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Amazon Redshift vs ArangoDB

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Software

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ArangoDB logo

ArangoDB

Software

Multi-model database for graph, document, and search

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; ArangoDB the company has repositioned around a wider platform, so ArangoDB is now described as the foundation inside Arango rather than the product itself
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, ArangoDB covers Multi-model Support.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and ArangoDB differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftArangoDB
Pricing modelusage-basedfreemium
PlatformsWebLinux, Windows, Mac, Docker, Web
Founded20122014

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Amazon Redshift

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

Only in ArangoDB

  • Multi-model Support
  • AQL Query Language
  • Graph Traversals
  • Full-text Search
  • ACID Transactions
  • SmartGraphs
  • Satellite Collections
  • Foxx Microservices

Both cover

  • Web support

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

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

ArangoDB

  • Graph, document and key-value data in one databasenot Amazon Redshift
  • Vector and full-text search alongside graph traversalnot Amazon Redshift
  • Avoiding separate stores for related and unstructured datanot Amazon Redshift
  • Backing AI applications needing both graph context and vectorsnot 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

ArangoDB

  • The company has repositioned around a wider platform, so ArangoDB is now described as the foundation inside Arango rather than the product itself
  • Neither the community licence terms nor cloud pricing are stated on the main site
  • arangodb.com redirects to arango.ai

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

ArangoDB

Free
  • CommunityFree
    • All data models
    • AQL queries
    • Full-text search
  • ArangoGraph$99/month
    • Managed service
    • Graph analytics
    • Enterprise support

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 ArangoDB if

  • You need multi-model support.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Docker, Web.
  • You also want aql query language.
ArangoDB review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or ArangoDB better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and ArangoDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or ArangoDB?
Amazon Redshift starts at Free and ArangoDB at Free.
Does Amazon Redshift or ArangoDB run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. ArangoDB runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Docker, Web.
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 ArangoDB is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that ArangoDB cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. ArangoDB covers Multi-model Support, AQL Query Language, Graph Traversals, Full-text Search. 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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