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Business Intelligence · head to head

Deepnote vs Snowplow

Deepnote logo

Deepnote

Business Intelligence

Collaborative cloud workspace for data analytics and machine learning

From
Free
Rated
-
Snowplow logo

Snowplow

Business Intelligence

Behavioural data pipeline you run in your own cloud, relicensed away from Apache 2.0 in 2024

From
On request
Rated
-

The short version

  • Only Deepnote has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Deepnote free plan limited to 3 editors, restricting team usage; Snowplow the core pipeline was relicensed from Apache 2.0 on 8 January 2024 to the Snowplow Limited Use Licence Agreement and a Confluent-derived community licence, so organisations that adopted it as permissively licensed software must now review their entitlement, buy a licence, or migrate.
  • They diverge on capability: Deepnote covers Collaborative notebooks, Snowplow covers Own-cloud deployment.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Deepnote and Snowplow actually diverge.

Attributes where Deepnote and Snowplow differ
AttributeDeepnoteSnowplow
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelSubscription with free tierquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, APILinux, Web, Docker

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Business Intelligence).

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 Deepnote

  • Collaborative notebooks
  • Interactive dashboards
  • Data agent building
  • Scheduled pipelines
  • Model management
  • 100+ integrations
  • GPU support
  • API deployment

Only in Snowplow

  • Own-cloud deployment
  • Schema enforcement
  • Warehouse loading
  • Enrichment
  • Trackers
  • Streaming output
  • Data models
  • Snowplow BDP

What people use each for

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

Deepnote

  • Data exploration and analysis workflowsnot Snowplow
  • Building interactive business intelligence dashboardsnot Snowplow
  • Collaborative machine learning model developmentnot Snowplow
  • Automating ETL and data pipeline orchestrationnot Snowplow
  • Creating shareable reports without exportsnot Snowplow

Snowplow

  • A data team that needs full-fidelity event data in its own warehouse to build attribution or machine learning features rather than to populate dashboardsnot Deepnote
  • A regulated business that cannot send behavioural data to a third-party analytics vendor and must keep collection inside its own cloud accountnot Deepnote
  • A product organisation tired of silently malformed events, which wants a schema contract enforced at collection timenot Deepnote
  • A company modelling customer behaviour across web, mobile and server events that needs them in one consistent structurenot Deepnote

Where each one falls short

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

Deepnote

  • Free plan limited to 3 editors, restricting team usage
  • Limited revision history on free plan compared to competitors
  • Requires Team plan or higher for automated scheduling
  • GPU support incurs additional charges beyond base subscription
  • No mentioned offline capability

Snowplow

  • The core pipeline was relicensed from Apache 2.0 on 8 January 2024 to the Snowplow Limited Use Licence Agreement and a Confluent-derived community licence, so organisations that adopted it as permissively licensed software must now review their entitlement, buy a licence, or migrate.
  • You run the pipeline in your own cloud, which means the infrastructure bill, the on-call rota and the upgrade work are yours, and at high event volume that operational cost frequently exceeds what a hosted product would have charged.
  • Schema enforcement is the main benefit and the main friction, because every new event requires a schema to be authored and versioned, and teams without discipline around that end up blocked on their own governance process.
  • There is no analysis layer: Snowplow delivers data to your warehouse and nothing else, so you still need modelling, a BI tool and the people to run them before anyone sees a number.
  • The licence change fractured the community, spawning an Apache 2.0 fork, which means community contributions and third-party tooling are now split across two codebases with uncertain long-term maintenance.

Pricing, plan by plan

Deepnote

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 3 editors
    • Up to 5 projects
    • Limited Deepnote AI
  • Team$39/month
    • Unlimited viewers and notebooks
    • Full Deepnote AI access
    • Premium integrations
  • Enterprise$null/custom
    • Everything in Team plan
    • Custom contracts
    • Priority support

Snowplow

On request
  • Snowplow BDP$undefined/year
    • Commercial pricing quoted by event volume and deployment
    • Core pipeline components under the Snowplow Limited Use Licence Agreement, not Apache 2.0
    • Trackers, analytics SDKs and Iglu SDKs remain Apache 2.0

Which should you pick?

Choose Deepnote if

  • You need collaborative notebooks.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want interactive dashboards.

Choose Snowplow if

  • You need own-cloud deployment.
  • You work on Linux, Web, Docker.
  • You also want schema enforcement.

Questions people ask

Is Deepnote or Snowplow better?
Neither clearly leads. Deepnote starts at Free and Snowplow at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Deepnote or Snowplow?
Deepnote has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Deepnote and On request for Snowplow.
Does Deepnote or Snowplow run on more platforms?
Deepnote runs on Web, API. Snowplow runs on Linux, Web, Docker.
Can I use Deepnote for free?
Yes. Deepnote has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Snowplow starts at On request.
What is Deepnote best used for?
Deepnote is most often used for data exploration and analysis workflows, building interactive business intelligence dashboards, collaborative machine learning model development, automating etl and data pipeline orchestration. Of those, data exploration and analysis workflows and building interactive business intelligence dashboards are not what Snowplow is typically brought in for.
What can Deepnote do that Snowplow cannot?
Deepnote covers Collaborative notebooks, Interactive dashboards, Data agent building, Scheduled pipelines. Snowplow covers Own-cloud deployment, Schema enforcement, Warehouse loading, Enrichment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Deepnote: What is included in the free Deepnote plan?

The free plan includes up to 3 editors, up to 5 projects, limited Deepnote AI, basic machines with 5 GB RAM, and 7-day revision history.

Source
Snowplow: Is Snowplow still open source?

Not in the permissive sense. On 8 January 2024 the core pipeline moved from Apache 2.0 to the Snowplow Limited Use Licence Agreement, with version 1.1 following in December 2024, alongside a community licence based on the Confluent Community Licence. Trackers and analytics SDKs remain Apache 2.0.

Deepnote: What data sources can Deepnote integrate with?

Deepnote integrates with 100+ data sources including major data warehouses like Snowflake, BigQuery, and Redshift, as well as BI platforms like Looker, Tableau, and Power BI.

Source
Snowplow: Can we still run it for free in production?

Free use of the relicensed core components is materially constrained and commercial use generally requires an agreement. Read the current licence text against your intended use rather than relying on older documentation.

Deepnote: Does Deepnote support collaboration?

Yes, Deepnote provides real-time collaborative notebooks where multiple team members can work simultaneously. The Team plan allows unlimited viewers and notebooks.

Source
Snowplow: Is there an Apache 2.0 alternative?

Yes, a fork called OpenSnowcat was created in response to the relicensing and continues under Apache 2.0.

Deepnote: What compliance certifications does Deepnote have?

Deepnote is SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA compliant and offers role-based access control, single sign-on, and directory synchronization.

Source
Snowplow: What does Snowplow BDP cost?

Not published. It is quoted by event volume and deployment, and your own cloud infrastructure costs are separate and additional.

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