Alternatives · BI suites
AI/BI is the business intelligence layer built into the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. It suits organisations that already keep their data in Databricks and Unity Catalog. If the question on your desk is why a number moved, and your data arrives as exports, there is a lighter way to answer it.
AI/BI is the business intelligence layer built into the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. It has two parts: Dashboards, a low-code tool for building and sharing interactive dashboards, and Genie, a conversational interface where business users ask questions in natural language. Both run directly on data governed in Unity Catalog.
None of these is a fault in Databricks AI/BI. They are situations where a team needs something narrower, sooner or lighter than what it is built to do.
| The situation | How Covirage approaches it |
|---|---|
| It works on data registered in Unity Catalog | Covirage works on the exports you already have; there is no platform to adopt first |
| Genie spaces are built and tuned by analysts or a data team | The measures for your desk ship with the product and we set them up |
| Costs are consumption-based in DBUs | Three tiers on one sheet, with set up included |
| Genie turns questions into SQL | Covirage's AI model chooses from measures our tools compute; it never writes a query or does the arithmetic |
| Databricks AI/BI | Covirage | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Organisations that already keep their data in Databricks and Unity Catalog; Data teams that want to give business users self-service questions without adding a separate BI licence | The person waiting for the answer: one desk, then the next |
| How it gets data | Live query of data registered in Unity Catalog, run on a Databricks SQL warehouse (pro or serverless for Genie). Data outside Databricks first needs to be brought into or federated through the platform. | Files and sheets now; scheduled delivery by API, S3, Azure, SFTP or email on Business; connections built with your team on Enterprise |
| Needs before the first answer | A Databricks workspace with data registered in Unity Catalog; A pro or serverless SQL warehouse and the Databricks SQL entitlement; An analyst or data team to curate each Genie space with tables, instructions and example queries | The exports your systems already produce. No warehouse, no modelling language, no data team |
| Typical setup | Not published | Minutes on a file you already export; set up for you within a week |
| AI | Genie uses generative AI to turn a natural-language question into SQL, which runs on the chosen SQL warehouse under the user's own Unity Catalog permissions. Accuracy is shaped by Unity Catalog metadata, metric views and the instructions, sample SQL queries and benchmarks that authors add to a Genie space (up to 50 tables, views or metric views per space). Dashboards also include AI assistance for building datasets and visualisations. | The AI model chooses a measure and writes the explanation; our tools do the arithmetic and check every total |
| Published pricing | There is no additional licence fee for AI/BI; standard Databricks DBU rates apply to the SQL warehouse compute that runs queries. For Genie's LLM usage, each user receives 150 DBUs free per month (quoted as $10.50 in US East, varying by region); usage beyond that is billed in DBUs, and warehouse compute is billed separately. Databricks offers a 14-day free trial. | Three tiers on one sheet, shared in a conversation |
| Getting data out | Dashboard datasets can be downloaded as CSV or TSV (up to about 1 GB) or Excel (up to 1,000,000 rows), and visualisations as PNG. Dashboards support scheduled email or Slack subscriptions, iframe embedding and REST API management; underlying tables remain in Unity Catalog and can be read by any tool that connects to Databricks. | Export every table as a workbook or JSON at any time |
Many teams use both: Databricks AI/BI for what it is built for, and Covirage for the recurring question a desk would otherwise hand to an analyst.
With the desk that cannot wait for a Genie space to be curated for it. Databricks can export the tables that desk needs, and Covirage answers its recurring question from them within a week.
Sometimes, and often not. Databricks AI/BI is built for organisations that already keep their data in Databricks and Unity Catalog. Covirage answers one desk's questions from the files that desk already exports, set up for you in a week. Many teams keep Databricks AI/BI for what it is built for and use Covirage for the question it would otherwise leave to an analyst.
It starts with the exports those systems already produce: files and sheets now, scheduled delivery by API, S3, Azure, SFTP or email on Business, and connections built with your team on Enterprise. We never hold credentials to your systems.
No. The AI model chooses which measure answers the question and writes the explanation. Our tools do the arithmetic, and every total is checked before it is shown. If a question needs a measure we do not have, the assistant says so.
Bring an export you already produce. The data map opens next, every column mapped once, and the first question is answered in minutes. Free, in your browser, no account. Or talk to us and we will set it up for you.
Facts about other products on this page were checked on 24 September 2026 from the pages below. Product names are trademarks of their owners, used here only to identify them. Covirage is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.