Databricks vs VAST Data comparison

The compared Databricks and VAST Data solutions aren't in the same category. Databricks is ranked #9 in CDW , with an average rating of 8.4, and holds a 8.3% mindshare in the category. VAST Data is ranked #14 in N , and holds a 5.9% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Databricks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of VAST Data users who would recommend it.

Databricks

Read 91 Databricks reviews

20,775 Views
1,870 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

VAST Data

Read 2 VAST Data reviews

4,956 Views
1,140 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Databricks

VAST Data

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

Databricks and VAST Data compete in the data infrastructure landscape. Databricks leads in feature richness and integration, while VAST Data is preferred for storage efficiency and performance.

Features: Databricks offers a collaborative data processing environment, robust integration with Apache Spark, and supports machine learning applications. VAST Data focuses on cutting-edge storage solutions, advanced data protection, and high availability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Databricks provides a managed cloud deployment model, simplifying setup and scaling with efficient customer service. VAST Data offers an on-premises deployment for direct control with knowledgeable support addressing technical difficulties.

Pricing and ROI: Databricks has a subscription-based pricing model with flexible scaling and moderate upfront cost, optimizing value over time. VAST Data often involves higher initial expenditures due to hardware investments, leading to significant long-term ROI through efficient storage management.

To learn more, read our detailed Cloud Data Warehouse Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Data Warehouse

August 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 868,759 peers since 2012

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

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Data Warehouse (9th), Data Science Platforms (1st), Streaming Analytics (1st)

VAST Data

Average Rating

10.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

All-Flash Storage (32nd), File and Object Storage (18th), NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (14th)

Mindshare comparison

Databricks and VAST Data aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Databricks is designed for Cloud Data Warehouse and holds a mindshare of 8.3%, up 5.9% compared to last year.
VAST Data, on the other hand, focuses on NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays, holds 5.9% mindshare, down 6.1% since last year.

Cloud Data Warehouse Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Databricks	8.3%
Snowflake	17.7%
Dremio	8.9%
Other	65.1%

Cloud Data Warehouse

NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
VAST Data	5.9%
Dell PowerStore	21.5%
NetApp AFF	18.5%
Other	54.1%

NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays

Featured Reviews

ShubhamSharma7

Data Engineer at a engineering company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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.

Read full review

Alan Powers

HPC CTO at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Stability-wise, a device that has been up and running for years

The failover capability and resiliency are some of the solution's valuable features. The big thing is resilience because it has richer coding in it, so multiple devices can't fail. Also, one can still access a number of CBoxes that can allow one to access their file system. Once a device fails, it fails the transparency of the end-user, and it just starts using another resource. The encryption capability, the snapshots, along with a whole bunch of features make the tool valuable. VAST Data keeps adding more and more features all the time.

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

"When we have a huge volume of data that we want to process with speed, velocity, and volume, we go through Databricks."

"It is a cost-effective solution."

"The processing capacity is tremendous in the database."

"The ease of use and its accessibility are valuable."

"It can send out large data amounts."

"Databricks is based on a Spark cluster and it is fast. Performance-wise, it is great."

"I think Databricks is very good at facilitating AI and machine learning projects; they implement AI and machine learning models very well, and clients can run their models on Databricks."

"Databricks provides a consistent interface for data engineers to work with data in a consistent language on a single integrated platform for ingesting, processing, and serving data to the end user."

More Databricks pros

"This has been one of the most reliable storage systems that I have ever used."

"The solution is useful for machine learning and scientific applications, including computer simulations."

Cons

"Pricing is one of the things that could be improved."

"It should have more compatible and more advanced visualization and machine learning libraries."

"It would be nice to have more guidance on integrations with ETLs and other data quality tools."

"I would like it if Databricks adopted an interface more like R Studio. When I create a data frame or a table, R Studio provides a preview of the data. In R Studio, I can see that it created a table with so many columns or rows. Then I can click on it and open a preview of that data."

"When I used the support, I had communication problems because of the language barrier with the agent. The accent was difficult to understand."

"The API deployment and model deployment are not easy on the Databricks side."

"The product cannot be integrated with a popular coding IDE."

"Databricks is not geared towards the end-user, but rather it is for data engineers or data scientists."

More Databricks cons

"The write performance could be improved because it is less than half of the read performance."

"The read/write ratio is an area in the solution with some flaws and needs improvement."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing on site I would counsel against, as on-site hardware issues tend to really delay and slow down delivery."

"Whenever we want to find the actual costing, we have to send an email to Databricks, so having the information available on the internet would be helpful."

"The cost for Databricks depends on the use case. I work on it as a consultant, so I'm using the client's Databricks, so it depends on how big the client is."

"The cost is around $600,000 for 50 users."

"It is an expensive tool. The licensing model is a pay-as-you-go one."

"The solution is a good value for batch processing and huge workloads."

"I am based in South Africa, where it is expensive adapting to the cloud, and then there is the price for the tool itself."

"Databricks' cost could be improved."

More Databricks pricing and cost advice

"Price-wise, VAST Data is not the cheapest, not the most expensive one."

"We acquired VAST Data as a one-time, capital purchase."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Data Warehouse solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

868,759 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	25
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	56

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 ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Comparisons

Microsoft Power BI vs Databricks

Compared 9% of the time

Dataiku vs Databricks

Compared 8% of the time

Informatica PowerCenter vs Databricks

Compared 7% of the time

Dremio vs Databricks

Compared 5% of the time

Anaconda Business vs Databricks

Compared 2% of the time

More Databricks Competitors

NetApp AFF vs VAST Data

Compared 11% of the time

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs VAST Data

Compared 9% of the time

MinIO vs VAST Data

Compared 8% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs VAST Data

Compared 7% of the time

Qumulo vs VAST Data

Compared 7% of the time

More VAST Data Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Databricks

September 2025

Download Databricks product report

Buyer's Guide

NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays

August 2025

Download VAST Data product report

Also Known As

Databricks Unified Analytics, Databricks Unified Analytics Platform, Redash

No data available

Overview

Databricks is utilized for advanced analytics, big data processing, machine learning models, ETL operations, data engineering, streaming analytics, and integrating multiple data sources.

Organizations leverage Databricks for predictive analysis, data pipelines, data science, and unifying data architectures. It is also used for consulting projects, financial reporting, and creating APIs. Industries like insurance, retail, manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals use Databricks for data management and analytics due to its user-friendly interface, built-in machine learning libraries, support for multiple programming languages, scalability, and fast processing.

What are the key features of Databricks?

User-friendly interface: Simplifies operations and usability.
Built-in machine learning libraries: Facilitates machine learning tasks.
Support for multiple programming languages: Enhances flexibility.
Scalability: Efficiently handles growing data needs.
Fast processing: Improves performance and speed.
Automated optimization: Reduces manual efforts.
Data visualization: Provides insightful visuals.
Collaborative features: Enhances teamwork.
Delta Lake performance: Boosts data management.
Seamless cluster management: Simplifies system operations.

What are the benefits or ROI to look for in Databricks reviews?

Efficiency in handling large datasets: Ensures smooth processing.
Interactive workspace environment: Improves user collaboration.
Integration with platforms: Provides connectivity benefits.
Performance optimization: Enhances overall system performance.
Support for data governance and security: Ensures data integrity and protection.

Databricks is implemented in insurance for risk analysis and claims processing; in retail for customer analytics and inventory management; in manufacturing for predictive maintenance and supply chain optimization; and in pharmaceuticals for drug discovery and patient data analysis. Users value its scalability, machine learning support, collaboration tools, and Delta Lake performance but seek improvements in visualization, pricing, and integration with BI tools.

Databricks

Innovation to break decades of data storage trade-offs.

VAST Data

Sample Customers

Elsevier, MyFitnessPal, Sharethrough, Automatic Labs, Celtra, Radius Intelligence, Yesware

Norwest Venture Partners, General Dynamics Information Technology, Ginkgo Bioworks

Find out what your peers are saying about Snowflake Computing, Microsoft, Google and others in Cloud Data Warehouse. Updated: August 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

868,759 professionals have used our research since 2012.

We monitor all Cloud Data Warehouse reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.