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Comparison · Data platforms

Microsoft Fabric or Snowflake for a housing association?

Both can work, and they increasingly work together. A fair comparison for housing data teams: how each is priced, how each works with Power BI, how each shares data with partners, and what each costs a charity.

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By Catalyst BI housing data teamLast reviewed 3rd November 20269 minute read

F64where report readers stop needing ProBelow F64, every Power BI reader needs a Pro or PPU licence.
60 secsSnowflake's minimum per warehouse startThen billed per second. Warehouses suspend when idle.
Feb 2026OneLake and Snowflake interoperabilityGenerally available. You do not have to pick only one.

Side by side

Fabric and Snowflake, side by side.

Facts checked on 3rd November 2026 against Microsoft and Snowflake documentation. The right-hand column is our view.

Microsoft FabricCapacity-based. One Microsoft platform.SnowflakeConsumption-based. Runs on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.What it means for you
How you pay for computeA capacity (F2 upwards) billed per second while it runs, or reserved for a year at a lower rate. Every Fabric workload draws on the same capacity.Credits for the time a warehouse runs, billed per second after a 60-second minimum. Warehouses suspend when idle and resume on the next query.Fabric suits steady, all-day use. Snowflake suits spiky use, such as month-end and annual returns.
StorageOneLake storage is charged separately from capacity.Charged separately, per terabyte per month on compressed data.Include both in your estimate, alongside licences.
Power BI report readersOn F64 or larger, people with a free licence and viewer role can read reports. Below F64, every reader needs Pro or Premium Per User.Readers need Power BI licences in the normal way, as they would for any source.Count your report readers first. The F64 line often decides the cost.
Connecting Power BIDirect Lake reads Delta tables in OneLake straight into Power BI, without a scheduled import.A generally available Power BI connector with Import or DirectQuery, and Entra ID single sign-on for DirectQuery.Both work with the Power BI your team already uses.
Sharing with councils and contractorsExternal data sharing between Fabric tenants, read-only, with admins in both tenants switching it on.Secure Data Sharing without copying data, including reader accounts for organisations that are not Snowflake customers.If your partners do not run Fabric, check how you would share with them.
Governance of tenant dataMicrosoft Purview: sensitivity labels, data loss prevention and audit of Fabric activity.Horizon: masking, row access policies, classification and lineage. Masking and row access need Enterprise Edition.Either can protect tenant data. Price the edition or licence the controls need.
UK data residencyUK South and UK West, with all Fabric workloads.UK regions on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, all in London.Both can keep data in the UK.
Working togetherMirroring copies Snowflake tables into OneLake. OneLake and Snowflake can read the same Iceberg tables.Snowflake can write Iceberg tables into OneLake for Fabric to read.You do not have to pick only one. Interoperability became generally available in February 2026.
Microsoft Fabric suits you if
  • You already run Power BI widely and have enough report readers to justify F64
  • You want one Microsoft vendor, and Purview already governs your estate
  • Your workloads run steadily through the day
Snowflake suits you if
  • You share data with councils, contractors or partners that do not run Fabric
  • Your heavy workloads come in bursts, such as month-end and annual returns
  • You want Power BI and other tools, such as Qlik, working from the same governed data

Catalyst BI works with both Microsoft and Snowflake technology, and picks the platform against the workload.

00The short answer

Is Microsoft Fabric or Snowflake better for a housing association?

Neither, in general. Fabric suits teams deep in Microsoft licensing who want one vendor for storage and reporting. Snowflake suits teams that want zero maintenance, to pay for compute as they use it, to share data with partners on other platforms, and to keep their choice of reporting tools.

Most housing associations run on Microsoft, and both platforms work with the Power BI you already have. The useful question is not which platform is better, but which one costs less and fits better for your workloads, your partners and your team.

We work with both, alongside Microsoft tools, so this page tries to be fair. Where a fact changes the decision, we say where it came from. Prices and features move quickly, so check the sources before you commit.

01Pricing models

How are Fabric and Snowflake priced?

Fabric charges for a capacity you size in advance and keep running. Snowflake charges for the seconds each warehouse runs. The same workload can cost very different amounts depending on when, and how often, it runs.

60 secondsminimum Snowflake bills each time a warehouse starts, then per second

Fabric runs on capacity sizes from F2 upwards. You pay per second on demand, or reserve a capacity for a year at a lower rate. You can pause a capacity, but any outstanding usage is added to your bill when you do (Microsoft Learn, Microsoft Learn).

Snowflake charges credits for the time a warehouse runs. An X-Small warehouse uses one credit an hour, and each size up doubles that. Warehouses suspend when idle and start again on the next query (Snowflake documentation).

For a housing association, the pattern matters most. A team running nightly loads, live dashboards and a busy contact centre view all day may get good value from a reserved Fabric capacity. A team whose heavy work bunches around month-end, the TSM return and board packs may pay less on Snowflake.

Questions to ask your team
  • When does our data actually get used: all day, or in bursts?
  • How many people read our Power BI reports?
  • Which workloads must run every night, and which only monthly?

02Cost for a charity

What does each cost a charity?

Neither vendor publishes a charity discount on Fabric capacity or Snowflake compute. The charity savings that do exist sit in Microsoft licensing around the platform, so the number of report readers often decides the cost.

$4.20a month for Power BI Pro at Microsoft's nonprofit price, per user
  • Power BI Pro: $4.20 per user per month at the nonprofit price, against a $14 list price since April 2025 (Microsoft, Microsoft).
  • Azure grant: eligible nonprofits receive $2,000 of Azure credits a year (Microsoft).
  • Fabric capacity: we found no published nonprofit price. Below F64, every report reader needs a Pro licence; on F64 or larger, viewers with free licences can read reports (Microsoft Learn).
  • Snowflake: no published charity programme. In UK regions, On Demand credits are listed at $2.70 on Standard and $4.00 on Enterprise, with storage at $24 per terabyte per month (Snowflake). Masking and row access policies, which most tenant data needs, require Enterprise (Snowflake documentation).

How do you estimate it properly?

Take one real workload, such as your Awaab's Law case tracker, and price it on both: hours of compute a day, data volume, number of report readers and the edition or licence your governance needs. Prices are listed in US dollars and change, so read them from each vendor's calculator for UK regions on the day you decide.

03Power BI

How does each work with Power BI?

Both work. Fabric reads OneLake tables straight into Power BI through Direct Lake. Snowflake connects through a generally available Power BI connector, using Import or DirectQuery, with Entra ID single sign-on.

2.0the ADBC-based Snowflake connector, the default for new Power BI connections

Direct Lake loads Delta tables from OneLake into Power BI's memory without a scheduled import (Microsoft Learn). Snowflake data can use it once it reaches OneLake, through mirroring or shared Iceberg tables.

The Snowflake connector supports Import and DirectQuery. Entra ID single sign-on works with DirectQuery, so report readers see only what their Snowflake role allows. During 2025 the connector moved to a new ADBC-based version; if you use the on-premises gateway, it needs the January 2025 release or later (Microsoft Learn, Snowflake documentation).

Read more in our blog on Power BI and Snowflake working together.

04Using both

Can Fabric and Snowflake work together?

Yes. Fabric can mirror Snowflake tables into OneLake, and since February 2026 OneLake and Snowflake can read the same Iceberg tables in both directions. Many associations will end up using parts of both.

Feb 2026OneLake and Snowflake interoperability became generally available

Mirroring replicates Snowflake tables into Fabric. Replication compute on the Fabric side is free, and mirrored storage is free up to a limit tied to capacity size, but Snowflake still charges compute while data is mirrored (Microsoft Learn).

One point matters for tenant data: Snowflake's row and column security does not travel with mirrored data. It must be set up again in the mirrored database (Microsoft Learn).

The newer route is shared Iceberg tables, where Snowflake writes tables into OneLake and Fabric reads them in place (Microsoft Fabric blog). The Fabric capacity must be in the same Azure region as the Snowflake account.

05How to decide

How should a housing association decide?

Run one real workload on the platform you are leaning towards, measure the cost and the effort, and compare. A few weeks of evidence beats any comparison table, including ours.

  1. Pick the workload. Choose one you cannot avoid, such as Awaab's Law evidence or the TSM return.
  2. Count your readers. Work out how many people read reports, and whether F64 changes the sums.
  3. List your partners. Note which councils, contractors and agencies you share data with, and what they run.
  4. Price the controls. Include the edition or licence that masking, row-level security and audit need.
  5. Measure, then decide. Run it for a few weeks and compare real cost and effort.

Whichever you choose, keep the data model independent of the platform. The four Awaab's Law entities, tenants, property, investigation appointments and work orders, work the same on both.

Questions to ask your team
  • Who are our data partners, and what do they run?
  • What will our governance controls cost on each platform?
  • Who in our team will run this in two years' time?

FAQs

Questions about Fabric and Snowflake.

Not covered here? Ask us directly.

Microsoft Fabric or Snowflake: which suits a housing association?

Both can work. Fabric suits teams deep in Microsoft licensing who want one vendor for storage and reporting. Snowflake suits teams that want zero maintenance, consumption pricing, secure data sharing with councils and contractors, and freedom to use any reporting tool. Compare them on your own workload rather than in general.

Do we have to replace Power BI to use Snowflake?

No. Power BI connects to Snowflake through a generally available connector, using Import or DirectQuery, with Entra ID single sign-on. Many organisations keep Power BI for reporting and use Snowflake as the governed data platform underneath it.

Is there a charity discount on Fabric or Snowflake?

Neither vendor publishes a charity discount on Fabric capacity or Snowflake compute. Microsoft's nonprofit offers cover Power BI Pro at $4.20 per user per month and a $2,000 yearly Azure grant for eligible nonprofits. Ask each vendor's sales team about current terms.

Can Fabric and Snowflake work together?

Yes. Fabric can mirror Snowflake tables into OneLake, and since February 2026 OneLake and Snowflake can read the same Iceberg tables. Snowflake's row and column security does not carry over to mirrored data, so it has to be set up again in Fabric.

Can both keep tenant data in the UK?

Yes. Fabric runs in UK South and UK West. Snowflake has UK regions on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, all in London. Check which region your capacity or account is created in.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from vendor documentation, checked on 3rd November 2026. Prices and features change, so check before you decide.

  1. Microsoft Learn, Microsoft Fabric concepts and licencesUpdated 5th August 2026. F SKUs, per-second billing, reservations, the F64 viewer threshold.
  2. Microsoft Learn, Pause and resume your capacityUpdated 20th April 2026.
  3. Snowflake documentation, Overview of warehousesCredits per hour, per-second billing with a 60-second minimum, auto-suspend.
  4. Snowflake, Pricing guideUK On Demand credit and storage prices, checked 3rd November 2026.
  5. Snowflake documentation, Snowflake editionsMasking and row access policies need Enterprise Edition or higher.
  6. Microsoft, Offers for nonprofits (UK)Power BI Pro nonprofit price and the Azure grant, checked 3rd November 2026.
  7. Microsoft, Important update to Microsoft Power BI pricingPower BI Pro list price from 1st April 2025.
  8. Microsoft Learn, Snowflake connector for Power QueryUpdated 9th October 2026. Import, DirectQuery, Entra ID single sign-on, the ADBC-based Implementation 2.0.
  9. Snowflake documentation, Power BI SSO to SnowflakeSingle sign-on set-up and gateway notes.
  10. Microsoft Learn, Direct Lake overviewDirect Lake works on Delta tables in OneLake.
  11. Microsoft Learn, Mirroring Snowflake in Microsoft FabricUpdated 23rd October 2026. Costs on each side, limits, security to reconfigure.
  12. Microsoft Fabric blog, Microsoft OneLake and Snowflake interoperability is now generally availableFebruary 2026.
  13. Snowflake documentation, About Secure Data SharingNo data copied; reader accounts for organisations that are not Snowflake customers.
  14. Microsoft Learn, External data sharing in Microsoft FabricUpdated 27th August 2026. Read-only sharing between Fabric tenants.
  15. Microsoft Learn and Snowflake documentation, Fabric region availability; Snowflake supported cloud regionsUK South and UK West for Fabric; AWS London, Azure UK South and GCP London for Snowflake (docs.snowflake.com/en/user-guide/intro-regions).
  16. Microsoft Learn, Use Microsoft Purview to govern Microsoft FabricUpdated 29th September 2026.
  17. Snowflake documentation, Snowflake Horizon CatalogMasking, row access policies, classification and lineage.

Prices are list prices in US dollars as published by each vendor. They are not quotes.

Compare them on your own workload.

Bring one workload, such as Awaab's Law evidence or the TSM return, and your report reader count. We'll start by understanding how you work, then come back with how each platform would handle it and what it would cost.

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