Amazon Redshift vs ClickHouse

Updated November 2026 · AppBreakup editorial

Amazon Redshift

AWS's managed cloud data warehouse, available as provisioned clusters or a serverless option.

Paid

Visit Amazon Redshift Amazon Redshift profile

ClickHouse

An open-source column-oriented database for fast real-time analytics, with a managed cloud service.

Open source

Visit ClickHouse ClickHouse profile

The short answer

Amazon Redshift suits teams already on AWS that want a managed SQL warehouse tied into IAM, S3 and other AWS services. ClickHouse suits engineering teams building real-time dashboards, observability or product analytics over billions of rows, and those who want an open-source engine they can self-host. The biggest difference: Redshift is AWS-only and managed, while ClickHouse is Apache-2.0 open source with a multi-cloud managed service.

Amazon Redshift or ClickHouse: our take

Redshift is AWS's data warehouse. It stores data in columns across nodes, speaks a PostgreSQL-flavoured SQL dialect that common BI tools support, and runs either as provisioned clusters you size and tune or as Redshift Serverless billed per second while queries run. Spectrum queries files in S3 directly, and zero-ETL integrations replicate data from AWS databases. ClickHouse is a column-oriented OLAP database focused on low-latency analytical queries; its compression and vectorised execution make scanning billions of rows fast and cheap, which is why it is popular for live dashboards, logs and traces. The trade-off is that schema and table-engine choices need care, and updates, deletes and large joins are weaker than in a general-purpose warehouse.

Deployment and cost differ. Redshift runs only on AWS, with provisioned pricing starting at $0.543 per hour, Serverless from $1.50 per hour, and a trial of $300 credit for 90 days; usage-based pricing can be hard to forecast. ClickHouse is open source under Apache-2.0, so you can self-host it on Linux with no licence cost, though running a cluster takes real operational work. ClickHouse Cloud runs on AWS, Google Cloud and Azure, meters compute and storage separately, scales idle services to zero, and offers a 30-day trial with $300 credits.

Choose Redshift if your data and team already live in AWS and you want warehouse-style SQL analytics integrated with IAM, Lake Formation, QuickSight and SageMaker. Choose ClickHouse if query latency matters most, such as user-facing analytics or observability, if you want the option to self-host, or if you need to stay portable across clouds.

Choose Amazon Redshift if…

Teams on AWS that want a managed SQL warehouse integrated with their other AWS services
Serverless option bills compute per second
Queries data in S3 directly with Spectrum

Choose ClickHouse if…

Engineering teams building real-time dashboards, observability or analytics over billions of rows
You want a free option (Amazon Redshift is paid only)
You need Linux, macOS and Self-hosted, which Amazon Redshift doesn't list
Very fast aggregations over large tables, suited to live dashboards
Apache 2.0 open source, so it can be self-hosted at no licence cost

What is Amazon Redshift?

Amazon Redshift is the data warehouse service from Amazon Web Services. It stores data in columns across many nodes so large SQL analytics queries run in parallel, and it speaks a PostgreSQL-flavoured dialect that most BI tools connect to. You can run it as provisioned clusters you size yourself, or as Redshift Serverless, which bills for compute by the second while it runs queries. Redshift Spectrum queries files sitting in S3, including open table formats, without loading them first, and zero-ETL integrations replicate data from AWS databases. It also ties into IAM, Lake Formation, QuickSight and SageMaker, which is the main reason AWS-centred teams choose it. It suits companies already on AWS that want SQL analytics at scale without leaving that ecosystem. It is paid, with usage-based pricing and a credit-based trial for Serverless; costs can be harder to predict than flat plans, and it runs only on AWS, so multi-cloud teams often prefer Snowflake or Databricks.

What is ClickHouse?

ClickHouse is a column-oriented OLAP database built for running analytical SQL queries over very large tables with low latency. Teams use it for product and web analytics, observability data such as logs and traces, and data-warehouse style reporting where queries need to come back in milliseconds rather than minutes. Its compression and vectorised execution make it cheap to store and scan billions of rows. The core database is open source under Apache 2.0 and can be self-hosted on Linux servers or run locally, so there is no licence cost if you operate it yourself. ClickHouse Inc. also sells ClickHouse Cloud, a managed service on AWS, Google Cloud and Azure that bills compute and storage separately and scales idle services to zero, with a trial that includes credits. Compared with Snowflake or BigQuery it is faster for real-time dashboards but asks more of you on data modelling, and joins and updates are less forgiving than in a traditional warehouse.

Side by side

Attribute	Amazon Redshift	ClickHouse
Pricing	Paid	Open source
Open source	No	No
Self-hostable	No	No
Platforms	Web	Web, Linux, macOS, Self-hosted
Best for	Teams on AWS that want a managed SQL warehouse integrated with their other AWS services	Engineering teams building real-time dashboards, observability or analytics over billions of rows
Status	Active	Active

Verified facts, compared

Facts both apps publish, checked on each vendor's own site.

Fact	Amazon Redshift	ClickHouse
Free trial	$300 credit for 90 days	30 days with $300 credits