# Databricks SQL alternatives: what AI models name instead, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. 198 of the 252 answers in the 1 category where Databricks SQL holds a standing named it neither first nor as an alternative; these are the first choices those answers made. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/vendors/databricks-sql/alternatives/

## Named instead, most often (every category and segment added)

- Google BigQuery: 75
- Snowflake: 41
- Amazon Redshift: 9
- MotherDuck: 9
- Azure Synapse Analytics: 1
- ClickHouse Cloud: 1

## Data warehouses

**Small business**: 75 of 84 answers did not name Databricks SQL (Databricks SQL is #8 of 8 at 0%).

- Google BigQuery: first choice in 46 of those 75
- Snowflake: first choice in 12 of those 75
- MotherDuck: first choice in 8 of those 75
- Amazon Redshift: first choice in 2 of those 75
- DuckDB: first choice in 1 of those 75
- PostgreSQL: first choice in 1 of those 75
- Snowflake's Standard edition: first choice in 1 of those 75

**Mid-market**: 67 of 84 answers did not name Databricks SQL (Databricks SQL is #5 of 8 at 0%).

- Google BigQuery: first choice in 21 of those 67
- Snowflake: first choice in 17 of those 67
- Amazon Redshift: first choice in 1 of those 67
- ClickHouse Cloud: first choice in 1 of those 67

**Enterprise**: 56 of 84 answers did not name Databricks SQL (Databricks SQL is #5 of 7 at 0%).

- Snowflake: first choice in 12 of those 56
- Google BigQuery: first choice in 8 of those 56
- Amazon Redshift: first choice in 6 of those 56
- Azure Synapse Analytics: first choice in 1 of those 56
- Microsoft Fabric / Azure Synapse: first choice in 1 of those 56
- Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse: first choice in 1 of those 56
- MotherDuck: first choice in 1 of those 56

Published under CC BY 4.0. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.