Snowflake Inc. is an American company that specializes in cloud computing-based data warehousing. The company, founded in 2012, started in stealth mode. The company only provided services to a select few clients. However, it publicly launched in 2014. Eventually, in 2020, Snowflake went public with an initial public offering and raised $3.4 billion.
Snowflake has a unique business model. Its primary business includes providing users with cloud-based data warehousing services. Through its specialized system, it offers cloud-based data storage and analytics services. Through these services, users can store and analyze data without having access to cloud-based hardware or software.
Snowflake has enjoyed great success throughout the years. The company ranked first on the Forbes Cloud 100 list. In December 2020, the company reported that it had a total of 3,554 customers. This number included 65 customers with trailing 12-month product revenue greater than $1 million. Overall, Snowflake generated $592 million in revenues in 2020.
Due to increased demand for cloud-based computing and storage services, Snowflake has also attracted some competition. Its competitors include specialized companies that offer similar services as Snowflake. However, they also include other big-name companies that offer cloud-based services. Some of Snowflake’s top competitors include the following.
1. Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon is a multinational conglomerate that specializes in online services. Although the company started in 1994, it didn’t begin offering cloud-based services until 2006. Through its Amazon Web Services subsidiary, the company entered the cloud-based services market. However, Amazon provides general services compared to Snowflake’s specialized services.
Snowflake even uses Amazon as one of its cloud-based storage services providers. Despite that, it does not stop Snowflake’s customers from using AWS services. Amazon’s cloud-based business exceeds 1 million users and contributed $46 billion to the company’s overall revenues in 2020. Amazon’s EMR services also are a direct competitor to Snowflake’s data processing and distribution solutions.
2. Cloudera
Cloudera is a US-based company that offers enterprise data cloud services. The company uses open-source technology to power its operations. Cloudera is older than Snowflake, established in 2008 by engineers from Facebook, Yahoo! and Google. Among its primary products, Cloudera offers engineering, warehouse, shared data and data platform services.
In 2021, Cloudera generated revenues of $869 million. However, the company only has about 1,800 customers. Recently, the company also went got acquired by equity firms for $5.3 billion. Overall, Cloudera poses a serious threat to Snowflake’s business and market share.
3. Google Cloud Platform
Google is another big name on the list. The company began its operations in 1998 as a search engine platform. However, it launched its Google Cloud Platform in 2008. This platform provides cloud computing services that run on Google’s internal infrastructure. Through Google Cloud, the company provides infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and serverless computing environments.
Google’s Cloud platform generated $13 billion in revenues in 2020. This platform is a direct competitor to Microsoft and Amazon. Google’s BigQuery platform is also a competitor to Snowflake. Furthermore, its Cloud platform also poses an indirect competition to Snowflake’s business. On top of that, Snowflake also uses Google’s Cloud platform for its services. Despite the customer/supplier relationship, there is competition between both.
4. Microsoft
Like Google and Amazon, Microsoft is also one of Snowflake’s cloud storage and platform providers. The company provides these services through its Azure platform. Microsoft started its operations in the 1970s. However, it established the Azure platform in 2008. Through this platform, Microsoft provides software as a service, platform as a service, and infrastructure as a service solution.
Microsoft’s cloud-based products, such as Azure Data Lake Store, Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft SQL, etc., are competitors to Snowflake. In 2020, these services generated $50 billion in annual revenues. Due to its massive size and expertise, Microsoft poses a serious threat to Snowflake’s business model.
5. Teradata
Teradata, founded in 1979, is a provider of database and analytics-rated software, products, and services. The company develops and sells database analytics software subscriptions. Similarly, its primary services include business analytics, cloud products, and consulting. The company went public in 2008. Throughout the years, Teradata has acquired many companies in the same market.
Teradata generated $1.84 billion in revenues in 2020. Some of its customers include Apple, Walmart, eBay, PayPal, Verizon, etc. Teradata provides similar services to Snowflake. Due to its popularity and large infrastructure, the company attracts larger customers.
6. Exasol
Exasol is an analytics database management software company. Its primary product is known as Exasol, which is a column-oriented, in-memory, relational database management system. This product runs on a cluster of standard computer hardware servers, also known as a cluster operating system. Although the company doesn’t provide similar services, Exasol is a decent alternative to Snowflake’s products.
Exasol is a relatively smaller competitor, established in 2000. The company generated over $23 million in revenues in 2020. According to bi-survey.com, Exasol has over 175 users. Due to its specialized services, users may choose to use it over other companies on this list.
7. Oracle
Oracle is another multinational company on the list that is one of Snowflake’s competitors. Two of Snowflake’s founders, Thierry Cruanes and Benoit Dageville, worked as data architects in the company. Oracle, founded in 1977, is an American computer technology corporation. Its primary products include Oracle Cloud, Oracle Database, servers, workstations, storage, etc.
Oracle generated $39.07 billion in revenues in 2020. It is one of the biggest companies in the market for its services. The company also reported over 400,000 customers in over 175 countries. Most of its customers include corporations and businesses looking for database and storage solutions. When it comes to large clients, Snowflake can’t compete at the same level as Oracle.
8. Databricks
Databricks is another company that competes in the same market as Snowflake, founded in 2013. The company develops a web-based platform that provides automated cluster management and IPython-style notebooks. It is also a first-party service on Microsoft Azure. The company also partners with Google Cloud.
The primary product that Databricks offers is developing and selling a cloud data platform. These services are similar to Snowflake’s business and pose a threat to it. The company generated $425 million in revenues in 2021. Similarly, Databricks has over 6,000 customers.
9. IBM
IBM is a well-known company in the computer and technology world. The company, founded in 1911 is one of the oldest names that operate in the industry. Over the years, it has gone through several ups and downs. Today, however, it competes with some of the big names in the industry. The company also offers the Db2 product, which involves hosting services and data warehousing.
Through IBM Db2, IBM competes in the same market as Snowflake. Due to its significant expertise and experience in the industry, IBM offers users more reliable services. The company provides enterprise-wide solutions for large clients. These services offer high-performance and optimized solutions to customers with low costs.
10. Apache Druid
Apache Druid started its operations in 2011 to power the analytics product of Metamarkets. The platform comes under The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), an American nonprofit corporation. Over the years, Apache Druid has started gaining popularity and getting integrated into backend technologies. It helps quickly ingest massive quantities of event data and provide low-latency queries on top of the data.
One of Apache Druid’s primary advantages over the competition is being open-source and free to use. It doesn’t offer similar solutions as Snowflake. However, it still poses a threat to the names in the market. When it comes to real-time data processing, users prefer Apache Druid due to its low latency. These features make this product a substantial competitive threat to Snowflake.
Conclusion
Snowflake is an online cloud-based service-providing company. Its products include data warehouses. Being in the cloud-based services industry allows Snowflake to attract many customers. However, it also faces threats from other competitors. Some of Snowflake’s competitors include big names such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle and IBM. On top of that, it also faces competition from other specialized platforms.
