Performance differences between Snowflake and BigQuery for Snowplow data:

Snowflake Advantages:

• Real-time Ingestion: Superior streaming capabilities with Snowpipe Streaming for sub-second data availability
• Complex Queries: Better performance for complex joins and behavioral analysis with advanced SQL optimization
• Flexibility: Independent compute and storage scaling provides better cost control for variable Snowplow workloads

BigQuery Advantages:

• Analytical Queries: Optimized for large-scale analytical workloads with petabyte-scale scanning capabilities
• Cost Model: Potentially more cost-effective for very large analytical queries with predictable patterns

For Snowplow Use Cases: Snowflake generally provides superior performance for real-time behavioral analytics, complex customer journey analysis, and mixed workloads that combine streaming ingestion with analytical processing.