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Amazon Redshift vs PlanetScale

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Software

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
PlanetScale logo

PlanetScale

Software

The MySQL-compatible serverless database

From
$15/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; PlanetScale eBS High Availability requires 3-node configuration with replication overhead
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, PlanetScale covers Database Branching.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and PlanetScale differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftPlanetScale
Starting priceFree$15/month
Pricing modelusage-basedsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebCloud-hosted (AWS, GCP, Azure)
Founded20122018

Identical on both: 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 PlanetScale

  • Database Branching
  • Non-blocking Schema Changes
  • Insights
  • Horizontal Scaling
  • Connection Pooling
  • Query Caching
  • Automatic Backups
  • Global Replication

Both cover

  • Web support

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

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

PlanetScale

  • MySQL database hosting with automatic failover and replicationnot Amazon Redshift
  • Vitess-based sharding for horizontal scaling across large datasetsnot Amazon Redshift
  • Cloud provider flexibility across AWS, GCP, Azure with 60+ regionsnot Amazon Redshift
  • Cost-effective database clusters using ARM64 architecture optionsnot 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

PlanetScale

  • EBS High Availability requires 3-node configuration with replication overhead
  • EBS Non-HA single-node option lacks redundancy and automatic failover
  • Pricing varies by cloud provider and region, requiring queries for specific rates
  • ARM64 architecture only available on EBS tier, not Metal deployments

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

PlanetScale

$15/month

No published plan breakdown. See the PlanetScale review.

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 PlanetScale if

  • You need database branching.
  • You work on Cloud-hosted (AWS, GCP, Azure).
  • You also want non-blocking schema changes.
PlanetScale review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or PlanetScale better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and PlanetScale at $15/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or PlanetScale?
Amazon Redshift has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Amazon Redshift and $15/month for PlanetScale.
Does Amazon Redshift or PlanetScale run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. PlanetScale runs on Cloud-hosted (AWS, GCP, Azure).
Can I use Amazon Redshift for free?
Yes. Amazon Redshift has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. PlanetScale starts at $15/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 PlanetScale is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that PlanetScale cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. PlanetScale covers Database Branching, Non-blocking Schema Changes, Insights, Horizontal Scaling. 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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