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Amazon Redshift vs YugabyteDB

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Software

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
YugabyteDB logo

YugabyteDB

Software

Open source distributed SQL database for cloud native apps

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Amazon Redshift on-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery; YugabyteDB missing PostgreSQL functions and extensions despite claiming compatibility
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, YugabyteDB covers PostgreSQL Compatible.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and YugabyteDB differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftYugabyteDB
Pricing modelusage-basedUnknown
PlatformsWebCloud, On-premises, Kubernetes
Founded20122016

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 YugabyteDB

  • PostgreSQL Compatible
  • Distributed SQL
  • Geo-distribution
  • Linear Scalability
  • High Availability
  • ACID Transactions
  • CDC Support
  • PostgreSQL

Both cover

  • Web support

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

  • Business intelligencenot YugabyteDB
  • Data warehousingnot YugabyteDB
  • Real-time analyticsnot YugabyteDB
  • Reporting
  • Machine learningnot YugabyteDB

YugabyteDB

  • 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

YugabyteDB

  • Missing PostgreSQL functions and extensions despite claiming compatibility
  • Not a true PostgreSQL replacement requiring schema and query compatibility testing before migration
  • Requires careful isolation level management or risk data corruption in production
  • Lacks built-in OLAP capabilities, requiring external systems for analytics
  • Coupled compute and storage scaling reduces optimization flexibility

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

YugabyteDB

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the YugabyteDB 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 YugabyteDB if

  • You need postgresql compatible.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Cloud, On-premises, Kubernetes.
  • You also want distributed sql.
YugabyteDB review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or YugabyteDB better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and YugabyteDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or YugabyteDB?
Amazon Redshift starts at Free and YugabyteDB at Free.
Does Amazon Redshift or YugabyteDB run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. YugabyteDB runs on Cloud, On-premises, Kubernetes.
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 YugabyteDB is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that YugabyteDB cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. YugabyteDB covers PostgreSQL Compatible, Distributed SQL, Geo-distribution, Linear Scalability. 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
YugabyteDB: Is YugabyteDB a true drop-in replacement for PostgreSQL?

No, YugabyteDB is PostgreSQL-compatible but not a zero-change drop-in replacement. It requires compatibility testing with queries, stored procedures, and ORM configurations before migration.

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
YugabyteDB: What isolation levels does YugabyteDB support?

YugabyteDB allows per-query selection between serializable isolation for critical operations and read-committed for analytics. However, this flexibility requires careful management to avoid accidental data corruption.

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
YugabyteDB: Does YugabyteDB support both SQL and NoSQL workloads?

Yes, YugabyteDB offers YSQL for PostgreSQL-compatible SQL and YCQL for Cassandra-like NoSQL workloads, using the same DocDB storage engine to support both simultaneously.

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
YugabyteDB: Can YugabyteDB scale compute and storage independently?

No, YugabyteDB couples compute and storage scaling, unlike TiDB which separates them. This means scaling decisions are less flexible and optimization is more complex.

Source
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