Supported Cloud Platforms¶
Snowflake is provided as a self-managed service that runs completely on cloud infrastructure. This means that all three layers of Snowflake’s architecture (storage, compute, and cloud services) are deployed and managed entirely on a selected cloud platform.
A Snowflake account can be hosted on any of the following cloud platforms:
Amazon Web Services (AWS) (https://aws.amazon.com/)
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) (https://cloud.google.com/)
Microsoft Azure (Azure) (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/)
On each platform, Snowflake provides one or more regions where the account is provisioned.
If your organization’s other cloud services are already hosted on one of these platforms, you can choose to host all your Snowflake accounts on the same platform. However, you can also choose to host your accounts on a different platform.
Note
The cloud platform you choose for each Snowflake account is completely independent from your other Snowflake accounts. In fact, you can choose to host each Snowflake account on a different platform, although this may have some impact on data transfer billing when loading data.
Pricing¶
Differences in unit costs for credits and data storage are calculated by region on each cloud platform. For more information about pricing as it pertains to a specific region and platform, see the pricing page (on the Snowflake website).
Data Loading¶
Snowflake supports loading data from files staged in any of the following locations, regardless of the cloud platform for your Snowflake account:
Internal (i.e. Snowflake) stages
Amazon S3
Google Cloud Storage
Microsoft Azure blob storage
Snowflake supports both bulk data loading and continuous data loading (Snowpipe). Likewise, Snowflake supports unloading data from tables into any of the above staging locations.
For more information, see Load data into Snowflake.
Note
Some data transfer billing charges may apply when loading data from files staged across different platforms. For more information, see Understanding data transfer cost.
HITRUST CSF Certification¶
This certification enhances Snowflake’s security posture in regulatory compliance and risk management, and is applicable to Snowflake editions that are Business Critical (or higher). For more information, see Snowflake Security and Trust Center.
Partner Applications¶
Many partner applications work with Snowflake accounts. For more information, refer to Snowflake ecosystem.
Current Limitations for Accounts on GCP¶
We strive to provide the same Snowflake experience regardless of the cloud platform you choose for your account; however, some services and features are currently unavailable (or have limited availability) for Snowflake accounts hosted on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Google Cloud Private Service Connect¶
See the limitations section for using Google Cloud Private Service Connect and Snowflake.
Note that following Snowflake system functions for self-service management are not supported for Google Cloud Private Service Connect for your Snowflake account on GCP:
Network Rules¶
Network rules are not supported on GCP.
Private Connectivity to Internal Stages¶
Private connectivity to Snowflake internal stages is currently not supported on GCP. You cannot prevent public IP addresses from accessing an internal stage because there wouldn’t be a method of accessing the internal stage.
Snowpark Container Services¶
Snowpark Container Services is currently not supported on GCP.
Snowflake Open Catalog¶
Snowflake Open Catalog is currently not available in government regions.
Current Limitations for Accounts on AWS¶
We strive to provide the same Snowflake experience regardless of the cloud platform you choose for your account; however, some services and features are currently unavailable (or have limited availability) for Snowflake accounts hosted on AWS.
Access to External Network Locations¶
Access to external network locations from UDF and procedure handler code is currently not supported in the Gov region.
Snowflake Open Catalog¶
Snowflake Open Catalog is currently not available in government regions.
Current limitations for accounts on Azure¶
We strive to provide the same Snowflake experience regardless of the cloud platform you choose for your account; however, some services and features are currently unavailable (or have limited availability) for Snowflake accounts hosted on Microsoft Azure.
Azure Private Link¶
Snowflake Clients¶
Currently, using the account name URL format for private connectivity to the Snowflake service with SnowSQL, connectors and drivers is not supported. As a workaround, use the account locator format with SnowSQL, connectors, and drivers.
For details, see:
Access to External Network Locations¶
Access to external network locations from UDF and procedure handler code is currently not supported in the Gov region.
Snowpark Container Services¶
Snowpark Container Services is currently not supported on Azure.
Snowflake Open Catalog¶
Snowflake Open Catalog is currently not available in government regions.