Softwr

Databases · head to head

Amazon Redshift vs IBM SPSS

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Databases

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
IBM SPSS logo

IBM SPSS

Machine Learning

Statistical analysis software for data science

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; IBM SPSS add-on packages are priced separately from the base subscription, and the promotional 45% discount on them excludes renewals
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, IBM SPSS covers Statistical analysis.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon Redshift and IBM SPSS actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and IBM SPSS differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftIBM SPSS
Pricing modelusage-basedsubscription
PlatformsWebLinux, Mac, Windows
CategoryDatabasesMachine Learning
Founded20121911

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 IBM SPSS

  • Statistical analysis
  • Predictive modeling
  • Data visualization
  • Survey analysis
  • Decision trees
  • Python
  • R
  • Excel

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

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

IBM SPSS

  • Statistical testing and regression analysis for academic and market researchnot Amazon Redshift
  • Predictive modelling and forecasting without writing codenot 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

IBM SPSS

  • Add-on packages are priced separately from the base subscription, and the promotional 45% discount on them excludes renewals
  • Subscription cost renews at the then current price at the end of the first year, so the advertised rate applies to the first term only
  • Prices shown are described by IBM as indicative, vary by country and exclude applicable taxes and duties
  • Extended access periods of 12 months or more are handled as tailored pricing rather than a published rate
  • Advanced statistics, custom tables, decision trees and forecasting are separate add-ons rather than part of the base product

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

IBM SPSS

Free
  • TrialFree
    • 14-day trial
    • Full features
  • Base$99/month
    • Core statistics
    • Data management

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 IBM SPSS if

  • You need statistical analysis.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Mac, Windows.
  • You also want predictive modeling.
IBM SPSS review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or IBM SPSS better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and IBM SPSS at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or IBM SPSS?
Amazon Redshift starts at Free and IBM SPSS at Free.
Does Amazon Redshift or IBM SPSS run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. IBM SPSS runs on Linux, Mac, Windows.
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 IBM SPSS is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that IBM SPSS cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. IBM SPSS covers Statistical analysis, Predictive modeling, Data visualization, Survey analysis.

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
Share

Related pages

More on Amazon Redshift

More on IBM SPSS

Keep looking

Other head to heads