Snowflake Has 7 Types of Databases Most Architects Only Know 2 An architect’s guide to every database type in Snowflake, the design decisions behind each, and when choosing the wrong one costs you …

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Snowflake offers seven distinct database types, not just the two (permanent and transient) most engineers know. Each type encodes specific trade-offs around cost, durability, access topology, and engine compatibility. The seven types are: Standard (permanent, up to 90-day time travel + fail-safe), Transient (no fail-safe, max 1-day time travel), Temporary (session-scoped, auto-deleted), Shared (read-only, zero-copy data sharing across accounts), Secondary (replicated copy for DR and regional access), Application (created by Native Apps Framework installs), and Iceberg/Catalog-Linked (open table format on external object storage for multi-engine lakehouse). A decision framework guides architects through choosing the right type based on durability needs, access topology, engine compatibility, and access patterns. Common mistakes include using Standard everywhere by habit, mixing transient and permanent tables in the same pipeline lineage, and skipping Iceberg compaction maintenance.

Snowflake Has 7 Types of Databases Most Architects Only Know 2

7. Catalog Database & Iceberg Database (Open Lakehouse)

Catalog-Linked Database (Snowflake Open Catalog / Polaris)