Databricks vs dbt Labs Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| Databricks pricing | dbt Labs pricing | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | Custom | $100/mo |
| Number of plans | 7 | 4 |
| Free plan | — | |
| Free trial | ||
| Pricing model | usage-based | hybrid |
Price is one row. To weigh the features too, use our feature comparison template →
Data Engineering
- Orchestrate data processing, machine learning and analytics pipelines
- Build streaming and batch pipelines
- Ingest data from a wide variety of sources with in-built connectors
- Lakeflow Jobs
- Lakeflow Pipelines
- Lakeflow Connect
Data Warehousing
- Run SQL queries for BI reporting, analytics and visualization to get timely insights from data lakes
- Available in both Classic and Serverless (managed) Compute
Interactive workloads
- Run interactive data science and machine learning workloads
- Build and deploy custom applications with the full security and governance of the Data Intelligence Platform
- Compute for Data Science
- Databricks Apps
Operational Database
- Fully-managed Postgres transactional database for serving data and features to support applications built on Databricks
Artificial Intelligence
- Build production-quality GenAI or ML apps across any use case
- AI Gateway
- Agent Bricks
- AI Functions
- Model Serving
- Foundation Model Serving
- Proprietary Foundation Model Serving
- AI Search
- Agent Evaluation
- Model Training
- AI Runtime
Genie
- AI assistance for every team, across code, analytics, and enterprise knowledge
- Ask in natural language and get trusted, governed answers from your data
- Genie One - Enterprise Knowledge
- Genie Spaces - Natural Language Q&A
- Genie Code - AI Coding Assistant
Platform
- Cross platform capabilities for governance, management and security
- Managed services that automate the ongoing optimization and maintenance of your data lake
- Tiers and Add-ons
- Managed Services
- Data Transfer and Connectivity
- Storage
- Delta Share from SAP BDC
- Collaboration
Developer
- Browser-based IDE
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Job scheduling and monitoring
- CI checks on Github and GitLab
- Upgrade to the latest dbt release automatically
Starter
- Lineage with dbt Catalog
- Define & query metrics with dbt Semantic Layer
- dbt Semantic Layer basic
- API access
Enterprise
- Column-level lineage in dbt Catalog
- Governed metrics with caching
- Multi-project architecture (dbt Mesh)
- SSO, Role-Based Access Control, and SCIM provisioning
- Priority suport with SLAs
Enterprise+
- PrivateLink
- IP Restrictions
- Run dbt in your own environment (Hybrid Projects)
Databricks vs dbt Labs FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.
- Can I use either one for free?
- dbt Labs has a free plan. Databricks doesn't — though they do offer a free trial.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. Databricks uses usage-based pricing, while dbt Labs goes with hybrid. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Databricks: Databricks plays in the premium enterprise data platform space, competing directly with Snowflake and Google BigQuery — they're not trying to win on price, they're winning on unified platform breadth (data engineering + ML + warehousing in one place). The all-custom pricing signals they're targeting mid-market and enterprise accounts with real budget, not self-serve startups. dbt Labs: dbt Labs isn't competing on price — the free Developer tier is a land-and-expand move, not a signal they're the budget option. They're positioning as the category-defining standard for analytics engineering, so the real competition is convincing teams to pay for orchestration and governance instead of duct-taping open-source dbt Core themselves.
Still deciding? See the best Databricks alternatives or the best dbt Labs alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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