capability to visually represent the system behavior before creating the code. It allows you to see...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MathWorks Matlab?
The pricing for the software itself is reasonable, and I didn't encounter any additional costs beyond the initial purchase or license.
What needs improvement with MathWorks Matlab?
MathWorks Matlab has numerous libraries, making it challenging to have a holistic understanding of all of them. I can only speak about the libraries I have used. Additional GUIs and add-ons for Mat...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

Information not available
 

Sample Customers

Elsevier, MyFitnessPal, Sharethrough, Automatic Labs, Celtra, Radius Intelligence, Yesware
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Databricks vs. MathWorks Matlab and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.