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Amazon Redshift costs $0.54 to $1.50 per month as of March 2026, with 3 plans available. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: No free tier available

Amazon Redshift offers 3 pricing tiers: Redshift Serverless, RA3 Provisioned (Managed Storage), DC2 Provisioned (Dense Compute). The RA3 Provisioned (Managed Storage) plan is production workloads with predictable compute needs and growing data volumes.

Compared to other data warehousing software, Amazon Redshift is positioned at the budget-friendly price point.

  • 8 documented hidden costs beyond list price

How much does Amazon Redshift cost?

Amazon Redshift pricing starts at $0.54/month across 3 plans, with enterprise pricing available on request. Plans include Redshift Serverless (custom pricing), RA3 Provisioned (Managed Storage) (custom pricing), DC2 Provisioned (Dense Compute) (custom pricing).

Amazon Redshift Pricing Overview

Amazon Redshift has 3 pricing plans ranging from $0.54 to $1.50/month. The Redshift Serverless plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for variable or unpredictable workloads, getting started quickly without capacity planning. The RA3 Provisioned (Managed Storage) plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for production workloads with predictable compute needs and growing data volumes. The DC2 Provisioned (Dense Compute) plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for smaller datasets where local ssd performance is critical.

There are at least 8 documented hidden costs beyond Amazon Redshift's list price, including implementation, training, and add-on fees.

This pricing was last verified in February 4, 2026 from 1 independent sources.

Amazon Redshift is AWS's fully managed cloud data warehouse service, offering both provisioned cluster and serverless deployment options. As one of the earliest cloud-native data warehouses, Redshift powers analytics for thousands of organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. The service offers three main pricing models: Serverless (pay per query), RA3 provisioned nodes (separate compute and storage), and DC2 provisioned nodes (bundled compute and storage).

Redshift pricing starts as low as $0.25/hour per node for DC2.large clusters, making it one of the most affordable entry points among enterprise data warehouses. Serverless pricing at $0.375/RPU-hour provides a hands-off option for variable workloads. For cost-conscious organizations, Reserved Instances offer up to 75% off on-demand rates with 1-3 year commitments. A typical mid-size deployment runs $2,000-$5,000/month, though enterprise clusters with RA3.16xlarge nodes can easily reach $30,000-$50,000+/month.

All Amazon Redshift Plans & Pricing

Plan Monthly Annual Best For
Redshift Serverless Contact Sales Contact Sales Variable or unpredictable workloads, getting started quickly without capacity planning
RA3 Provisioned (Managed Storage) Contact Sales Contact Sales Production workloads with predictable compute needs and growing data volumes
DC2 Provisioned (Dense Compute) Contact Sales Contact Sales Smaller datasets where local SSD performance is critical
View all features by plan

Redshift Serverless

  • $0.375 per RPU-hour (US East)
  • Minimum 8 RPUs base capacity (configurable)
  • Per-second billing with 60-second minimum
  • No infrastructure to manage
  • Automatic scaling based on workload
  • Pay only when queries are running
  • Managed storage at $0.024/GB-month
  • $300 free trial credit for new users
  • Concurrency scaling included

RA3 Provisioned (Managed Storage)

  • ra3.xlplus: $1.086/hr per node (4 vCPUs, 32 GB RAM, 32 TB managed storage)
  • ra3.4xlarge: $3.26/hr per node (12 vCPUs, 96 GB RAM, 128 TB managed storage)
  • ra3.16xlarge: $13.04/hr per node (48 vCPUs, 384 GB RAM, 128 TB managed storage)
  • Managed storage at $0.024/GB-month (separate from compute)
  • Scale compute independently from storage
  • Automatic data tiering between SSD and S3
  • Cross-region data sharing
  • Reserved Instance discounts up to 75%
  • Minimum 2 nodes for production clusters

DC2 Provisioned (Dense Compute)

  • dc2.large: $0.25/hr per node (2 vCPUs, 15 GB RAM, 160 GB NVMe SSD)
  • dc2.8xlarge: $4.80/hr per node (32 vCPUs, 244 GB RAM, 2.56 TB NVMe SSD)
  • Local SSD storage included in node price
  • Best price-performance for datasets under 500 GB
  • 1 hour/day free concurrency scaling credits
  • Reserved Instance discounts available
  • Minimum 1 node (single-node cluster allowed)

Amazon Redshift Year 1 Total Cost by Company Size

Real deployment costs including licenses, implementation, training, and admin — not just the sticker price.

Startup / Dev Environment $365 Year 1 total

A small team using a 2-node DC2.large cluster for development and light analytics, running queries during business hours.

Mid-Size Production Cluster $2,500 Year 1 total

A production analytics platform using 3-4 RA3.xlplus nodes with 2-5 TB of managed storage serving a team of 10+ analysts.

Enterprise Data Warehouse $15,000 Year 1 total

A large enterprise running multiple RA3.4xlarge or RA3.16xlarge node clusters with 50+ TB of data and high concurrency requirements.

Serverless Analytics $800 Year 1 total

An intermittent analytics workload using Redshift Serverless with 8-16 RPUs running 4-6 hours per business day.

How Amazon Redshift Pricing Compares

Software Starting Price Top Price
Amazon Redshift $0.543/month $1.5/month
Azure Synapse Analytics $0.21/month $259/month
Databricks Free $0.4/month
Google BigQuery Free $312.5/month
Snowflake Free $50000/month

8 Amazon Redshift Hidden Costs Beyond the List Price

Beyond the listed price, Amazon Redshift has at least 8 documented hidden costs that can significantly increase total cost of ownership.

Watch for 8 hidden costs
  • Redshift Spectrum queries against S3 cost $5/TB scanned, billed separately from cluster compute
  • Concurrency Scaling beyond 1 free hour/day costs the same per-second rate as your provisioned cluster
  • Cross-region data sharing incurs data transfer fees ($0.01-$0.02/GB)
  • DC2 nodes bundle storage, so you pay for unused storage capacity if your data is small
  • RA3 managed storage costs ($0.024/GB) add up quickly for multi-TB datasets
  • Cluster snapshots stored in S3 incur additional storage costs beyond the free automated backup period
  • Provisioned clusters are billed 24/7 even during periods of no query activity unless paused
  • Elastic resize operations cause brief downtime and may incur additional compute during the transition
Tip

Ask your Amazon Redshift sales rep about these costs upfront. Getting them in writing before signing can save you from surprise charges later.

Full hidden costs breakdown →

Amazon Redshift Pricing FAQ

01 How much does Amazon Redshift cost?

Amazon Redshift pricing starts at $0.25/hour per node for DC2.large provisioned clusters and $1.50/hour for Redshift Serverless (minimum 4 RPUs at $0.375/RPU-hour). RA3 managed storage nodes start at $1.09/hour. Reserved Instances offer up to 75% discounts for 1-3 year commitments.

02 Does Amazon Redshift have a free tier?

Amazon Redshift Serverless offers a $300 free trial credit with a 90-day expiration for new users who have never used the service before. This covers both compute and storage usage. There is no permanent free tier, but the trial is sufficient for evaluation and small proof-of-concept projects.

03 What is the cheapest way to run Redshift?

The cheapest option is DC2.large nodes at $0.25/hour ($182/month per node). For even lower costs, use Reserved Instances for up to 75% off (as low as ~$45/month per node on a 3-year commitment). Redshift Serverless can be cheaper for intermittent workloads since you only pay when queries are running.

04 What is the difference between Redshift Serverless and Provisioned?

Redshift Serverless automatically scales compute based on workload and charges per RPU-hour ($0.375/RPU-hour) only when active. Provisioned clusters require you to choose node types and are billed 24/7 whether queries are running or not. Serverless is simpler but can be more expensive for steady workloads; provisioned offers more control and lower costs for predictable usage.

05 How much does Redshift Spectrum cost?

Redshift Spectrum charges $5 per TB of data scanned from Amazon S3. This is billed separately from your Redshift cluster compute costs. You can reduce Spectrum costs by partitioning data in S3, using columnar formats like Parquet, and compressing files to minimize the amount of data scanned per query.

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