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Databases · head to head

Amazon Redshift vs AWS SageMaker

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Databases

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
AWS SageMaker logo

AWS SageMaker

Machine Learning

Build, train, and deploy machine learning models at scale

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; AWS SageMaker vendor lock-in to AWS ecosystem makes migration to other platforms difficult
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, AWS SageMaker covers Jupyter notebooks.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon Redshift and AWS SageMaker actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and AWS SageMaker differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftAWS SageMaker
Pricing modelusage-basedUnknown
CategoryDatabasesMachine Learning
Founded20122006

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

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
  • Glue

Only in AWS SageMaker

  • Jupyter notebooks
  • Built-in algorithms
  • Automatic model tuning
  • One-click deployment
  • Model monitoring
  • Lambda
  • Step Functions
  • CloudWatch

Both cover

  • S3
  • Web support

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

  • Business intelligencenot AWS SageMaker
  • Data warehousingnot AWS SageMaker
  • Real-time analyticsnot AWS SageMaker
  • Reportingnot AWS SageMaker
  • Machine learning

AWS SageMaker

  • Machine learning
  • Data analysisnot Amazon Redshift
  • Model trainingnot Amazon Redshift
  • Predictive analyticsnot Amazon Redshift

Both are used for machine learning, on those jobs the choice comes down to price and fit rather than capability.

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

AWS SageMaker

  • Vendor lock-in to AWS ecosystem makes migration to other platforms difficult
  • Opaque pricing can lead to unexpected expenses like forgotten EBS volume charges
  • Does not include native job scheduling, requiring Lambda or EventBridge integration

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

AWS SageMaker

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the AWS SageMaker review.

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 AWS SageMaker if

  • You need jupyter notebooks.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want built-in algorithms.
AWS SageMaker review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or AWS SageMaker better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and AWS SageMaker at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or AWS SageMaker?
Amazon Redshift starts at Free and AWS SageMaker at Free.
Does Amazon Redshift or AWS SageMaker run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
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 AWS SageMaker is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that AWS SageMaker cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. AWS SageMaker covers Jupyter notebooks, Built-in algorithms, Automatic model tuning, One-click deployment. Both handle S3, 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
AWS SageMaker: What is AWS SageMaker used for?

AWS SageMaker is a machine learning service for building, training, and deploying ML models at scale. It provides tools for data preparation, model training, inference endpoints, and performance optimization.

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
AWS SageMaker: How is AWS SageMaker priced?

SageMaker uses pay-as-you-go pricing with no upfront costs or long-term commitments. Pricing starts at $0.04 per hour for basic notebook instances and scales based on instance type. ML Savings Plans offer up to 64% off with hourly spend commitments.

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
AWS SageMaker: Does AWS SageMaker have a free tier?

Yes, the free tier includes 250 hours of notebook usage, 50 hours of training, and 125 hours of hosting on ml.t3.medium instances during the first two months.

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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