Amazon Redshift Pricing 2026
Plans, hidden costs, and cheaper alternatives compared
Is Amazon Redshift worth the price?
Amazon Redshift's pricing is fair, especially with the free trial and reserved instance options.
The $0.25/hour for a DC2.Large node is competitive for dedicated clusters, and Serverless offers flexibility for variable workloads. It's best for businesses needing scalable, petabyte-scale data warehousing with flexible deployment options.
Pricing Plans
Free TrialFree Trial
Free
2 months free
- 750 DC2.Large hours/month
- Try before you buy
- Full features
Provisioned
$0.25/hour
DC2.Large node
- Dedicated clusters
- Reserved pricing available
- Full control
Serverless
Variable
Pay per RPU-hour
- Auto-scaling
- No cluster management
- Pay for usage only
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
Data transfer out of AWS
Storage costs beyond compute
Additional AWS service integrations
Reserved instances require commitment
Which Plan Do You Need?
Large-scale data analytics
Variable, unpredictable workloads
AWS ecosystem users
How Amazon Redshift Compares to Competitors
Compared to Google BigQuery, Redshift's provisioned model offers more predictable costs for consistent usage, while BigQuery's on-demand is often priced per TB scanned. Snowflake also offers a usage-based model, with Redshift's $0.25/hour DC2.Large being a strong entry point for dedicated resources.
Amazon Redshift Pricing FAQ
How much does Amazon Redshift cost?
Amazon Redshift uses custom pricing. Contact Amazon Redshift directly for a quote based on your team size and requirements.
Does Amazon Redshift have a free plan?
Yes. Amazon Redshift offers a free plan called "Free Trial". It includes: 750 DC2.Large hours/month, Try before you buy, Full features.
Does Amazon Redshift offer a free trial?
Yes, Amazon Redshift offers a free trial. No credit card is typically required to start the trial, though this may vary.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Amazon Redshift?
Yes. Popular alternatives to Amazon Redshift include Snowflake, Azure Synapse. Compare them side-by-side on Toolradar.
Cheaper alternatives to Amazon Redshift
Direct competitors with similar features. Many offer lower per-seat pricing or simpler tier structure.
