Pricing Overview
Amazon Redshift uses usage-based pricing with two primary deployment options: Provisioned clusters (RA3 nodes billed per node-hour) and Serverless (billed per RPU-hour of compute consumed). Both models separate compute from storage, with managed storage billed at ~$0.024/GB-month regardless of which compute option you choose.
This consumption model means there is no flat monthly fee for Redshift. Your costs scale with the size of your cluster or the compute intensity of your queries. 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.
Redshift's core capabilities include columnar storage with automatic compression, massively parallel processing (MPP), Redshift Spectrum for querying S3 data lakes, and Redshift Serverless for automatic scaling without cluster management.
Plan Comparison
| Plan | Price | Billing | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provisioned (RA3.4xlarge) | ~$3.26/node-hour (us-east-1) | Per node-hour | Dedicated compute, manual scaling, Reserved Instance discounts available |
| Serverless | ~$0.375/RPU-hour | Per RPU-hour consumed | Auto-scaling, no cluster management, pay only for queries |
| Managed Storage | ~$0.024/GB-month | Per GB stored | Automatic tiering, independent of compute choice |
| Free Trial | 300 USD Serverless credits (90 days) | One-time credit | Full Serverless capabilities for evaluation |
Hidden Costs and Considerations
Redshift's usage-based pricing has several cost components that are easy to overlook:
- Provisioned node minimums: RA3 clusters require at least 2 nodes. An RA3.4xlarge 2-node cluster running 24/7 costs approximately 2 x $3.26 x 730 hours = ~$4,760/month in us-east-1. This is a significant baseline cost even when the cluster is idle.
- Concurrency scaling: When concurrent query demand exceeds your cluster's capacity, Redshift automatically adds transient clusters. Concurrency scaling provides 1 hour of free credits per cluster per day, but sustained burst usage incurs additional charges at the same per-node-hour rate.
- Spectrum query costs: Querying S3 data via Redshift Spectrum is billed at $5 per TB of data scanned, separate from your cluster compute costs. Scanning large, unpartitioned datasets can generate surprise charges.
- Data transfer: Moving data out of Redshift to other AWS regions or the internet incurs standard AWS data transfer fees ($0.01-$0.09/GB depending on volume and destination).
- Snapshot storage: Automated and manual snapshots consume S3 storage beyond the free allocation. The free snapshot storage equals the total size of your provisioned storage; beyond that, it is billed at standard S3 rates.
- Region pricing variation: The ~$3.26/node-hour price applies to us-east-1. Other regions (eu-west-1, ap-southeast-1) charge 10-25% more for the same node types.
- Serverless idle charges: Redshift Serverless has a minimum RPU configuration and charges for idle time when the warehouse is in standby mode. Auto-pause features reduce but do not eliminate idle costs.
Cost Estimates by Team Size
Small team (5 analysts, light workloads): Redshift Serverless is the right starting point. The 300 USD free trial covers roughly 800 RPU-hours of compute. After the trial, a light workload team running queries for a few hours daily might consume 100-200 RPU-hours/month, costing $37.50-$75/month in compute plus storage. Total: $50-$100/month.
Mid-size team (25 analysts, moderate workloads): A 2-node RA3.4xlarge provisioned cluster running 12 hours/day (business hours) costs approximately 2 x $3.26 x 365 hours = ~$2,380/month. With managed storage for 5 TB of data at ~$0.024/GB, add ~$120/month for storage. Total: ~$2,500/month. Alternatively, Serverless at moderate query volumes might run $500-$1,500/month.
Enterprise (100+ analysts, heavy workloads): Larger deployments typically use 4-8 node RA3 clusters (or larger RA3.16xlarge nodes) running 24/7. A 4-node RA3.4xlarge cluster running continuously costs ~$9,520/month in compute. Reserved Instances (1-year or 3-year commitment) reduce this by 30-75%. Enterprise Redshift deployments with Reserved Instances commonly run $3,000-$15,000/month depending on cluster size and reservation terms.
How Amazon Redshift Pricing Compares
Redshift's pricing model competes directly with Snowflake (credit-based at ~$2.00-$6.20/credit depending on edition and region) and Google BigQuery (on-demand at $6.25/TB scanned or capacity pricing). The key difference is operational model: Redshift Provisioned requires cluster sizing decisions, while Snowflake and BigQuery Serverless handle scaling automatically.
For AWS-native organizations already using S3, Glue, and other AWS services, Redshift's deep ecosystem integration reduces data movement costs and operational complexity. Snowflake offers stronger multi-cloud support and easier administration but at a premium for high-volume workloads. BigQuery excels for ad-hoc analytics with its pure serverless model but can become expensive for sustained, high-concurrency workloads.
We recommend Redshift Serverless for teams starting out or with unpredictable query patterns. For steady-state production workloads, Provisioned clusters with Reserved Instances provide the lowest per-hour cost. The 300 USD free trial is sufficient to evaluate Serverless for most teams' needs before committing.
For organizations already running workloads on AWS, Redshift's deep integration with the ecosystem is a significant cost advantage. Data in S3 can be queried directly via Redshift Spectrum without loading it into the warehouse, and Redshift integrates natively with AWS Glue for ETL, SageMaker for ML, and QuickSight for BI. This reduces data movement and simplifies the architecture, which translates to lower total infrastructure costs compared to running a non-AWS warehouse alongside AWS data services.