Software · head to head
Amazon Redshift vs ClickHouse
ClickHouse
Software
Fast open-source column-oriented database for real-time analytics
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Amazon Redshift on-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery; ClickHouse limited multi-row atomic transactions and expensive UPDATE/DELETE operations unsuitable for transactional systems
- They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, ClickHouse covers Column-oriented Storage.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Amazon Redshift and ClickHouse actually diverge.
| Attribute | Amazon Redshift | ClickHouse |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | usage-based | Unknown |
| Platforms | Web | Linux, macOS, Windows (via Docker) |
| Founded | 2012 | 2021 |
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
- Glue
Only in ClickHouse
- Column-oriented Storage
- Real-time Analytics
- SQL Support
- Linear Scalability
- Data Compression
- Vectorized Query Execution
- Approximate Calculations
- Kafka
Both cover
- S3
- Web support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Amazon Redshift
- Business intelligence
- Data warehousing
- Real-time analytics
- Reporting
- Machine learning
ClickHouse
- Business intelligence
- Data warehousing
- Real-time analytics
- Reporting
- Machine learning
Both are used for business intelligence, data warehousing, real-time analytics, reporting, 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
ClickHouse
- Limited multi-row atomic transactions and expensive UPDATE/DELETE operations unsuitable for transactional systems
- Requires upfront schema design discipline with MergeTree engine choices and sort/partition keys
- Experimental vector search support, not production-ready for vector operations
- Different query syntax from standard SQL requiring migration planning
- Limited JOIN capabilities compared to traditional relational databases
- Migration complexity with 2-4 weeks estimated for data type mapping and query translation
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
ClickHouse
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the ClickHouse review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Amazon Redshift if
- You need columnar storage.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want massively parallel.
Choose ClickHouse if
- You need column-oriented storage.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, macOS, Windows (via Docker).
- You also want real-time analytics.
Questions people ask
- Is Amazon Redshift or ClickHouse better?
- Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and ClickHouse at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or ClickHouse?
- Amazon Redshift starts at Free and ClickHouse at Free.
- Does Amazon Redshift or ClickHouse run on more platforms?
- Amazon Redshift runs on Web. ClickHouse runs on Linux, macOS, Windows (via Docker).
- 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.
- What can Amazon Redshift do that ClickHouse cannot?
- Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. ClickHouse covers Column-oriented Storage, Real-time Analytics, SQL Support, Linear Scalability. 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.
SourceClickHouse: What is ClickHouse best used for?
ClickHouse is optimized for analytical workloads on large datasets. It excels at fast aggregations and queries, being 10-100x faster than PostgreSQL on large aggregations.
SourceAmazon 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.
SourceClickHouse: Does ClickHouse support transactions?
ClickHouse has limited transaction support and expensive UPDATE/DELETE operations. It is not suitable for transactional workloads requiring strict ACID guarantees.
SourceAmazon 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.
SourceClickHouse: How does ClickHouse compare to PostgreSQL?
ClickHouse is 10-100x faster for analytics but PostgreSQL is better for transactional workloads. Many teams use both: PostgreSQL for writes via MaterializedPostgreSQL replication to ClickHouse for analytics.
SourceAmazon 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