Softwr

Software · head to head

Amazon Redshift vs Heroku

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Software

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Heroku logo

Heroku

Software

Cloud Application Platform

From
$7/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Amazon Redshift has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Amazon Redshift on-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery; Heroku there is no free dyno tier; the cheapest Eco dyno is $5 per month
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Heroku covers Git-based deployment.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and Heroku differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftHeroku
Starting priceFree$7/month
Pricing modelusage-basedsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, Api, Workers
Founded20122007

Identical on both: 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 Heroku

  • Git-based deployment
  • Buildpacks
  • Dynos (containers)
  • Add-ons marketplace
  • Postgres database
  • Environment variables
  • Logging
  • API

Both cover

  • Web support

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

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

Heroku

  • Deploying and scaling web applications with git push and no server administrationnot Amazon Redshift
  • Running managed Postgres, Redis and Kafka as attached data servicesnot Amazon Redshift
  • Isolated production environments in a Private Space for regulated workloadsnot 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

Heroku

  • There is no free dyno tier; the cheapest Eco dyno is $5 per month
  • Eco dynos sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity, are restricted to personal accounts and allow only 2 process types
  • Free SSL and 10 process types start at the Basic dyno at $7 per month
  • Private and Shield dyno types require a Private Space, which is billed on top of the dynos
  • Private Space dynos start at $250 per month for Private-M and $500 per month for Private-L
  • Dyno prices are per dyno per month, so an app with several process types multiplies the bill

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

Heroku

$7/month
  • Hobby$7/month
    • 512MB RAM
    • Shared CPU
    • 1 web dyno
  • Standard$50/month
    • 512MB RAM
    • Dedicated CPU
    • Automatic 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 Heroku if

  • You need git-based deployment.
  • You work on Web, Api, Workers.
  • You also want buildpacks.
Heroku review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or Heroku better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Heroku at $7/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or Heroku?
Amazon Redshift has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Amazon Redshift and $7/month for Heroku.
Does Amazon Redshift or Heroku run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. Heroku runs on Web, Api, Workers.
Can I use Amazon Redshift for free?
Yes. Amazon Redshift has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Heroku starts at $7/month.
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 Heroku is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that Heroku cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. Heroku covers Git-based deployment, Buildpacks, Dynos (containers), Add-ons marketplace. 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
ShareXLinkedInRedditWhatsAppEmail

Related pages

More on Amazon Redshift

More on Heroku

Keep looking

Other head to heads