Snowflake Cortex
AI built into Snowflake
Snowflake Cortex is a suite of integrated generative AI capabilities built directly into the Snowflake Data Cloud, allowing you to invoke LLM functions, embeddings, search, and AI agents directly in SQL while keeping your data within Snowflake's security perimeter. It brings AI to your data rather than moving data to external AI services.
Key Capabilities
Snowflake Cortex provides a comprehensive set of AI SQL functions including AI_COMPLETE, AI_CLASSIFY, AI_FILTER, AI_AGG, AI_EMBED, AI_EXTRACT, AI_SENTIMENT, AI_SIMILARITY, AI_TRANSCRIBE, and AI_PARSE_DOCUMENT. Cortex Search offers hybrid semantic and keyword search capabilities. Cortex Agents enable multi-step automation workflows. The newest addition, Cortex Code (launched February 2026), is an AI coding agent for accelerating data engineering, analytics, and ML tasks through natural language. Multiple LLM options are available, including Claude and GPT models.
Who Should Use Snowflake Cortex
Snowflake Cortex is designed for organizations already using Snowflake as their data platform who want to add AI capabilities without moving data out of their secure environment. It suits data engineers, analytics engineers, and data scientists who prefer SQL-based workflows, as well as enterprises that need governed, secure AI access to their data warehouse.
Getting Started
Access Cortex AI functions directly from your existing Snowflake account using SQL. Call functions like AI_COMPLETE or AI_SENTIMENT on your data tables to get AI-powered results. Set up Cortex Search for semantic search across your data. Try Cortex Code for natural language-driven data engineering tasks. Monitor costs through Snowflake's built-in cost management tools.
Pricing & Accessibility: Pay-per-use pricing based on token consumption (input + output tokens) rather than compute credits. Cortex Search charges for embedding tokens during index creation plus ongoing serving costs per GB. Cortex Code available as a standalone monthly subscription independent of Snowflake compute. Requires an existing Snowflake account.
Why Consider Snowflake Cortex: Snowflake Cortex uniquely brings AI capabilities directly into your data warehouse, letting you run LLM functions, semantic search, and AI agents in SQL without moving data outside Snowflake's security perimeter. For organizations already invested in Snowflake, it is the most natural and secure way to add AI to their data workflows.
Pros
- AI functions run directly in SQL within Snowflake's security perimeter
- Comprehensive suite of AI functions from classification to transcription
- Multiple LLM choices including Claude and GPT models
- Cortex Code AI agent accelerates data engineering through natural language
- Pay-per-use pricing with no minimum commitments
Cons
- Requires an existing Snowflake account and data platform
- Token-based pricing can lead to unexpected costs on large datasets
- Limited to Snowflake ecosystem, not usable with other data warehouses
Who is this for?
SQL-based AI analytics, document parsing and classification, sentiment analysis on customer data, semantic search across enterprise data, AI-powered data engineering, multi-step agent automation, and text embedding for ML workflows.
Frequently Asked Questions about Snowflake Cortex
Do I need a Snowflake account to use Cortex?
Yes, Snowflake Cortex is built into the Snowflake Data Cloud and requires an existing Snowflake account. The exception is Cortex Code CLI, which is available as a standalone subscription.
How is Cortex priced?
Cortex uses pay-per-use pricing based on token consumption (input + output tokens) rather than traditional Snowflake compute credits. Cortex Search has additional charges for index creation and serving.
What AI models are available in Cortex?
Snowflake Cortex supports multiple LLM options including Claude and GPT models, allowing you to choose the best model for your use case while keeping data within Snowflake's security perimeter.
Pricing
paid
Pay-per-use (token-based)
Free tier: N/A - requires Snowflake account with usage-based billing
Details
APIYes
Open SourceNo
CollaborationYes
LanguagesEnglish
Learning CurveModerate
Integrations
Snowflake Data CloudSQL-based workflows
