Pay by the minute instead of buying Fabric capacity.
Fabric makes you buy an F-SKU capacity, size it, reserve it and manage it. That capacity is smoothed and throttled whether you're busy or idle. Databasin is billed by the minute, on open Apache Iceberg. One engine for SQL and Spark (Databasin Sail, our own) over a lake you own, with an AI analyst built in. Stop the cluster and the meter stops.
Compute that starts and stops with your work.
Fabric is a bundle of proprietary experiences over a capacity you provision and manage. Databasin is one open product, metered by the minute: no CUs to size, no smoothing window, no throttle when you get busy.
No F-SKU to size, no reservation, no annual commit. Run a cluster and pay for the minutes it runs. Stop it, and the meter stops.
Fabric smooths your usage over time and throttles interactive queries when you exceed the capacity you bought. Databasin gives you the compute you asked for, when you asked for it.
Every table is real Apache Iceberg on Parquet in your lake, rather than Delta with Iceberg bolted on as a virtualized overlay. Any engine reads it. Leaving doesn’t require a migration.
Databasin Sail, our own Spark-compatible engine, runs dashboards, PySpark and pipelines. Trino reads the same tables if you prefer ANSI SQL. No copies between them.
There's no Data Factory pipeline for you to wire up by hand. 75+ certified connectors ingest on a schedule and build your gold views for you.
SaaS, or Databasin Private in your own Azure tenant with your keys and VNets. Same product, same features, zero vendor logical access if you want it. HIPAA-ready with BAA available.
The capacity model, line by line.
Microsoft Fabric bills a fixed capacity you size in advance. Databasin bills the minutes you actually run. Same work, side by side.
| Capability | Databasin | Microsoft Fabric |
|---|---|---|
| Billing model | ✓Per-minute, post-pay · no commit. Databasin Private is licensed per module | Fixed F-SKU capacity (CUs), reserved or pay-as-you-go |
| Idle cost | ✓$0 when stopped · the meter stops with the cluster | You pay for the capacity around the clock unless you pause it |
| Capacity sizing | ✓None · scale compute per workload, on demand | You size the F-SKU up front; resize is a capacity change |
| Throttling / smoothing | ✓None · you get the compute you launched | Usage is smoothed over time; overages throttle then reject queries |
| Query engines | ✓Trino + Databasin Sail · one catalog · Sail runs your PySpark and Spark SQL | Spark · T-SQL Warehouse · KQL Eventhouse · Direct Lake: per-workload |
| Table format | ✓Native Apache Iceberg + Parquet · any engine reads it | Delta on OneLake; Iceberg via metadata virtualization overlay |
| Data pipelines (ELT) | ✓75+ certified connectors · gold views built for you | Data Factory pipelines you build and maintain |
| AI / natural-language analyst | ✓Databasin One, built in · $0.015 / 1K tokens | Copilot, which spends the same capacity units as your queries, with no cap |
| Data ownership | ✓Your open lake · query from anywhere, leave anytime | OneLake, Microsoft-managed inside the Fabric tenant |
| Deployment | ✓SaaS or Databasin Private in your own Azure tenant | SaaS on Microsoft-managed capacity |
Microsoft Fabric behavior reflects Microsoft's published capacity, smoothing, throttling and Copilot documentation, and F-SKU pricing for US regions, checked 17 August 2026. Copilot runs on any paid F SKU (F2 or higher); the F64 threshold applies to viewing Power BI content with a free license, not to Copilot. Actual Fabric cost and throttling vary by SKU, region, and reservation term. Verify at azure.microsoft.com/pricing and Microsoft's Fabric documentation.
The costs side by side.
Databasin publishes flat consumption rates. Fabric prices in capacity units, which means an F-SKU you size up front and pay for around the clock. Here's what each line costs on Databasin, and how Fabric bills the same job.
| Line item | Databasin | Microsoft Fabric |
|---|---|---|
| Query compute: small | $1.82/hr · Sail XSmall, all nodes running (10 vCPU) | Capacity units drawn from an always-on F-SKU baseline you size up front |
| Query compute: medium | $6.61/hr · Sail Medium, all nodes running (35 vCPU) | A bigger F-SKU: resize the capacity, then pay for it idle or busy |
| Data pipelines (ETL/ELT) | ✓$5.00/hr · included, no separate tool | Data Factory draws capacity units from the same F-SKU, so pipeline load competes with your queries |
| Storage | $24 / TB / mo · snapshot-metered | OneLake storage billed separately, on top of the capacity |
| AI / natural-language analyst | ✓$0.015 / 1K tokens · Databasin One, built in | —Copilot draws from the same capacity units as your queries and pipelines, and no spend cap exists |
| BI / dashboards | ✓Included · Reportbasin + Databasin One | —Power BI needs separate per-user licensing below F64 |
| Billing granularity | ✓Per-minute · stopped clusters bill nothing | Always-on capacity: smoothed and throttled at the ceiling, billed whether you query or not |
Competitor pricing reflects published on-demand list prices for Azure regions as of early 2026. Actual costs vary by region, contract terms, and committed-use discounts. Verify at azure.microsoft.com/pricing.
Running an analytics workload without buying a capacity.
A Databasin Sail Medium cluster (4 workers) running 8 hours a day, 20 business days a month, with its coordinator always on. Pipelines run 60 min/day, 500 GB sits in storage, and the AI analyst is in daily use.
Storage: $12 · AI (Databasin One): $45
BI & dashboards: $0 (included)
Open formats, and no capacity to manage.
Fabric bundles proprietary engines over a capacity you manage. Databasin gives you one engine for SQL and Spark over an open lake you own, metered by the minute. The analyst comes built in.
Open storage you own.
Every table is native Apache Iceberg on Parquet, in your lake. Trino, Databasin Sail, or any engine you bring reads it directly, with no copies and no conversion.
No capacity to manage.
Scale compute per workload, on demand, and pay by the minute. Stop a cluster and the meter stops. No F-SKU to size, no reservation to true up.
Pipelines that run themselves.
75+ certified connectors ingest on a schedule and build your cleaned, business-ready gold views for you. Bronze → silver → gold, handled.
Intelligent, no capacity required.
Databasin One is an agentic analyst built in: Claude and GPT with full catalog awareness. It picks the tables, writes the SQL, renders the chart, and cites its source. Included, metered per token.
What Fabric capacity costs over a year.
Fabric's sticker is the F-SKU. The bill you actually sign is that capacity, plus the pipelines you maintain, plus whatever Copilot spends out of the same pool with no cap available, plus a further 3× the normal rate if you use overage billing to avoid being throttled. Databasin replaces the capacity with a per-minute meter and an ecosystem that just runs.
Try Databasin with $50 in credit.
$50 in credits. You don't need a card, a capacity, or a commitment. Load real data, run a real query, and ask Databasin One to build you a real dashboard before lunch. Questions about the math? Write to us, and one of the founders will walk through it with your own numbers.