Softwr

Database & Data Management · head to head

Amazon Redshift vs Zeplin

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Database & Data Management

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Zeplin logo

Zeplin

Design Tools

Design handoff and developer collaboration

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; Zeplin the free plan is limited to 1 project and 100 screens and works only in a personal workspace
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Zeplin covers Design specs.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and Zeplin differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftZeplin
Pricing modelusage-basedsubscription
PlatformsWebWeb, Desktop, Mobile
CategoryDatabase & Data ManagementDesign Tools
Founded20122014

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Zeplin

  • Design specs
  • Asset export
  • Code snippets
  • Design tokens
  • Comments
  • Version control
  • Handoff workflow
  • Accessibility checks

What people use each for

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

Amazon Redshift

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

Zeplin

  • Handing off design specs from Figma or Sketch to developersnot Amazon Redshift
  • Sharing screens, assets and style guides with an engineering teamnot Amazon Redshift
  • Reviewing and commenting on design versionsnot 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

Zeplin

  • The free plan is limited to 1 project and 100 screens and works only in a personal workspace
  • Free plan AI reviews are capped at 3 per week
  • Role based permissions require the Advanced plan or higher
  • Single sign on, multi factor authentication, activity logs and invoiced billing are Enterprise only
  • Priority 24 hour support is Enterprise only
  • Basic plan caps screens at 1,000 per project and is priced per project rather than per seat
  • Enterprise pricing is by quote with no published rate

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

Zeplin

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1 project
    • 1 workspace
    • Basic specs
  • Starter$19/month
    • Unlimited projects
    • Multiple workspaces
    • Advanced specs
  • Professional$49/month
    • Everything in Starter
    • Team collaboration
    • Admin controls

Which should you pick?

Choose Amazon Redshift if

  • You need columnar storage.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want massively parallel.

Choose Zeplin if

  • You need design specs.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
  • You also want asset export.

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or Zeplin better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Zeplin at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or Zeplin?
Amazon Redshift starts at Free and Zeplin at Free.
Does Amazon Redshift or Zeplin run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. Zeplin runs on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
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 Zeplin is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that Zeplin cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. Zeplin covers Design specs, Asset export, Code snippets, Design tokens.

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

Related pages

Other head to heads