Softwr

Database & Data Management · head to head

Amazon Redshift vs Microsoft Project

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Database & Data Management

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Microsoft Project logo

Microsoft Project

Construction

Keep projects organized and on track

From
$10/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; Microsoft Project performance degrades with large projects over 400 tasks, becoming slow and unstable
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Microsoft Project covers Gantt charts.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon Redshift and Microsoft Project actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and Microsoft Project differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftMicrosoft Project
Starting priceFree$10/month
Pricing modelusage-basedUnknown
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, Windows, macOS
CategoryDatabase & Data ManagementConstruction
Founded20121975

Identical on both: 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 Microsoft Project

  • Gantt charts
  • Resource management
  • Budget tracking
  • Timeline views
  • Task dependencies
  • Critical path
  • Earned value analysis
  • Portfolio management

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

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

Microsoft Project

  • Project schedulingnot Amazon Redshift
  • Resource allocationnot Amazon Redshift
  • Portfolio managementnot Amazon Redshift
  • Budget trackingnot Amazon Redshift
  • Enterprise project managementnot 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

Microsoft Project

  • Performance degrades with large projects over 400 tasks, becoming slow and unstable
  • Limited Agile methodology support, primarily designed for waterfall project management
  • Proprietary .mpp file format creates compatibility issues on non-Windows systems
  • No offline mode, limiting users without reliable internet connectivity

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

Microsoft Project

$10/month
  • Plan 1$10/month
    • Task and project management
    • Grid views
    • Timeline features
  • Plan 3$30/month
    • Desktop client
    • Resource management
    • Advanced scheduling
  • Plan 5$55/month
    • Portfolio management
    • Demand management
    • Enterprise capabilities

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 Microsoft Project if

  • You need gantt charts.
  • You work on Web, Windows, macOS.
  • You also want resource management.
Microsoft Project review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or Microsoft Project better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Microsoft Project at $10/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or Microsoft Project?
Amazon Redshift has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Amazon Redshift and $10/month for Microsoft Project.
Does Amazon Redshift or Microsoft Project run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. Microsoft Project runs on Web, Windows, macOS.
Can I use Amazon Redshift for free?
Yes. Amazon Redshift has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Microsoft Project starts at $10/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 Microsoft Project is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that Microsoft Project cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. Microsoft Project covers Gantt charts, Resource management, Budget tracking, Timeline views.

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
Microsoft Project: What are the different Microsoft Project plans and pricing?

Microsoft Project offers Plan 1 at $10/user/month for basic project management, Plan 3 at $30/user/month with desktop client and resource management, and Plan 5 at $55/user/month for enterprise portfolio management. Desktop licenses (2024) start at $679.99 for Standard and $1,129.99 for Professional.

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
Microsoft Project: Does Microsoft Project support Agile methodology?

Microsoft Project was primarily designed for traditional waterfall project management. While it has some Agile features, it is not optimized for Agile workflows compared to dedicated Agile tools like Jira or Monday.com.

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
Microsoft Project: Can multiple teams collaborate in real-time on Microsoft Project?

Yes, Microsoft Project for the Web provides real-time collaboration through cloud-based access. However, collaboration is noted as harder compared to modern cloud-native tools due to its file-based architecture.

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 Microsoft Project

Keep looking

Other head to heads