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Amazon Redshift vs Keycloak

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Databases

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit Amazon RedshiftFull review
Keycloak logo

Keycloak

Developer Tools

Open-source identity and access management server.

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit KeycloakFull review

The short version

  • Amazon Redshift is a fast, fully managed cloud data warehouse; Keycloak is an open-source IAM platform supporting OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.
  • Keycloak is free; Amazon Redshift starts at $0.25/mo.
  • Where Amazon Redshift falls short: on-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery.
  • Where Keycloak falls short: requires self-hosted deployment and operational expertise to install, configure and maintain.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and Keycloak differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftKeycloak
Pricing modelUsage-basedOpen-source
PlatformsWebSelf-hosted, Linux, Windows, API
CategoryDatabasesDeveloper Tools

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

Not yet recorded: founded for Keycloak.

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 Keycloak

Nothing recorded that Amazon Redshift does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

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

Keycloak

  • Organisations requiring self-hosted identity infrastructure for compliance or data residencynot Amazon Redshift
  • Companies with existing LDAP/Active Directory systems needing federated authenticationnot Amazon Redshift
  • Open-source projects and communities requiring free IAM without licensing costsnot Amazon Redshift
  • Enterprises building custom identity workflows requiring fine-grained authorisationnot Amazon Redshift
  • Teams with sufficient operational expertise to manage infrastructurenot 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

Keycloak

  • Requires self-hosted deployment and operational expertise to install, configure and maintain
  • No managed cloud option provided by Red Hat; organisations must operate infrastructure themselves or use third-party distributions
  • Clustering and high-availability configurations require additional operational knowledge
  • Community support only; commercial support requires third-party vendors or distributions

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

Keycloak

Free
  • Open-sourceFree
    • Full platform functionality
    • Self-hosted deployment
    • Community support

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 Keycloak if

  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Self-hosted, Linux, Windows, API.
Keycloak review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or Keycloak better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Keycloak at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or Keycloak?
Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Keycloak at Free.
Does Amazon Redshift or Keycloak run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. Keycloak runs on Self-hosted, Linux, Windows, API.
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 Keycloak is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that Keycloak cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration.

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
Keycloak: What protocols does Keycloak support?

Keycloak supports OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0 and SAML 2.0 protocols for authentication and authorisation.

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
Keycloak: Can Keycloak integrate with existing user directories?

Yes. Keycloak supports user federation with LDAP and Active Directory systems, allowing organisations to leverage existing user directories.

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
Keycloak: Is Keycloak free?

Yes. Keycloak is fully open-source and free to deploy and use. No licensing fees are required.

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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