Data Warehouse vs Mart vs Lake
January 3, 2025•145 words
(Part I of the study notes for the Data Warehousing Concepts course on DataCamp (link))
The following table summarizes some key differences between Data Warehouse, Data Mart and Data Lake. I've also found this useful resource by AWS on the same comparison but it gives a lot more details.
| Feature | Data Warehouse | Data Mart | Data Lake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Structure | Structured | Structured | Structured & Unstructured |
| Complexity to Change | Complex | Complex | Less Complex |
| Purpose of Data | Known | Known | May not be known |
| Coverage of Departments | Many | Only One | Many |
| Data Sources | Many source systems | Few sources | Many source systems |
| Typical Size | >100GB | <100GB | >100GB |