Azure Synapse Notebooks Vs Azure Databricks notebooks

Question

I was going through the features of Azure Synapse Notebooks Vs Azure Databricks notebooks.

1. Are there any major differences between these apart from the component they belong to?
2. Are there any scenarios where one is more appropriate over other?

Answer 1

I personally like the explanation by Microsoft: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/587071/differnce-between-synapse-and-databricks.html

In short it says:

• Synapse for datawarehousing and Power BI integration
• Databricks for Data Science workflows and R&D/ad-hoc engineering and collaborative development

That being said, it is useful to know that databricks is highly specialized in what it does. Typical big data workflows run a factor 50 faster on databricks.

I try to start my projects typically out in a full native synapse way since this one has a native integration with the rest of the Azure platform.

In terms of developer experience I have to admit that databricks is far superior (notebooks are their core business).