Databricks releases, every cloud
- Databricks Apps is now on by default for workspaces with the compliance security profile enabled
Requires compliance security profile.
- Databricks Apps telemetry is now generally available
Collects traces, logs, and metrics to Unity Catalog tables using OpenTelemetry.
- Horizontal scaling for Databricks Apps will soon be available for workspaces with the compliance security profile enabled Coming soon
Automatically enabled in October 2026 for compliance workspaces, allowing multiple instances behind a single URL.
- Automatic change data feed is now generally available
Requires Databricks Runtime 19 or above with row tracking enabled. Makes MERGE and UPDATE operations about 15% faster.
- Databricks Runtime 19: September 1, 2026
Replaces manual change data feed enablement, requires row tracking enabled.
- Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (09/01)
Includes bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements for versions 13.3 to 18.2.
- Run the change, do not just read it. Hands-on labs in your own Databricks workspace, graded when you submit. Browse labs
- User authorization for Databricks Apps will soon be available for workspaces with the compliance security profile enabled Coming soon
Enables apps to act with user identity, enforcing existing permissions. Automatically enabled in late September 2026.
- Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (08/04)
Includes bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements for versions 13.3 to 18.2.
- Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (07/24)
Includes bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements for versions 13.3 to 18.2.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 18 and Databricks Runtime 18 for Machine Learning have transitioned to LTS
Receives 3 years of stability and security fixes.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 19 and Databricks Runtime 19 for Machine Learning are now generally available
Powered by Apache Spark 4.2.0.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 19: July 23, 2026
Enables Arrow-optimized Python UDFs by default, changing type-coercion behavior.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (06/29)
Includes bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements for versions 13.3 to 18.2.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 19 (Beta): June 26, 2026
Restricts environment variables and Spark configurations in standard access mode. Removes previously allowed settings.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 19 and Databricks Runtime 19 for Machine Learning are in Beta
Powered by Apache Spark 4.2.0.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 19 (Beta): June 15, 2026
Replaces JDK 17 with JDK 21, removes 90 Python packages.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 18: June 10, 2026
Adds Spark Declarative Pipelines and IP address functions, requires no changes to existing setups.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Reorganized Spark Declarative Pipelines on Lakeflow documentation
Conceptual topics are now under Concepts.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Get this table by email. One Monday mail covering the week, filtered to the clouds and products you run. Weekly digest
- Databricks Runtime 18: June 8, 2026
Adds NEAREST BY SQL join type and DESCRIBE TABLE PARTITION for v2 catalog tables.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 18: June 4, 2026
NATURAL JOIN now matches columns case-insensitively by default. Set spark.sql.legacy.naturalJoinCaseSensitiveColumnMatching to true to restore previous behavior.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Apps horizontal scaling (Beta)
Runs across multiple instances behind a single URL, supports zero-downtime deployments.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 18: May 29, 2026
Treats NaN values as duplicates, preserves Unity Catalog foreign table permissions during metadata refresh.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (05/26)
Includes bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements for versions 13.3 to 18.2.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 18 and Databricks Runtime 18 for Machine Learning are in Beta
Powered by Apache Spark 4.1.0, replacing separate release notes for feature versions.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 18: May 18, 2026
Preserves table comments by default, auto-casts compatible column types in DataFrame writes.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (05/13)
Includes bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements for versions 13.3 to 18.2.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - App telemetry for Databricks Apps is now in Public Preview
Collects traces, logs, and metrics via OpenTelemetry protocol to Unity Catalog tables.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 18: May 4, 2026
Clusters using XPath no longer load external DTDs, and NULL structs are stored as NULL.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 18.2 is now GA
Replaces 7.3 and 7.3 ML.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (04/29)
Includes bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements for LTS versions 13.3 to 16.4.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 18: April 20, 2026
Replaces EPSG:102100 with ESRI:102100 for GEOMETRY type. Includes OS security updates.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (04/20)
Includes bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements for versions 13.3 to 18.1.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Updated UI navigation for Databricks Apps
Streamlines app editing and deployment workflows, accessible from the app switcher.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 18.2 and Databricks Runtime 18.2 ML are in Beta
Powered by Apache Spark 4.1.0.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Git-backed app deployments are now generally available
Deploys apps from Git repositories, allowing Git-only deployments across a workspace.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime 18: April 2, 2026
Adds VOID column support in UDTs and 30-second socket timeout for JDBC streaming sink connections.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (04/02)
Includes bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements for versions 13.3 to 18.1.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Databricks Documentation site table of contents tabs
Replaces static sidebar with tabbed navigation, includes 6 context tabs.
- Databricks Apps supports uv for Python dependency management
Uses pyproject.toml and uv.lock files. Replaces prior dependency management methods.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud) - Lakebase databases as Databricks Apps resources
Replaces manual database configuration, requires Lakebase setup.
AWS, read it on their docsAzure, read it on their docsGCP, read it on their docsSAP(not on this cloud)
Headlines, dates and product areas are Databricks' own, and every item links to the note it came from. The one-line summaries are ours.