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FaunaDB vs Amazon Redshift

FaunaDB logo

FaunaDB

Software

The distributed serverless database for modern applications

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Software

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: FaunaDB the Internet Archive's capture of FaunaDB's homepage on 5 January 2019 confirmed a free 'Try Cloud' tier alongside a self-hosted download, with a separate Pricing page linked but not itself retrievable from the archive within two attempts.; Amazon Redshift on-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery
  • They diverge on capability: FaunaDB covers ACID Transactions, Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where FaunaDB and Amazon Redshift differ
AttributeFaunaDBAmazon Redshift
Pricing modelfreemiumusage-based

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown), founded (2012).

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 FaunaDB

  • ACID Transactions
  • Document-relational Model
  • GraphQL API
  • Global Distribution
  • Temporal Queries
  • Multi-tenancy
  • Serverless
  • GraphQL

Only in Amazon Redshift

  • Columnar Storage
  • Massively Parallel
  • Machine Learning
  • AQUA Acceleration
  • Data Sharing
  • Federated Query
  • Concurrency Scaling
  • S3

Both cover

  • Web support

What people use each for

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

FaunaDB

  • Serverless applicationsnot Amazon Redshift
  • Rapid prototypingnot Amazon Redshift
  • Mobile backendsnot Amazon Redshift
  • JAMstacknot Amazon Redshift
  • Microservicesnot Amazon Redshift

Amazon Redshift

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

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

FaunaDB

  • The Internet Archive's capture of FaunaDB's homepage on 5 January 2019 confirmed a free 'Try Cloud' tier alongside a self-hosted download, with a separate Pricing page linked but not itself retrievable from the archive within two attempts.

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

FaunaDB

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 100K read ops
    • 50K write ops
    • 1GB storage
  • Pro$25/month
    • Pay per use
    • Priority support
    • Advanced features

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 FaunaDB if

  • You need acid transactions.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want document-relational model.
FaunaDB review

Choose Amazon Redshift if

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

Questions people ask

Is FaunaDB or Amazon Redshift better?
Neither clearly leads. FaunaDB 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, FaunaDB or Amazon Redshift?
FaunaDB starts at Free and Amazon Redshift at Free.
Does FaunaDB or Amazon Redshift run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use FaunaDB for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is FaunaDB best used for?
FaunaDB is most often used for serverless applications, rapid prototyping, mobile backends, jamstack. Of those, serverless applications and rapid prototyping are not what Amazon Redshift is typically brought in for.
What can FaunaDB do that Amazon Redshift cannot?
FaunaDB covers ACID Transactions, Document-relational Model, GraphQL API, Global Distribution. Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. 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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