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Database & Data Management · head to head

Amazon Redshift vs MicroStrategy

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Database & Data Management

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
MicroStrategy logo

MicroStrategy

Business Intelligence

Enterprise analytics and mobility platform

From
$600/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; MicroStrategy microStrategy has rebranded to Strategy and microstrategy.com/pricing now redirects to software.strategy.com, which is a product page with no pricing on it
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, MicroStrategy covers Enterprise Reporting.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and MicroStrategy differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftMicroStrategy
Starting priceFree$600/month
Pricing modelusage-basedsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, Desktop, Mobile
CategoryDatabase & Data ManagementBusiness Intelligence
Founded20121989

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 MicroStrategy

  • Enterprise Reporting
  • Mobile Analytics
  • HyperIntelligence
  • Federated Analytics
  • AI/ML
  • SAP
  • Oracle
  • Salesforce

Both cover

  • Web support

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

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

MicroStrategy

  • A governed universal semantic layer defining metrics once across BI tools and AI agentsnot Amazon Redshift
  • Enterprise reporting and dashboards at Fortune 500 user countsnot Amazon Redshift
  • Connecting multiple warehouses and lakehouses under one set of business definitionsnot 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

MicroStrategy

  • MicroStrategy has rebranded to Strategy and microstrategy.com/pricing now redirects to software.strategy.com, which is a product page with no pricing on it
  • No rate, no per-user price, no minimum and no named cost driver is published anywhere on the destination page
  • The only routes offered are a custom ROI analysis, a demo request or a proof-of-value pilot
  • The product is positioned around a proof-of-value pilot and an approved architecture, implying a scoped implementation rather than self-serve purchase

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

MicroStrategy

$600/month
  • Cloud$600/month
    • Full BI Platform
    • Mobile Apps
    • Cloud Deployment
  • EnterpriseFree
    • On-premise
    • Advanced Security
    • Custom SLA

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 MicroStrategy if

  • You need enterprise reporting.
  • You work on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
  • You also want mobile analytics.
MicroStrategy review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or MicroStrategy better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and MicroStrategy at $600/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or MicroStrategy?
Amazon Redshift has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Amazon Redshift and $600/month for MicroStrategy.
Does Amazon Redshift or MicroStrategy run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. MicroStrategy runs on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
Can I use Amazon Redshift for free?
Yes. Amazon Redshift has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. MicroStrategy starts at $600/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 MicroStrategy is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that MicroStrategy cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. MicroStrategy covers Enterprise Reporting, Mobile Analytics, HyperIntelligence, Federated Analytics. 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
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