Data management has evolved from simple table storage to data lakes. Businesses handle data in diverse formats and storage structures on platforms such as Microsoft Fabric and Databricks. Furthermore, they are learning to utilize that data more effectively.

In this blog, we’ll explore the main differences between Microsoft Fabric and Databricks, their key features, and their functionalities. Finally, you can choose the best data platform for your business requirements.

What is Microsoft Fabric?

Microsoft Fabric is an exclusive analytical platform that combines all the data as per business needs. Furthermore, the software handles everything from data storage and migration to deriving real-time insights. Therefore, this AI-powered analytics platform unites all the best Microsoft tools, e.g., Microsoft Azure Data Factory and Power BI. So, data leaders don’t have to worry about technology usage and its implementation. They can be more focused on the insights that determine business outcomes, as the tool simplifies data analysis.

when comparing Microsoft Fabric vs Power BI, it’s essential to evaluate their unique capabilities in data processing and visualization.

Amazing Features of Microsoft Fabric

One-Lake Architecture

Microsoft Fabric combines Data Lake and warehouse benefits with OneLake’s open architecture. Furthermore, this integration extracts data from unrelated storage locations into a single lake. Thus, it facilitates easy data discovery and association across the business. Therefore, this storage structure also extends warehouse capabilities to run SQL queries on it.

Artificial Intelligence

Copilot is incorporated into Fabric to harness the power of Gen AI in developing insights from data. Furthermore, business workers can utilize this internal Copilot to create reports, construct machine learning models, and review outcomes.

Data factory

The Data Factory functions as an ETL solution in Microsoft Fabric. It ingests, prepares, and transforms data from several sources to a separate location. Therefore, this tool brings the power of Microsoft Azure Data Factory and Power Query Data Flows into a single place. Thus, consumers can utilize simple SQL queries to perform alterations while also developing ETL execution flows.

Data Fabric Benefits

• Improved Data Availability: Microsoft Fabric provides simplified access to varied data sources.
• Diverse Data Types Support: It effectively handles structured and unstructured data.
• Agility: It facilitates rapid modifications to data tactics and governance.

What is Databricks?

Databricks is a common workspace that allows you to perform big data processing and data science tasks. It provides tools that connect different data sources to an integrated platform to store, process, and analyze data. The developers of Apache Spark created Databricks. This big data processing platform offers significantly superior speed since it runs on top of distributed cloud computing environments.

Databricks Advanced Features

Mosaic AI

MLFlow

An open-source platform provides the tools and services needed to handle end-to-end machine learning, from development to deployment.

Delta Lake

Delta Lake stores data in the Parquet file format to support ACID transactions and metadata management. It also includes a coordinated streaming Spark API to facilitate batch and stream processing.

Apache Spark integration

Optimized Performance

The platform is built for enhanced versions of Apache Spark and distributed computing, ensuring improved speed, performance, and stability.

Databricks Benefits

• Scalability and Performance: Excellent for handling large amounts of data quickly.
• Ease of Use: Collaborative notebooks enhance efficiency and usability.
• Community Support: Backed by a strong community and continuous innovations from its founders.

What are the Major Differences between Databricks and Microsoft Fabric?

However, while both Microsoft Fabric and Databricks are powerful data analytics platforms, their approaches and functionalities differ considerably. Let’s explore the differences between Microsoft Fabric and Databricks based on the following key aspects.

Architecture

Microsoft Fabric is built on top of Microsoft platforms and services, such as Azure Synapse Analytics and Azure Data Factory. It provides analytics services for data engineering, integration, and analysis, incorporating data visualization tools like Power BI, real-time analytics capabilities, and data science tools.

Fabric’s architecture is scalable, allowing businesses to manage large data volumes effectively. Additionally, Fabric’s OneLake serves as a unified data lake, providing a central repository for storing vast amounts of organizational data.

The Databricks platform is designed and implemented using the open-source Delta framework. It is built on Apache Spark architecture and optimized for performance across all data volumes and machine learning processing. Databricks’ foundation is its Delta Lake expertise, which is based on an open-source storage layer that provides transactional support and reliability to data lakes.

 Security

Microsoft Fabric provides a complete security package to protect data and ensure recovery in case of any infrastructure crash. It also maintains automated and configurable security. Additionally, Fabric offers numerous security features, such as role-based access control (RBAC), data encryption, and integration with Azure Active Directory for centralized identity management.

Databricks delivers a comprehensive security package, including encryption, network control, data governance, and data protection. It offers various security features, such as role-based access control (RBAC), data encryption (at rest and in transit), and integration with Azure Active Directory for centralized identity management.

Likewise, both Microsoft Fabric and Databricks comply with SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA certifications for data security.

Usage

Microsoft Fabric delivers user-based personas through user interfaces, including Data Factory, Data Science, Data Warehousing, and Power BI. On the other hand, Databricks structures its user interface around platform functions while managing linked services.

Pricing

Microsoft Fabric’s pricing model depends on reserved capacity. Microsoft Fabric capacity provides a shared compute pool, network, and storage capacity, powering all functionalities in Microsoft Fabric, from data modeling to data warehousing. Additionally, the platform offers a free trial for two months.

Databricks’ pricing plan follows a pay-as-you-go model with no direct cost. Reserved pricing lowers usage costs by committing to a minimum usage level. Furthermore, Databricks offers a free trial for two weeks on three major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, and GCP).

Conclusion

Overall, Fabric is simpler to manage and offers better low-code ETL/ELT tools. Furthermore, Fabric provides more prebuilt data connectors and a superior data visualization product. On the other hand, Databricks is a powerful multi-cloud tool for working with big data. It has a more comprehensive toolset for data science (ML/AI/LLMs).

Therefore, choosing between Microsoft Fabric and Databricks depends on your requirements. For better understanding and guidance, schedule a call with Evincible Solutions to discuss Microsoft Fabric vs. Power BI to meet your data needs. Our proficient team is always happy to assist you.