A reader account is a type of Snowflake account that allows external users to access data shared by a provider account without being a Snowflake customer. A reader account can be created and managed by the provider account, and can use the Snowflake web interface or JDBC/ODBC drivers to query the shared data. A reader account is billed to the provider account based on the credits consumed by the queries1. A secure view is a type of view that applies row-level security filters to the underlying tables, and masks the data that is not accessible to the user. A secure view can be shared with a reader account to provide granular and governed access to the data2. In this scenario, creating a reader account for the partner and sharing the data sets as secure views would be the most cost-effective and secure design, while using the required Snowflake features, because:
* It would avoid the data transfer and storage costs of using an S3 bucket as a destination, and the potential security risks of exposing the data to unauthorized access or modification.
* It would avoid the complexity and overhead of publishing the data sets on the Snowflake Marketplace, and the potential loss of control over the data ownership and pricing.
* It would avoid the need to create a database user for the partner and grant them access to the required data sets, which would require the partner to have a Snowflake account and consume the provider's resources.
References:
* Reader Accounts
* Secure Views