Overview
This article benchmarks five major cloud data warehouses—Snowflake, Databricks, ClickHouse Cloud, BigQuery, and Redshift—across various scales of data to compare their cost-performance. The findings reveal that ClickHouse Cloud consistently delivers superior value, particularly as data scales from 1 billion to 100 billion rows.
What You'll Learn
1
How to evaluate cost-performance across different cloud data warehouses
2
Why ClickHouse Cloud is superior for analytical workloads at scale
3
When to choose ClickHouse Cloud over other data warehouses
Key Questions Answered
How does ClickHouse Cloud compare to other cloud data warehouses on cost-performance?
ClickHouse Cloud delivers an order-of-magnitude better value than Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, and Redshift across all tested scales. At 100 billion rows, it remains the only system in the 'Fast & Low-Cost' quadrant, while others fall into 'Slow & High-Cost'.
What are the performance metrics for 1B, 10B, and 100B rows?
At 1 billion rows, ClickHouse Cloud has a runtime of ~23 seconds at a cost of ~$0.67. At 10 billion rows, it runs in ~67 seconds for ~$4.27. At 100 billion rows, it takes ~275 seconds costing ~$17.62, showcasing its efficiency as data scales.
What factors affect the cost-performance of cloud data warehouses?
Cost-performance is influenced by compute billing models, runtime efficiency, and data size. Different vendors have varying pricing structures that complicate direct comparisons, necessitating benchmarks like Bench2Cost for accurate assessments.
Key Statistics & Figures
Cost-performance score at 100B rows
23× worse for Databricks
4X-Large
Runtime for ClickHouse Cloud at 100B rows
~275 s
This is the only system that remains fast and low-cost at this scale.
Technologies & Tools
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Database
Clickhouse Cloud
Used for benchmarking analytical workloads across different data scales.
Database
Snowflake
Compared against ClickHouse Cloud in terms of cost-performance.
Database
Databricks
Included in the benchmark for cost-performance analysis.
Database
Bigquery
Evaluated alongside other systems for performance metrics.
Database
Redshift
Part of the comparative analysis for cloud data warehouses.
Key Actionable Insights
1Consider using ClickHouse Cloud for large-scale analytical workloads to maximize cost-efficiency.As demonstrated in the benchmarks, ClickHouse Cloud consistently outperforms other systems in both speed and cost, making it a strong candidate for organizations dealing with large datasets.
2Utilize the interactive benchmark explorer to tailor your cloud data warehouse choice based on specific needs.The interactive tool allows users to visualize performance metrics across different configurations, helping to make informed decisions based on real data rather than assumptions.
Common Pitfalls
1
Assuming all cloud data warehouses provide similar cost-performance metrics without benchmarking.
Different vendors have unique billing models and performance characteristics, which can lead to misleading conclusions if not evaluated through standardized benchmarks.
Related Concepts
Cloud Data Warehousing
Cost-performance Analysis
Benchmarking Methodologies