Databricks vs Prefect 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 | Prefect | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | Custom | $100/mo |
| Number of plans | 7 | 4 |
| Free plan | — | |
| Free trial | — | |
| Pricing model | usage-based | hybrid |
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
Hobby
- Workflow scheduling
- 2 users
- Up to 5 deployments
- 500 min of Prefect Serverless
- Workflow observability
- Logging & alerting
- 7 days run retention
Starter
- 3 users
- Up to 20 deployments
- 75 hours of Prefect Serverless
- Bring your own compute
- Webhooks
- 1,250 API requests/min
Team
Popular- 4-8 users
- Up to 100 deployments
- 225 hours of Prefect Serverless
- Service accounts
- 24 hour audit log
Enterprise
- SSO (SAML/OIDC)
- RBAC + ACLs
- Multiple workspaces
- Directory Sync (SCIM)
- IP allowlisting & PrivateLink
- Unlimited deployments
Databricks vs Prefect 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?
- Prefect 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 Prefect 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. Prefect: At $100/mo entry for paid plans, Prefect sits mid-pack — pricier than bare-bones workflow tools but well below heavyweight enterprise data orchestration platforms that gate everything behind custom quotes. They're clearly courting data teams who've outgrown open-source Prefect Core but aren't ready for a six-figure Airflow-alternative contract.
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