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Database & Data Management · head to head

Amazon Redshift vs Cron Calendar

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Database & Data Management

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Cron Calendar logo

Cron Calendar

Database & Data Management

The next-generation calendar for professionals

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; Cron Calendar no longer sold as Cron. Notion acquired it and renamed it Notion Calendar, and cron.com now carries that banner
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Cron Calendar covers Keyboard shortcuts.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon Redshift and Cron Calendar actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and Cron Calendar differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftCron Calendar
Pricing modelusage-basedfree
PlatformsWebMacos, Windows, Ios, Android, Web
CategoryDatabase & Data ManagementUnknown
Founded20122016

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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
  • S3

Only in Cron Calendar

  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Multi-timezone
  • Scheduling links
  • Team availability
  • Menu bar access
  • Google Calendar
  • Notion
  • Zoom

Both cover

  • Web support

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

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

Cron Calendar

  • Keyboard-driven calendar for people living in their schedulenot Amazon Redshift
  • Managing several Google calendars in one viewnot Amazon Redshift
  • Scheduling links for meeting availabilitynot Amazon Redshift
  • Joining video calls from the menu barnot 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

Cron Calendar

  • No longer sold as Cron. Notion acquired it and renamed it Notion Calendar, and cron.com now carries that banner
  • Tied to the Notion account system rather than standing alone

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

Cron Calendar

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Calendar sync
    • Scheduling links
    • Keyboard shortcuts

Which should you pick?

Choose Amazon Redshift if

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

Choose Cron Calendar if

  • You need keyboard shortcuts.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Macos, Windows, Ios, Android, Web.
  • You also want multi-timezone.

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or Cron Calendar better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Cron Calendar at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or Cron Calendar?
Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Cron Calendar at Free.
Does Amazon Redshift or Cron Calendar run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. Cron Calendar runs on Macos, Windows, Ios, Android, 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 Cron Calendar is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that Cron Calendar cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. Cron Calendar covers Keyboard shortcuts, Multi-timezone, Scheduling links, Team availability. 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

Related pages

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