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Databricks vs Milvus

Databricks logo

Databricks

Software

Unified analytics platform for data engineering and data science

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Milvus logo

Milvus

Software

Open-source vector database for scalable similarity search

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Databricks cloud compute is billed separately by the cloud provider on top of Databricks DBU charges; Milvus vector dimensions are capped at 32,768
  • They diverge on capability: Databricks covers Delta Lake, Milvus covers Billion-scale vectors.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Databricks and Milvus actually diverge.

Attributes where Databricks and Milvus differ
AttributeDatabricksMilvus
Pricing modelusage-basedfreemium
PlatformsWeb, Aws, Azure, GcpLinux, Mac, Windows, Web
Founded20132017

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Databricks

  • Delta Lake
  • Apache Spark
  • MLflow
  • Unity Catalog
  • Photon Engine
  • Collaborative Notebooks
  • Auto-scaling
  • AWS

Only in Milvus

  • Billion-scale vectors
  • Multiple index types
  • GPU acceleration
  • Hybrid search
  • Data partitioning
  • PyTorch
  • TensorFlow
  • Hugging Face

Both cover

  • Web support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Databricks

  • Running Spark data engineering pipelines on managed clustersnot Milvus
  • Building a lakehouse over data in cloud object storagenot Milvus
  • Training and serving machine learning models alongside the datanot Milvus

Milvus

  • Self hosting a vector database for semantic searchnot Databricks
  • Storing and querying embeddings for retrieval augmented generationnot Databricks
  • Similarity search over images, audio or text at scalenot Databricks

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Databricks

  • Cloud compute is billed separately by the cloud provider on top of Databricks DBU charges
  • The free trial lasts 14 days
  • Discounts require a Committed Use Contract, with larger commitments needed for larger discounts
  • Azure Databricks pricing is set by Microsoft rather than by Databricks
  • Security and compliance capabilities are sold as separate platform add ons rather than included in the base rate

Milvus

  • Vector dimensions are capped at 32,768
  • A collection is limited to 64 fields, 1,024 partitions and 16 shards
  • Only 1 index is allowed per field
  • Search returns at most 16,384 vectors as top-k, and nq is capped at 16,384
  • Input and output per RPC is capped at 64 MB for insert, search and query
  • VARCHAR values are limited to 65,535 characters
  • Data loaded into query nodes cannot exceed 90% of available memory
  • An instance supports at most 65,536 collections

Pricing, plan by plan

Databricks

Free
  • Community EditionFree
    • Limited cluster
    • Notebook environment
    • Community support
  • Standard$0.07/DBU
    • Jobs compute
    • SQL compute
    • Standard support

Milvus

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Full features
    • Self-hosted
    • Community support
  • Zilliz CloudFree
    • Managed service
    • Free tier available

Which should you pick?

Choose Databricks if

  • You need delta lake.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Aws, Azure, Gcp.
  • You also want apache spark.
Databricks review

Choose Milvus if

  • You need billion-scale vectors.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Mac, Windows, Web.
  • You also want multiple index types.
Milvus review

Questions people ask

Is Databricks or Milvus better?
Neither clearly leads. Databricks starts at Free and Milvus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Databricks or Milvus?
Databricks starts at Free and Milvus at Free.
Does Databricks or Milvus run on more platforms?
Databricks runs on Web, Aws, Azure, Gcp. Milvus runs on Linux, Mac, Windows, Web.
Can I use Databricks for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Databricks best used for?
Databricks is most often used for running spark data engineering pipelines on managed clusters, building a lakehouse over data in cloud object storage, training and serving machine learning models alongside the data. Of those, running spark data engineering pipelines on managed clusters and building a lakehouse over data in cloud object storage are not what Milvus is typically brought in for.
What can Databricks do that Milvus cannot?
Databricks covers Delta Lake, Apache Spark, MLflow, Unity Catalog. Milvus covers Billion-scale vectors, Multiple index types, GPU acceleration, Hybrid search. Both handle Web support.
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