Databricks Free Account - How Long is it Free

[Carlton]

Hello Community,

I created a Databricks Free Account. My understanding of the Databricks Free account was that you can train on it for free forever. However, whenever I try to spin up the SQL Serverless I get the message below:

Originally I thought if I wait for period of time my credits would renew and I could start training on the Databricks Free again. However, 3 months later I'm still seeing I'm out of credits, see image. 

So, can someone let me know what 'Free' actually means? And I can extend my trial limits please.

Cheers

Carlton

[WiliamRosa]

Hi @Carlton 
According to the official Databricks documentation, the Free Edition comes with several limitations under a fair usage policy. For example, it explicitly states: “If you exceed your quota, your workspace’s compute resources will be shut down and unavailable for the rest of the day. Your data and settings will not be deleted.” This means the “out of credits” message does not refer to monetary credits but rather to usage limits on free serverless compute resources, such as SQL warehouses, which are restricted to a 2X-Small size with daily quotas. Once these quotas are consumed, you must wait until they reset or upgrade to a paid plan to continue running workloads.
https://docs.databricks.com/aws/en/getting-started/free-edition-limitations

[Carlton]

Hi @WiliamRosa thanks for getting in touch. 

What you suggested is exactly how I interpreted Free Edition. I haven't actually used Databricks Free for about 3 months. Therefore, can you explain why I'm getting the following message when I attempt to start my SQL Serverless?

Thank you

[BS_THE_ANALYST · Accepted solution]

@Carlton , are you sure you're using the Free Edition? 

Could you check this in the Top Left hand corner of your UI:
It should say "Free Edition"

I ask this as I'm curious why you're seeing reference to available credits. If you hit a limitation of the free edition, I'd have expected a different error messaged. Then again, the game is the game 😂🤔.

All the best,
BS

[Carlton]

Hi @BS_THE_ANALYST , it would appear I'm not using the Databricks Free Edition... see image

I feel like a numbty ...doh!

Can you please provide me with the actual link to the free edition please.

I have wasted sooooooooo much of my time  on this.

Thanks man

[BS_THE_ANALYST]

Hey, no worries, it's easy to mix things up 😊. Great that you can now use the Free Edition haha! 

@szymon_dybczak  has provided the link in another post where to sign up. You could also try googling "Databricks Free Edition" in future.

Just be mindful, if you use the same e-mail that you created a trial with, there could be some clash there. If you experience that, I'd suggest just using a new e-mail 😊. 

If you want to know what sort of limitations the Free Edition has, they're all listed here: https://docs.databricks.com/aws/en/getting-started/free-edition-limitations , the Free Edition is awesome btw 👍.

Once you're up and running with the Free Edition, I'd love to hear about the projects your using it for. Always looking for inspiration 💪.

All the best,
BS

[Hubert-Dudek]

If you're using a free edition and have exhausted the available resources, simply try again tomorrow.

[Carlton]

Hi Hubert, thanks for getting in touch. It would appear I'm not using the Free Edition .... doh!

Can you show me where I can get the free edition?

[szymon_dybczak]

Hi @Carlton ,

Go to below site and create new account 🙂

https://login.databricks.com/signup?dbx_source=docs&intent=SIGN_UP&tuuid=c56022fc-34fe-40f1-9106-75b...