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Databricks SQL vs Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse

Databricks SQL: Serverless SQL warehouses on the Databricks lakehouse, powered by the Photon C++ engine. Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse: T-SQL warehouse in Microsoft Fabric that stores every table as Delta Parquet in OneLake.

key differences

  • Databricks SQL is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse (≤ 1 PB).
  • Only Databricks SQL has vector search, geospatial, change data capture, materialized views, streaming ingest.
  • Only Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse has stored procedures.

choose databricks-sql for

  • +Lakehouse SQL and BI on Delta Lake
  • +Consolidating a separate warehouse into Databricks
  • +dbt transformations on the lakehouse
  • +Serving features and aggregates for ML

best at · Lakehouse, Warehouse, OLAP

choose microsoft-fabric-warehouse for

  • +Microsoft-centric enterprise data warehouse
  • +Power BI backends with Direct Lake
  • +Migrating Synapse dedicated SQL pools
  • +Medallion lakehouse with a SQL serving layer

best at · Warehouse, OLAP, Lakehouse

Databricks SQLServerless SQL warehouses on the Databricks lakehouse, powered by the Photon C++ engine.
Microsoft Fabric Data WarehouseT-SQL warehouse in Microsoft Fabric that stores every table as Delta Parquet in OneLake.
overview
Primary model
Columnar / OLAP
Columnar / OLAP
Also supports
Relational, Document, Vector, Spatial
Relational
Type
Managed service
Managed service
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Databricks
Microsoft
First release
2020
2023
Latest version
–
–
License
ProprietaryProprietary
ProprietaryProprietary
Free tier
✓
—
popularity
WhichDB Score
20.8
6.7
Rank
#147
#356
GitHub stars
–
–
Stack Overflow questions
543
258
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
None
None
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Flexible
Strict
Architecture
Serverless, Distributed, Shared storage
Serverless, Distributed, Shared storage
deployment
Self-hosted
—
—
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
✓
✓
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Azure, Google Cloud
Azure
capabilities
Transactions
✓
✓
Joins
✓
✓
Secondary indexes
—
—
Full-text search
—
—
Vector search
✓
—
Geospatial
✓
—
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
✓
—
Triggers
—
—
Stored procedures
—
✓
Materialized views
✓
—
TTL / expiry
—
—
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
✓
✓
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
✓
Encryption at rest
✓
✓
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
✓
✓
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
✓
✓
Streaming ingest
✓
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
SQL (Databricks SQL / ANSI), Python
T-SQL
Client languages
Python, Java, JavaScript, Go, .NET
.NET, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go
Best for
Lakehouse, Warehouse, OLAP
Warehouse, OLAP, Lakehouse
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Databricks SQL vs Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse: FAQ

What is the difference between Databricks SQL and Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse?

Databricks SQL: Serverless SQL warehouses on the Databricks lakehouse, powered by the Photon C++ engine. Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse: T-SQL warehouse in Microsoft Fabric that stores every table as Delta Parquet in OneLake. Databricks SQL is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse (≤ 1 PB). Only Databricks SQL has vector search, geospatial, change data capture, materialized views, streaming ingest. Only Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse has stored procedures.

When should I choose Databricks SQL over Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse?

Choose Databricks SQL for lakehouse SQL and BI on Delta Lake; consolidating a separate warehouse into Databricks; and dbt transformations on the lakehouse. Choose Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse for microsoft-centric enterprise data warehouse, power BI backends with Direct Lake and migrating Synapse dedicated SQL pools.

Is Databricks SQL or Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse more popular?

Databricks SQL ranks #147 on the WhichDB Score (20.8/100) and Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse ranks #356 (6.7/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Databricks SQL and Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse open source?

No. Databricks SQL is proprietary, closed-source software. No. Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse is proprietary, closed-source software.