Software · head to head
Cockroach Labs vs Amazon Redshift
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Cockroach Labs basic and Standard tiers limited to AWS and GCP (select regions only); Amazon Redshift on-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery
- They diverge on capability: Cockroach Labs covers Distributed SQL, Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cockroach Labs and Amazon Redshift actually diverge.
| Attribute | Cockroach Labs | Amazon Redshift |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | freemium | usage-based |
| Platforms | AWS, GCP, Azure | Web |
| Founded | 2015 | 2012 |
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 Cockroach Labs
- Distributed SQL
- Automatic Sharding
- Multi-region Replication
- Geo-partitioning
- ACID Transactions
- Horizontal Scaling
- Survivability
- PostgreSQL Compatibility
Only in Amazon Redshift
- Columnar Storage
- Massively Parallel
- Machine Learning
- AQUA Acceleration
- Data Sharing
- Federated Query
- Concurrency Scaling
- S3
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Cockroach Labs
- Distributed SQL database for scalable applicationsnot Amazon Redshift
- Multi-region deployment and failovernot Amazon Redshift
Amazon Redshift
- Business intelligencenot Cockroach Labs
- Data warehousingnot Cockroach Labs
- Real-time analyticsnot Cockroach Labs
- Reportingnot Cockroach Labs
- Machine learningnot Cockroach Labs
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Cockroach Labs
- Basic and Standard tiers limited to AWS and GCP (select regions only)
- Azure support restricted to Advanced tier only
- Basic tier limited to 50 million RUs and 10 GiB storage per month
- Advanced tier starts at $0.60/hour for 4 vCPUs minimum
- 3 TiB maximum storage on Basic and Standard tiers, 10 TiB per node on Advanced
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
Pricing, plan by plan
Cockroach Labs
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Cockroach Labs review.
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
Which should you pick?
Choose Cockroach Labs if
- You need distributed sql.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on AWS, GCP, Azure.
- You also want automatic sharding.
Choose Amazon Redshift if
- You need columnar storage.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want massively parallel.
Questions people ask
- Is Cockroach Labs or Amazon Redshift better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cockroach Labs starts at Free and Amazon Redshift at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cockroach Labs or Amazon Redshift?
- Cockroach Labs starts at Free and Amazon Redshift at Free.
- Does Cockroach Labs or Amazon Redshift run on more platforms?
- Cockroach Labs runs on AWS, GCP, Azure. Amazon Redshift runs on Web.
- Can I use Cockroach Labs for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Cockroach Labs best used for?
- Cockroach Labs is most often used for distributed sql database for scalable applications, multi-region deployment and failover. Of those, distributed sql database for scalable applications and multi-region deployment and failover are not what Amazon Redshift is typically brought in for.
- What can Cockroach Labs do that Amazon Redshift cannot?
- Cockroach Labs covers Distributed SQL, Automatic Sharding, Multi-region Replication, Geo-partitioning. Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Source