Google BigQuery vs Teradata
Updated November 2026 · AppBreakup editorial
Google BigQuery
Google Cloud's serverless data warehouse for SQL analytics, billed per query or by capacity.
Teradata
Enterprise data warehouse and analytics platform that runs on major clouds or on-premises.
The short answer
BigQuery suits teams on Google Cloud, or working with GA4 exports, that want a serverless warehouse with nothing to manage and a free monthly allowance. Teradata suits large regulated enterprises that need one warehouse across several clouds and on-premises. The biggest difference is where it runs: BigQuery is serverless on Google Cloud only, while Teradata can be deployed almost anywhere, including air-gapped sites.
Google BigQuery or Teradata: our take
BigQuery is Google Cloud's serverless warehouse. There are no clusters to size: you load data or point it at cloud storage and run standard SQL. It includes BigQuery ML for training models in SQL, geospatial functions, streaming inserts and native Google Analytics 4 exports, and BigQuery Omni can query data held on AWS or Azure. The trade-off is less control over performance tuning and no self-hosted option. Teradata is a long-standing enterprise vendor whose platform runs as a managed service on AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud, in a customer's own cloud account, or on-premises, including air-gapped environments. It is mature at many concurrent enterprise workloads and common in banking, retail, telecoms and government.
The pricing approach is very different. BigQuery has public, usage-based pricing: on-demand queries cost $6.25 per TiB scanned, with the first 1 TiB per month free, and the first 10 GiB per month of storage is free. Capacity pricing is available for predictable spend. Careless queries over wide tables can cost more than expected. Teradata has no public price list; it sells Fixed + Flex capacity billed in a single Teradata Unit, arranged through sales, with a free environment for trying it out.
That makes BigQuery the easier start for small and mid-sized teams, side projects and marketing analytics, since you can begin within the free allowance. Teradata is built for large enterprises and is heavy for small data teams, but it covers deployment needs BigQuery cannot.
Pick BigQuery if you are on Google Cloud and want zero operations work and pay-as-you-go pricing. Pick Teradata if regulation, sovereignty or an existing Teradata estate means your warehouse must run on-premises or across several clouds.
Which should you pick?
Choose Google BigQuery if…
- Teams on Google Cloud or GA4 who want a warehouse with no servers to manage
- You want a free option (Teradata is paid only)
- Fully serverless, with nothing to size or keep running
- Monthly free query and storage allowance for small projects
Choose Teradata if…
- Large regulated enterprises that need one warehouse across cloud and on-premises
- You need to host it on your own servers
- You need Self-hosted, which Google BigQuery doesn't list
- Runs on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or on-premises
- Supports air-gapped and sovereign deployments
About each app
What is Google BigQuery?
BigQuery is Google Cloud's serverless data warehouse. There are no clusters or instances to set up: you load data or point it at files in cloud storage and run standard SQL, and Google allocates compute behind the scenes. It suits teams already on Google Cloud, marketers working with Google Analytics 4 exports, and anyone who wants a warehouse without operations work. It includes built-in machine learning in SQL (BigQuery ML), geospatial functions, streaming inserts, and BigQuery Omni for querying data held on AWS or Azure. Pricing has two compute models: on-demand, where you pay for the bytes each query scans with the first chunk each month free, and capacity pricing for predictable spend; storage is billed separately with a small free allowance. It only runs on Google Cloud, and careless queries over wide tables can scan a lot of data and cost more than expected.
What is Teradata?
Teradata is a long-standing enterprise data warehouse vendor whose platform, now sold as Teradata Cloud (formerly VantageCloud), runs large-scale SQL analytics and mixed workloads for big companies in banking, retail, telecoms and government. It can be deployed as a managed service on AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud, in a customer's own cloud account, or on-premises and in air-gapped environments, which makes it a common choice where data sovereignty or regulation rules out pure public cloud. Recent versions add elastic compute, open table format support, in-database analytics and AI services. Pricing uses a single unit for compute, storage and software, sold as Fixed + Flex: a committed baseline with elastic capacity on top, arranged through sales. There is a free environment for trying it out. It fits enterprises with existing Teradata investments or strict deployment requirements, while smaller teams usually find cloud-native warehouses like Snowflake or BigQuery quicker to start with.
Side by side
| Attribute | Google BigQuery | Teradata |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan + paid | Paid |
| Open source | No | No |
| Self-hostable | No | Yes |
| Platforms | Web | Web, Self-hosted |
| Best for | Teams on Google Cloud or GA4 who want a warehouse with no servers to manage | Large regulated enterprises that need one warehouse across cloud and on-premises |
| Status | Active | Active |
Google BigQuery vs Teradata pricing
Google BigQuery: free plan + paid
- Free query allowance: First 1 TiB per month source
- Free storage: First 10 GiB per month source
- Starting price: $6.25 per TiB scanned (on-demand) source
Teradata: paid
We couldn't verify Teradata's plan details on its own site yet, so we don't list them.
Platforms
| Platform | Google BigQuery | Teradata |
|---|---|---|
| Web | ||
| Self-hosted |
Google BigQuery facts
4 of 4 verified- Serverless
- Yes
- Checked Nov 8, 2026cloud.google.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “BigQuery is a serverless data analytics platform.”
- Free query allowance
- First 1 TiB per month
- Checked Nov 8, 2026cloud.google.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “The first 1 TiB of query data processed per month is free.”
- Free storage
- First 10 GiB per month
- Checked Nov 8, 2026cloud.google.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “Resource Monthly free usage limits Details Storage The first 10 GiB per month is free.”
- Starting price
- $6.25 per TiB scanned (on-demand)
- Checked Nov 8, 2026cloud.google.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “1 tebibyte and above $6.25 / 1 tebibyte, per 1 month / account The first 1 TiB per month is free.”
Teradata facts
4 of 4 verified- On-premises
- Yes, including air-gapped
- Checked Nov 2, 2026teradata.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “On-premises is ideal for regulated industries or air-gap environments.”
- Pricing model
- Fixed + Flex
- Checked Nov 2, 2026teradata.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “Fixed + Flex combines a predictable base commitment (fixed) with elastic capacity (flex).”
- Billing unit
- Teradata Unit
- Checked Nov 8, 2026teradata.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “03 Cost transparency A single currency—a Teradata Unit—means one number tells the full story of your consumption.”
- Clouds
- AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud
- Checked Nov 8, 2026teradata.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “Teradata Cloud is the cloud deployment of the Autonomous Knowledge Platform available in AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.”
Pros and cons of Google BigQuery
- Fully serverless, with nothing to size or keep running
- Monthly free query and storage allowance for small projects
- Native exports from Google Analytics 4 and other Google products
- Machine learning models can be trained in plain SQL
- Tied to Google Cloud; there is no self-hosted version
- On-demand billing by data scanned can surprise teams that query wide tables
- Less control over performance tuning than with your own cluster
Pros and cons of Teradata
- Runs on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or on-premises
- Supports air-gapped and sovereign deployments
- Fixed + Flex pricing gives a predictable baseline cost
- Mature at running many concurrent enterprise workloads
- No public price list; pricing goes through a specialist
- Built for large enterprises, heavy for small data teams
- Smaller community and third-party ecosystem than Snowflake or Databricks
Other apps to consider
ClickHouseInstead of Google BigQuery
Open source and faster for real-time dashboards, with predictable cost when self-hosted.
SnowflakeInstead of Google BigQuery
Runs on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, so it avoids lock-in to a single cloud provider.
DatabricksInstead of Google BigQuery
Adds Spark, notebooks and ML tooling for teams that do heavy data engineering too.
Amazon RedshiftInstead of Teradata
Managed MPP warehouse on AWS, a common landing spot for Teradata migrations with serverless options.
Microsoft FabricInstead of Teradata
Microsoft's analytics platform that bundles warehouse, lakehouse and Power BI under one capacity bill.
YellowbrickInstead of Teradata
Per-vCPU priced SQL warehouse that runs on-premises or in your own cloud account.
Google BigQuery vs Teradata: common questions
Is Google BigQuery better than Teradata?
BigQuery suits teams on Google Cloud, or working with GA4 exports, that want a serverless warehouse with nothing to manage and a free monthly allowance. Teradata suits large regulated enterprises that need one warehouse across several clouds and on-premises. The biggest difference is where it runs: BigQuery is serverless on Google Cloud only, while Teradata can be deployed almost anywhere, including air-gapped sites.
Is Google BigQuery free?
Google BigQuery has a free plan, with paid plans for more features. See its verified pricing facts above for current limits.
Is Teradata free?
No. Teradata is paid, though it may offer a trial.
Is Google BigQuery or Teradata open source?
Neither is open source.
Which platforms do Google BigQuery and Teradata support?
Google BigQuery: Web. Teradata: Web and Self-hosted.