Databricks Free Edition - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Key points:
- Free Edition launched in June 2025 with many additional features that were not previously available with Community Edition. Please sign up for Free Edition here.
- For Educators, we strongly recommend moving your courses to Free Edition as soon as possible. (Kindly note that Community Edition) will be deprecated over the coming months).
FAQs:
Q: For whom is Free Edition intended?
Free Edition is intended for students, hobbyists, and aspiring data and AI professionals. It is not intended for commercial use. We encourage individuals or organizations to try the Databricks trial if they want to evaluate Databricks for enterprise, production-grade workloads.
Q: How much does Free Edition cost?
Free of Charge - there is no cost or credit card required to use Free Edition.
Q: How long does my Free Edition access last?
Access does not expire, but inactive accounts may be deactivated after prolonged inactivity.
Q: How do I access the new Free Edition?
You can create a new account here or through signup.databricks.com. (Please see this short video for a sign-up walk-through).
Q: I am currently using Community Edition - do I need to switch to Free Edition?
Yes, we recommend migrating to Free Edition as soon as possible as CE will be deprecated over the coming months. If you experience any issues migrating to Free Edition, , please contact us at free_edition_help@databricks.com.
Q: What is different in Free Edition compared to Community Edition?
Free Edition runs on Databricks’ modern serverless platform and offers major enhancements in ease of use, reliability, and feature set. It supports SQL and Python, as well as Dashboards, ETL workflows, Genie, Assistant, Model Serving, and more - delivering a professional-grade experience for learners. With Free Edition, students can:
- Explore the full data + AI lifecycle - all on one unified platform
- Use professional tools for free - build career skills with the platform trusted by leading companies
- Connect with “friends and family” - share work and learn from others around the world
Q: What is not supported in Free Edition?
Scala, RDDs, classic compute and cloud mounts are not supported on Free Edition. (We are aiming to provide Scala support in Free Edition at some point in the future). We suggest using Python, DataFrames, and volumes as alternatives.
Q: Is there a way to use my pre-existing Scala notebooks in Free Edition?
You can upload Scala notebooks to Free Edition, and then use the Databricks Assistant to translate the notebooks from Scala to Python.
Q: Can I pre-load datasets into my students' workspaces?
One option is to create a Marketplace listing for the dataset, then all students can search and find the datasets.
Q: What can I bring over from my Community Edition account?
You can export notebooks from your legacy CE account and import them into your new Free Edition account. Data can also be manually re-ingested. Automated migration is not currently supported.
Q: Can I use notebooks with Free Edition?
Yes, you can create, run, and share notebooks using Python, SQL, and more.
Q: What are the usage limits on Free Edition?
Daily compute and storage limits apply to prevent abuse. Please see the following Documentation for details. (Side note - usage limits have been set up such that 99% or more of users will not experience rate limitations or throttling).
Q: What happens if I exceed my daily usage limit on Free Edition?
Your compute access will pause until the quota resets the next day.
Q: Can I access GPUs on Free Edition?
Provisioned GPUs are not currently available on Free Edition.
Q: What features are available in Free Edition?
You can learn more about Free Edition features and limitations here.
Q: Can Free Edition be used with 3rd party tools (e.g. Power BI and DBT)?
Yes, however, there are some restrictions in place to prevent abuse. Please contact free_edition_help@databricks.com if you experience any issues using your 3rd party tool as we may need to white-list your tool.
Q: Can Free Edition be run through a browser?
Yes, Free Edition can be accessed and run through a browser. (Using the CLI is entirely optional). You do not need to bring or launch any virtual machines to run Free Edition. Databricks manages compute for you so students can focus on learning.
Q: How can I learn more about my Free Edition workspace?
Please see our extensive Developer Documentation and Getting Started guide.
Q: Can I access the Databricks Marketplace?
Yes, you can access the Databricks Marketplace by selecting Marketplace in the side panel.
Q: Is it possible to upgrade from Free Edition to Lighthouse or Databricks Express?
No, not at this time.
Q: Can students use Free Edition to work together as teams? If so, how many students can be on one team?
Yes. There’s no limit on how many students can share an account to collaborate, however, shared accounts may reach daily limits, especially if students work concurrently. We recommend planning group work over multiple days.
Q: Can I share a workspace with students?
Sharing a workspace with an entire class is not recommended due to our fair usage limits, which apply per account. Each student should set up their own account through signup.databricks.com. This will allow each student to individually benefit from the generous usage limits. A handful of users can share an account, but this should only be done for collaborating on a group project.
Q: As an educator, can I set up student accounts myself on Free Edition, or does each student have to set up their own account?
Each student should set up their own account through signup.databricks.com. A handful of users can share an account, but this should only be done for collaborating on a group project.
Q: What is the easiest way for students to get up and running using Free Edition for their projects?
Educators to complete the following steps:
- Update your course materials to reflect any changes
- Have students sign up at signup.databricks.com to create their own accounts (as per below instructions)
Students to complete the following steps:
- Create a Free Edition account at signup.databricks.com
- Download notebooks from legacy CE account (if applicable)
- Upload notebooks to new Free Edition account, then run workflows and make required updates (if applicable)
⚠️ Note: If your course uses Scala or RDDs, please allow additional time for the steps in “Educator” step 1.
Q: Where do I go to get support for Free Edition?
Contact free_edition_help@databricks.com
Q: How do I report bugs or provide feedback on Free Edition?
You can use the “Send feedback” buttons throughout the product, just like regular Databricks.
Q: I cannot attach Compute to a Notebook
If you "import" a notebook rather than create natively within Free Edition, you may need to update your Free Edition environment to a later version. Please see instructions below:
1. Open the environment settings tab, using the slider icon on the far right settings bar of the notebook interface
2. Change the environment version to 4 (or later if/when available)
3. Click "Apply"
4. Try to reconnect to serverless compute
3. Click "Apply"
4. Try to reconnect to serverless compute
Q: I cannot run SparkML on Free Edition
In order to run SparkML on Free Edition, you may need to update your Free Edition environment to version 4 (or later when available). Please see instructions below:
1. Open the environment settings tab, using the slider icon on the far right settings bar of the notebook interface
2. Change the environment version to 4 (or later if/when available)
3. Click "Apply"
4. Try to reconnect to serverless compute
3. Click "Apply"
4. Try to reconnect to serverless compute
Databricks Academy:
Q: How do I get access to Databricks Academy?
- Create a Databricks Academy account
- Once logged in, view the courses in “Databricks Self-Paced Training - Free” catalog, found on the Databricks Academy homepage
- Select relevant courses to take
Q: Will Databricks Academy users be able to pay for additional training e.g. Databricks Academy Labs and other Training Subscriptions?
Yes, there will be options for more advanced training through training subscriptions, Databricks Academy Labs, and Skills@Scale/Blended Learning.
Q: Will Free Edition users have free access to Databricks Academy Labs?
No, but they will have the ability to pay for this additional access.
