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Databases · head to head

Amazon Redshift vs Apache Doris

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Databases

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Apache Doris logo

Apache Doris

Databases

MPP analytical database with a MySQL wire protocol and sub-second aggregation on wide tables

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Amazon Redshift on-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery; Apache Doris two competing commercial vendors, VeloDB and SelectDB, were founded by overlapping core contributors, which makes the long-term governance and roadmap of the project harder to predict than a single-sponsor project.
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Apache Doris covers MySQL wire protocol.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon Redshift and Apache Doris actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and Apache Doris differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftApache Doris
Pricing modelusage-basedOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWebLinux, Docker, Kubernetes
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Databases).

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 Amazon Redshift

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

Only in Apache Doris

  • MySQL wire protocol
  • Aggregate and unique key models
  • Materialised views
  • Multi-catalogue federation
  • Routine load from Kafka
  • Compute storage separation
  • Inverted indexes
  • Workload groups

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

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

Apache Doris

  • A team whose MySQL read replica can no longer serve reporting queries and wants an OLAP engine its existing drivers already speaknot Amazon Redshift
  • A real-time dashboard backend needing sub-second aggregation over billions of rows with hundreds of concurrent usersnot Amazon Redshift
  • An ad or ecommerce platform that needs updates and deletes on analytical tables, which append-only OLAP engines handle badlynot Amazon Redshift
  • A data team that wants one SQL endpoint over both internal tables and existing Hive or Iceberg tables in the lakenot Amazon Redshift

Where each one falls short

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

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

Apache Doris

  • Two competing commercial vendors, VeloDB and SelectDB, were founded by overlapping core contributors, which makes the long-term governance and roadmap of the project harder to predict than a single-sponsor project.
  • A large share of design discussion, issue reports and documentation detail originates in Chinese, so teams that do not read it get a thinner picture of known problems and workarounds.
  • Operating a cluster means managing frontend and backend node roles, tablet balancing and compaction tuning, and compaction backlogs under heavy upsert load are a recurring production complaint.
  • The MySQL protocol compatibility is at the wire level, not full MySQL semantics, so queries and functions still need porting and the familiarity can mislead.
  • Managed cloud availability outside China and major clouds is limited compared with ClickHouse or Snowflake, so many Western adopters end up self-hosting whether they wanted to or not.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Apache Doris

Free
  • Apache DorisFree
    • Apache 2.0 licence with no usage restrictions
    • All engine features included
    • Community support via mailing list and Slack

Which should you pick?

Choose Amazon Redshift if

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

Choose Apache Doris if

  • You need mysql wire protocol.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want aggregate and unique key models.
Apache Doris review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or Apache Doris better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Apache Doris at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or Apache Doris?
Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Apache Doris at Free.
Does Amazon Redshift or Apache Doris run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. Apache Doris runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes.
Can I use Amazon Redshift for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Amazon Redshift best used for?
Amazon Redshift is most often used for business intelligence, data warehousing, real-time analytics, reporting. Of those, business intelligence and data warehousing are not what Apache Doris is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that Apache Doris cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. Apache Doris covers MySQL wire protocol, Aggregate and unique key models, Materialised views, Multi-catalogue federation.

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
Apache Doris: Is Apache Doris really free?

Yes, it is Apache 2.0 with no usage restrictions. The commercial products are managed services from VeloDB and SelectDB.

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
Apache Doris: Can I use my MySQL tools with it?

Yes, it implements the MySQL wire protocol, so clients and BI connectors attach without a new driver, though SQL semantics differ.

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
Apache Doris: How does it compare with ClickHouse?

Doris handles updates and high concurrency more comfortably; ClickHouse is generally faster on raw single-query scan throughput and has far wider Western support.

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
Apache Doris: Who maintains it?

The Apache Software Foundation project, with most committers employed by VeloDB or SelectDB.

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