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Akamai vs Amazon Redshift

Akamai logo

Akamai

Software

Leading content delivery and security platform

From
$1000/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Software

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Amazon Redshift has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Akamai only the cloud computing services carry published rates; security and content delivery products require contacting sales for a price; Amazon Redshift on-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery
  • They diverge on capability: Akamai covers CDN, Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Akamai and Amazon Redshift actually diverge.

Attributes where Akamai and Amazon Redshift differ
AttributeAkamaiAmazon Redshift
Starting price$1000/monthFree
Pricing modelquoteusage-based
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, ApiWeb
Founded19982012

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Akamai

  • CDN
  • DDoS Protection
  • Web Application Firewall
  • Bot Management
  • Image Optimization
  • Video Platform
  • API Gateway
  • Analytics

Only in Amazon Redshift

  • Columnar Storage
  • Massively Parallel
  • Machine Learning
  • AQUA Acceleration
  • Data Sharing
  • Federated Query
  • Concurrency Scaling
  • S3

Both cover

  • Web support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Akamai

  • Content delivery and web performance through Ion and adaptive media deliverynot Amazon Redshift
  • DDoS protection, bot management and API securitynot Amazon Redshift
  • Running compute, Kubernetes and managed databases on Akamai's cloudnot Amazon Redshift
  • Edge compute with EdgeWorkersnot Amazon Redshift
  • Zero trust access for enterprise applicationsnot Amazon Redshift

Amazon Redshift

  • Business intelligencenot Akamai
  • Data warehousingnot Akamai
  • Real-time analyticsnot Akamai
  • Reportingnot Akamai
  • Machine learningnot Akamai

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Akamai

  • Only the cloud computing services carry published rates; security and content delivery products require contacting sales for a price
  • Cloud pricing varies by region across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific rather than being a single rate

Amazon Redshift

  • On-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery
  • Requires significant manual tuning including managing concurrency scaling costs and configuring Workload Management queues
  • Performance degrades without proper design of distribution keys and sort keys
  • Limited elastic resize options - can only halve or double current cluster size
  • AWS lock-in makes it unsuitable for multi-cloud architectures

Pricing, plan by plan

Akamai

$1000/month
  • CDN$1000/month
    • Content delivery
    • Global edge network
    • Real-time analytics
  • Security Suite$2000/month
    • DDoS protection
    • WAF
    • Bot management

Amazon Redshift

Free
  • Free TrialFree
    • 750 DC2.Large hours
    • 2 months free
    • Full features
  • On-Demand$0.25/hour
    • Pay per node hour
    • All features
    • Standard support

Which should you pick?

Choose Akamai if

  • You need cdn.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want ddos protection.
Akamai review

Choose Amazon Redshift if

  • You need columnar storage.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want massively parallel.
Amazon Redshift review

Questions people ask

Is Akamai or Amazon Redshift better?
Neither clearly leads. Akamai starts at $1000/month and Amazon Redshift at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Akamai or Amazon Redshift?
Amazon Redshift has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $1000/month for Akamai and Free for Amazon Redshift.
Does Akamai or Amazon Redshift run on more platforms?
Akamai runs on Web, Api. Amazon Redshift runs on Web.
Can I use Amazon Redshift for free?
Yes. Amazon Redshift has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Akamai starts at $1000/month.
What is Akamai best used for?
Akamai is most often used for content delivery and web performance through ion and adaptive media delivery, ddos protection, bot management and api security, running compute, kubernetes and managed databases on akamai's cloud, edge compute with edgeworkers. Of those, content delivery and web performance through ion and adaptive media delivery and ddos protection, bot management and api security are not what Amazon Redshift is typically brought in for.
What can Akamai do that Amazon Redshift cannot?
Akamai covers CDN, DDoS Protection, Web Application Firewall, Bot Management. Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. Both handle Web support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Amazon Redshift: What deployment options does Amazon Redshift offer?

Redshift offers Provisioned Cluster (with RA3 or DC2 nodes) and Serverless options to match varying workloads. The new Redshift RG instance family, powered by Graviton, delivers 2.4x faster performance than RA3 at 30% lower cost per vCPU.

Source
Amazon Redshift: What does Amazon Redshift cost?

Provisioned cluster pricing: RA3 on-demand starts at $1.086/hour for ra3.xlplus. Serverless costs approximately $0.375 per RPU-hour with 4-RPU minimum (roughly $1.50/hour active workload). Managed storage costs $0.024/GB-month.

Source
Amazon Redshift: Does Redshift work with data lakes?

Yes, Redshift's integrated data lake query engine processes workloads on Apache Iceberg tables and other supported formats in Amazon S3, allowing you to run SQL analytics across your data warehouse and data lake from the same engine.

Source
Amazon Redshift: Is there a free tier for Amazon Redshift?

AWS offers a free trial with $300 USD in Serverless credits valid for 90 days, but Redshift is not part of the permanent AWS Free Tier.

Source
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