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Databases · head to head

Amazon Redshift vs Apache Pinot

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Databases

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Apache Pinot logo

Apache Pinot

Databases

Real-time distributed OLAP datastore for analytics

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 Pinot self-hosted and distributed, so running it means operating a cluster rather than consuming a service
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Apache Pinot covers Real-time Analytics.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and Apache Pinot differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftApache Pinot
Pricing modelusage-basedopen-source
PlatformsWebLinux, Docker, Kubernetes
Founded20121999

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 Pinot

  • Real-time Analytics
  • Column-oriented
  • Distributed Processing
  • SQL Support
  • Pluggable Indexing
  • Star-tree Index
  • Upsert Support
  • Kafka

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

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

Apache Pinot

  • Sub-second analytics queries on freshly ingested datanot Amazon Redshift
  • User-facing dashboards inside a productnot Amazon Redshift
  • Real-time metrics at high ingest ratesnot Amazon Redshift
  • Petabyte-scale analytics as run at LinkedIn and Ubernot 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 Pinot

  • Self-hosted and distributed, so running it means operating a cluster rather than consuming a service
  • Managed hosting comes from third parties such as StarTree rather than from the project
  • Built for user-facing real-time OLAP, so it is not a general purpose database

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 Pinot

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Real-time analytics
    • SQL queries
    • Horizontal scaling

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 Pinot if

  • You need real-time analytics.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want column-oriented.
Apache Pinot review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or Apache Pinot better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Apache Pinot at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or Apache Pinot?
Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Apache Pinot at Free.
Does Amazon Redshift or Apache Pinot run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. Apache Pinot 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 Pinot is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that Apache Pinot cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. Apache Pinot covers Real-time Analytics, Column-oriented, Distributed Processing, SQL 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
Apache Pinot: How much does Apache Pinot cost?

Apache Pinot is free and open-source. It is provided under the Apache License, which allows free use, modification, and distribution.

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
Apache Pinot: Is Apache Pinot free for commercial use?

Yes. Apache Pinot is licensed under the Apache License, which explicitly permits commercial use at no cost.

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
Apache Pinot: Can I run Apache Pinot locally or with Docker?

Yes. Apache Pinot offers a Docker quickstart and free downloads of the latest version (1.5.1 at the time of the page). You are responsible for hosting and infrastructure.

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
Apache Pinot: Are there restrictions on how I can use Apache Pinot?

The Apache License permits unrestricted use, but requires retention of license notices and statements. No usage limits or feature restrictions are enforced.

Source
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