COF-C03 Data Collaboration Practice Question
Which TWO statements are true regarding the costs associated with Data Sharing in Snowflake?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often incorrectly assume that data consumers also pay for the storage of the shared data, or that providers pay for consumer query compute costs.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The data provider pays for the storage costs of the shared data.
Understanding the cost model is crucial for data providers. In Snowflake, the data provider pays for the storage of the shared data, as it resides in their account. However, the consumer is responsible for the compute costs incurred when running queries against that shared data. This separation of costs ensures that data providers can scale their offerings based on data volume, while consumers maintain control over their own compute spend and workload optimization efforts.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The data provider is responsible for all compute costs incurred by the consumer.
Why it's wrong here
In Snowflake, compute costs are billed to the account that executes the query. When a consumer queries shared data, they use their own virtual warehouses, and therefore, they are responsible for the resulting compute costs. The provider does not pay for the consumer's query processing activities.
- ✓
The data provider pays for the storage costs of the shared data.
Why this is correct
Since the shared data physically resides in the provider's Snowflake storage, the provider is responsible for the storage costs. This is a core component of the Snowflake shared-data architecture, where data is never moved or copied to the consumer's account, thus saving storage costs for the consumer.
- ✗
The consumer pays for the storage costs of the shared data.
Why it's wrong here
Consumers do not pay storage costs for shared data because the data remains in the provider's account. The architecture is designed to avoid data duplication, meaning the consumer essentially mounts the provider's data, allowing them to benefit from the data without incurring additional storage fees for it.
- ✓
The data consumer is responsible for the compute costs of their queries.
Why this is correct
The consumer utilizes their own compute resources, such as virtual warehouses, to process queries against the shared data. Consequently, the consumer is billed for the compute usage associated with these queries. This model allows for independent scaling of compute power based on the consumer's specific performance requirements.
- ✗
Both the provider and consumer share the total compute costs equally.
Why it's wrong here
Snowflake's cost model is based on individual usage. There is no automated mechanism for splitting compute costs between accounts. The provider pays for their compute, and the consumer pays for theirs. Billing is strictly isolated, ensuring transparency and accountability for each organization's resource consumption within their own account.
About these practice questions
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Snowflake exam blueprint
This COF-C03 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Snowflake certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the COF-C03 exam.