What is a reader account in Snowflake?

• A. A paid account that allows full control
• B. A read-only Snowflake account created within the provider for the sole purpose of accessing a share
• C. A dedicated account to manage security
• D. A cloud storage bucket

Answer: (B)

A Reader Account is a special Snowflake account created by the data provider to give external users access to a shared data set without needing their own Snowflake subscription. The provider hosts this account and pays for it, and the user typically has access limited to the shared data—often read-only—so they can query but cannot create objects or modify the data. This aligns with the idea of a read-only Snowflake account created within the provider specifically to access a share. The other options describe a regular paid account with full control, a security-management-focused account, or a cloud storage bucket, none of which capture the purpose and constraints of a reader account.