Automotive
FEATURE
native support for apache iceberg tables
Build high-performing, interoperable pipelines that serve the needs of every team, without sacrificing security, scale or simplicity. Whether you’re batch or streaming, developing AI agents or advanced analytics, Snowflake makes Iceberg work without the operational burden.
OVERVIEW
Unlock table flexibility.Enjoy performance and reliability.
Simplify your data lifecycle
Connect, transform and activate Iceberg tables across regions and clouds.
Get to value faster
Securely build ML workflows, run advanced analytics, and power real-time apps and dashboards on a governed platform.
Unlock secure multi-engine access
Manage secure multi-engine access with a vendor-neutral catalog and comprehensive security and governance within Snowflake.
BENEFITS
Get enhanced performance and governance, regardless of catalog
Trust that your data is protected
Know and secure your Iceberg tables
Discover and access data, apps and models inside and outside of your organization with Universal Search.
Protect and audit your data, apps and models with role-based access controls, data tags, data quality monitoring and data lineage.
Secure your environment with continuous risk monitoring and vulnerability management.
Centralize and streamline sharing
Centralize and activate data from nearly anywhere
- Bring all your Iceberg tables into a secure and governed single pane of glass to automatically discover, refresh, read and write with catalog linked databases.
Experience fast, reliable performance for all jobs without tuning or contention. Snowflake's single elastic engine and isolated compute deliver speed — simply.
Share governed Iceberg tables to any stakeholder, across regions and clouds, without infrastructure complexity.
Focus on innovation
Build and automate your pipelines for broad impact
Connect your global data estate across regions and clouds for simplified architecture and unified governance with Snowflake’s connected platform.
Visually integrate data from any source using Snowflake Openflow, or load batch and streaming data with Snowpipe, Snowpipe Streaming or COPY.
Build declarative pipelines to incrementally and automatically transform data with Dynamic Iceberg Tables — while maintaining query access from any Iceberg engine
Democratize AI and data
Power AI and data-driven decisions with your Iceberg tables
Develop AI agents and define ML workflows across all your data, including Iceberg, with a comprehensive suite of AI services within Snowflake's unified, governed platform.
Deliver advanced analytics, including forecasting, anomaly detection, sentiment and time series analysis with support for structured, semi-structured and geospatial data types for your Iceberg tables.
Democratize insights without downtime in dashboards and apps with real-time insights powered via zero-tuning elastic compute engine that just works.
Own and protect your metadata
Secure your ecosystem
Establish a truly vendor-neutral foundation for your lakehouse with a managed service for Apache Polaris, the open source Iceberg catalog.
Connect securely to a growing list of engines and keep your metadata synchronized across environments for read and write operations.
Integrate your enterprise identity providers for seamless authentication flows (SSO, SAML 2.0, OAuth) and establish secure, private network connectivity among your engines, tools and Open Catalog with PrivateLink.
Build a Better Lakehouse
Architect without compromise. Snowflake’s native support for Iceberg unifies data while preserving flexibility and choice. Build or securely scale a high-performing lakehouse to break down silos, minimize operational overhead, and accelerate time-to-value with the AI Data Cloud.
“Open table formats provide the flexibility, interoperability, and enhanced data governance we need, while Snowflake's unparalleled performance capabilities help ensure we can scale these insights effectively with maximum efficiency.”
Laurent Bride
Chief Technology Officer, Komodo Health
Resources
Apache Iceberg Tables
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn how Snowflake supports open table formats, different management options, catalog integrations and data governance.
What are Apache Iceberg tables in Snowflake?
Apache Iceberg tables are an open-source table format you can natively use within Snowflake. While Snowflake accesses and manages them, the actual data files reside in your own cloud storage (like Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage or Azure Storage), offering flexibility and openness.
What’s the difference between Snowflake Managed and Externally Managed tables?
The key difference is how the Iceberg table's metadata and transactions are managed by its catalog.
- Snowflake-managed Iceberg tables: Snowflake Horizon Catalog manages metadata and transactions. Snowflake also automates table maintenance like compaction and snapshot retention.
- Externally-managed Iceberg tables: A separate, external catalog manages the table's metadata and transactions. Snowflake integrates with this external catalog to read and write to these tables.
Can other engines read and write to Snowflake-managed Iceberg tables?
External engines can typically only read from Snowflake Managed Iceberg tables, offering flexibility for your existing tools. For full multi-engine read and write interoperability from the start, using a vendor neutral catalog like Apache Polaris is the recommended approach. Snowflake provides a managed service for Apache Polaris: Snowflake Open Catalog
What’s the difference between Horizon Catalog & Snowflake Open Catalog?
Snowflake Horizon Catalog: This is Snowflake's built-in solution for unified governance, security, and discovery across all your data assets within the Snowflake platform, including any type of Iceberg table you use with Snowflake.
Snowflake Open Catalog: This is a Snowflake-managed service for Apache Polaris™, a vendor-neutral open-source Iceberg catalog. It's specifically designed to enable secure, multi-engine read-and-write interoperability for your Iceberg tables. You can also sync Snowflake Managed tables to Open Catalog for broader read-only access by other engines.
Must my Iceberg tables be managed by Snowflake to benefit from Snowflake’s full platform?
No, your Iceberg tables don't have to be Snowflake Managed for you to leverage the platform's strengths. Snowflake extends its powerful query engine, performance, AI capabilities, and security features to your Iceberg tables whether they are Snowflake Managed or Externally Managed.
Can Snowflake read and write to Apache Iceberg Tables?
Yes, Snowflake offers robust support for both reading from and writing to Apache Iceberg tables. While Snowflake has long supported these operations for Snowflake-managed Iceberg tables, full write support for externally managed Iceberg will become generally available soon, expanding your flexibility.
What Multi-Engine Security Features are available?
In a multi-engine setup with Iceberg, role-based access control (RBAC) is the most common security feature. You can manage secure multi-engine access via Apache Polaris, the vendor-neutral open source catalog for Iceberg Tables. Snowflake offers a managed service withSnowflake Open Catalog enabling table-level access controls through an RBAC framework, often supported by features like scoped credential vending for secure access from various engines.
Do Horizon Catalog’s Comprehensive Security & Governance Features apply to my Iceberg tables?
Absolutely. When you use Iceberg tables with Snowflake (whether Snowflake Managed or Externally Managed), they benefit from Snowflake Horizon Catalog's comprehensive, built-in security and governance. This keeps your Iceberg data protected with enterprise-grade capabilities like fine-grained access controls, risk monitoring, and vulnerability management, consistent with other data in Snowflake.
