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Databases · head to head

Amazon Redshift vs SAP BusinessObjects

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Databases

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
SAP BusinessObjects logo

SAP BusinessObjects

Business Intelligence

Enterprise business intelligence suite

From
$400/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; SAP BusinessObjects sAP BusinessObjects Private Cloud Edition is listed on UK G-Cloud 14 as a Cloud software service by SAP (UK) Limited titled 'SAP Business Objects Private Cloud Edition', alongside a reseller listing from NTT DATA Business Solutions; the G-Cloud search results describe it as subscription-based but show no per-user or per-month figure in the listing summary
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, SAP BusinessObjects covers Crystal Reports.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon Redshift and SAP BusinessObjects actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and SAP BusinessObjects differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftSAP BusinessObjects
Starting priceFree$400/month
Pricing modelusage-basedsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, Desktop, Mobile
CategoryDatabasesBusiness Intelligence
Founded20121972

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 SAP BusinessObjects

  • Crystal Reports
  • Web Intelligence
  • Lumira
  • Analysis for Office
  • Live Office
  • SAP HANA
  • SAP ERP
  • Oracle

Both cover

  • Web support

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

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

SAP BusinessObjects

  • Enterprise reportingnot Amazon Redshift
  • Executive dashboardsnot Amazon Redshift
  • Regulatory compliancenot Amazon Redshift
  • Strategic planningnot Amazon Redshift
  • Operational analyticsnot 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

SAP BusinessObjects

  • SAP BusinessObjects Private Cloud Edition is listed on UK G-Cloud 14 as a Cloud software service by SAP (UK) Limited titled 'SAP Business Objects Private Cloud Edition', alongside a reseller listing from NTT DATA Business Solutions; the G-Cloud search results describe it as subscription-based but show no per-user or per-month figure in the listing summary

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

SAP BusinessObjects

$400/month
  • Standard$400/month
    • Core BI Tools
    • Web Intelligence
    • Crystal Reports
  • EnterpriseFree
    • Full Suite
    • Advanced Features
    • Premium Support

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 SAP BusinessObjects if

  • You need crystal reports.
  • You work on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
  • You also want web intelligence.
SAP BusinessObjects review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or SAP BusinessObjects better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and SAP BusinessObjects at $400/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or SAP BusinessObjects?
Amazon Redshift has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Amazon Redshift and $400/month for SAP BusinessObjects.
Does Amazon Redshift or SAP BusinessObjects run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. SAP BusinessObjects 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. SAP BusinessObjects starts at $400/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 SAP BusinessObjects is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that SAP BusinessObjects cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. SAP BusinessObjects covers Crystal Reports, Web Intelligence, Lumira, Analysis for Office. 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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