Snowflake is a cloud data platform founded in 2012 that separates compute from storage, allowing organizations to scale data warehousing workloads independently. It runs on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, enabling data sharing across cloud providers. The platform serves analytics, data engineering, machine learning, and application development workloads for over 10,000 customers.
The pricing model is entirely consumption-based, charged in Snowflake Credits for compute and per-compressed-terabyte per month for storage. An X-Small virtual warehouse consumes 1 credit per hour, with each size tier doubling consumption up to 512 credits per hour for the largest instances. Storage runs approximately $23 per compressed terabyte per month across major US regions.
Snowflake offers four editions. Standard edition runs approximately $2 per credit on-demand and suits small analytics teams. Enterprise adds multi-cluster warehouses, 90-day Time Travel, and data masking at roughly $3/credit. Business Critical adds HIPAA compliance, private connectivity, and enhanced encryption at roughly $4/credit. Virtual Private Snowflake is fully isolated infrastructure for government and highly regulated industries at custom pricing.
In April 2026, Snowflake introduced AI Credits — a new currency specifically for Cortex AI features priced at a flat $2/credit regardless of edition or region. This change benefited higher-edition customers who were previously paying regional and edition premiums on every AI query.
On-demand customers pay list price per credit. Capacity agreements (committed spend) provide meaningful discounts: typical annual commitments yield 25–40% lower effective per-credit rates. The median Snowflake customer pays approximately $96,600 per year. Total cost of ownership typically includes additional tooling (ETL, BI, monitoring) adding $1,300–$2,500/month for a typical 50-person data team.