Why We Chose Azure Functions Flex Consumption Over Databricks for Lightweight Integration APIs

When migrating integration APIs from a legacy system, the team had Databricks as the default platform. But for workloads that process a few hundred rows in under two seconds, a quick pricing analysis showed that Azure Functions Flex Consumption was orders of magnitude cheaper, even if it meant stepping outside the central governance model.

Context

Running the numbers: what does a two-second job actually cost?

The trade-off: stepping outside central governance

What the functions do

The pricing comparison

Private by default, authenticated per request

Still fully as code

Outcome