Software · head to head
Amazon Redshift vs Okta
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Amazon Redshift on-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery; Okta requires $1,500 annual minimum contract
- They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Okta covers Single sign-on (SSO).
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Amazon Redshift and Okta actually diverge.
| Attribute | Amazon Redshift | Okta |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | usage-based | Unknown |
| Platforms | Web | Web, SaaS |
| Founded | 2012 | 2009 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Okta
- Single sign-on (SSO)
- Multi-factor authentication
- Lifecycle management
- Universal directory
- API access management
- B2B integration
- Passwordless authentication
- Adaptive MFA
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Amazon Redshift
- Business intelligencenot Okta
- Data warehousingnot Okta
- Real-time analyticsnot Okta
- Reportingnot Okta
- Machine learningnot Okta
Okta
- Employee SSOnot Amazon Redshift
- Customer identitynot Amazon Redshift
- B2B integrationnot Amazon Redshift
- Zero Trust securitynot Amazon Redshift
- Compliancenot 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
Okta
- Requires $1,500 annual minimum contract
- Admin-only MFA can be vulnerable to push notification fatigue attacks
- Implementation requires significant services and integration fees in year one
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
Okta
Free- Starter Suite$6/user/month
- SSO
- MFA
- Universal Directory
- Core Essentials Suite$14/user/month
- Adaptive MFA
- Privileged Access
- Lifecycle Management
- Essentials Suite$17/user/month
- Same as Core Essentials
- Most popular
- Professional Suite$null/custom
- Device Access
- Identity Security Posture
- Threat Protection
Which should you pick?
Choose Amazon Redshift if
- You need columnar storage.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want massively parallel.
Choose Okta if
- You need single sign-on (sso).
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, SaaS.
- You also want multi-factor authentication.
Questions people ask
- Is Amazon Redshift or Okta better?
- Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Okta at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or Okta?
- Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Okta at Free.
- Does Amazon Redshift or Okta run on more platforms?
- Amazon Redshift runs on Web. Okta runs on Web, SaaS.
- 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 Okta is typically brought in for.
- What can Amazon Redshift do that Okta cannot?
- Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. Okta covers Single sign-on (SSO), Multi-factor authentication, Lifecycle management, Universal directory.
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.
SourceOkta: What is the minimum contract for Okta Workforce Identity?
Okta requires a $1,500 annual minimum contract for Workforce Identity plans. Pricing starts at $6 per user per month (Starter) and ranges to $17 per user per month (Essentials), billed annually.
SourceAmazon 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.
SourceOkta: Does Okta offer a free trial?
Yes, Okta provides a 30-day free trial so customers can explore all product capabilities before committing to a paid plan.
SourceAmazon 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.
SourceOkta: How many pre-built integrations does Okta support?
Okta offers over 7,000 pre-built integrations with popular enterprise applications including Salesforce, Slack, Workday, Box, Confluence, and Zendesk.
SourceAmazon 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.
SourceOkta: What security features does Okta provide for admins?
Okta provides multi-factor authentication, adaptive MFA, single logout, and identity threat detection and response. However, only 94% of Okta customers have MFA enabled for administrators.
SourceOkta: Can Okta integrate with on-premises directories?
Yes, Okta's Universal Directory and lifecycle management support cloud and on-premises identity sources, including Active Directory and LDAP.
SourceRelated pages
More on Amazon Redshift
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