Software · head to head
Amazon Redshift vs PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
Software
The world's most advanced open source relational database
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Amazon Redshift on-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery; PostgreSQL requires manual scaling across multiple machines for very large deployments
- They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, PostgreSQL covers ACID Compliance.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Amazon Redshift and PostgreSQL actually diverge.
| Attribute | Amazon Redshift | PostgreSQL |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | usage-based | Unknown |
| Platforms | Web | Linux, Windows, macOS, BSD, Unix |
| Founded | 2012 | 1996 |
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 PostgreSQL
- ACID Compliance
- JSON/JSONB Support
- Full-text Search
- Extensibility
- Advanced Indexing
- Partitioning
- Replication
- pgAdmin
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Amazon Redshift
- Business intelligencenot PostgreSQL
- Data warehousingnot PostgreSQL
- Real-time analyticsnot PostgreSQL
- Reporting
- Machine learningnot PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
- Transaction processingnot Amazon Redshift
- Data storagenot Amazon Redshift
- Application backendnot Amazon Redshift
- Reporting
- Data analyticsnot Amazon Redshift
Both are used for reporting, on those jobs the choice comes down to price and fit rather than capability.
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
PostgreSQL
- Requires manual scaling across multiple machines for very large deployments
- Performance tuning requires deep knowledge of database internals
- No built-in graphical admin interface; command-line tools are primary method
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
PostgreSQL
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the PostgreSQL review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Amazon Redshift if
- You need columnar storage.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want massively parallel.
Choose PostgreSQL if
- You need acid compliance.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, macOS, BSD, Unix.
- You also want json/jsonb support.
Questions people ask
- Is Amazon Redshift or PostgreSQL better?
- Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and PostgreSQL at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or PostgreSQL?
- Amazon Redshift starts at Free and PostgreSQL at Free.
- Does Amazon Redshift or PostgreSQL run on more platforms?
- Amazon Redshift runs on Web. PostgreSQL runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, BSD, Unix.
- 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 PostgreSQL is typically brought in for.
- What can Amazon Redshift do that PostgreSQL cannot?
- Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. PostgreSQL covers ACID Compliance, JSON/JSONB Support, Full-text Search, Extensibility.
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.
SourcePostgreSQL: Is PostgreSQL completely free?
Yes. PostgreSQL is completely free and open source with no licensing fees or restrictions on use.
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.
SourcePostgreSQL: What platforms does PostgreSQL run on?
PostgreSQL runs on all major operating systems including Linux, Windows, macOS, BSD, and commercial Unix variants, and has been proven highly scalable managing terabytes to petabytes of data.
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.
SourcePostgreSQL: What procedural languages are supported?
PostgreSQL supports stored functions and procedures in multiple languages including PL/pgSQL, Perl, Python, Tcl, Java, JavaScript, R, and Rust.
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.
SourcePostgreSQL: What is ACID compliance in PostgreSQL?
PostgreSQL has been ACID-compliant since 2001, ensuring data integrity through atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability guarantees for all transactions.
SourcePostgreSQL: Does PostgreSQL support JSON data?
Yes. PostgreSQL supports JSON and JSONB data types for storing and querying JSON documents, along with XML and other document formats.
Source