Head-to-head · OLAP Software
Amazon Redshift vs Apache Druid
Amazon Redshift leads on 0 checks, Apache Druid on 0, and 2 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 2 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.
Our verdict
- Highest scoreAmazon Redshift · 9.3/10
- Most featuresApache Druid · 1 of 3
Amazon Redshift scores higher on our rubric for olap software: 9.3 against 8.8 out of 10; our editors rank them #2 and #7.
Amazon Redshift is the better fit for AWS-centric data warehouse teams. Apache Druid is the better fit for real-time event analytics.
- Amazon Redshift fits best
AWS-centric data warehouse teams
- Apache Druid fits best
Real-time event analytics
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Side by side
| Feature | Amazon Redshift 9.3/10 Visit ↗ | Apache Druid 8.8/10 Visit ↗ |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Editor score | 9.3 | 8.8 |
| Ranking | #2 in OLAP Software | #7 in OLAP Software |
| Best for | AWS-centric data warehouse teams | Real-time event analytics |
| Pricing model | Paid | Free |
| Starting price | $0.54/unit usage-based | Open source |
| Free plan | — | Not checked yet |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Deployment | Cloud | Self-hosted |
| Platforms | Web | Web |
| Support | Email, Live chat, Phone, Tickets, Docs | Community, Docs |
| Integrations | 15 integrations | 6 integrations |
| Built for | Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Features Amazon Redshift 0/3 · Apache Druid 1/3 | ||
| Real-time ingestion | Not checked yet | ✓ (best) |
| Row-level security | Not checked yet | Not checked yet |
| Embedded analytics | Not checked yet | Not checked yet |
| Specs | ||
| Deployment | Not checked yet | Self_hosted |
| Query language | Not checked yet | Sql |
| Included users | Not checked yet | Not checked yet |
| Data source coverage | Not checked yet | streaming sources, object stores, databases, files |
| Our review | ||
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| Our verdict | Amazon Redshift is a fully managed cloud data warehouse for teams analyzing large datasets with SQL. It supports business intelligence, data lake analytics, real-time workloads, and predictive modeling across web and API access. Data… Read the review → |
Apache Druid is an open-source, distributed analytics database for large, event-oriented datasets. It is designed for teams building analytical application interfaces and high-concurrency APIs that need sub-second aggregations over… Read the review → |
Strengths and trade-offs
Amazon Redshift — where it wins
- Queries Amazon S3 data lakes with SQL
- Offers provisioned and serverless deployment options
- Includes streaming, zero-ETL, ML, and data sharing features
Where it doesn't
- No free plan
- Provisioned storage is billed separately for RG and RA3 nodes
- Serverless starts at $1.50 per hour
Apache Druid — where it wins
- Sub-second OLAP queries for high-cardinality, high-dimensional data
- Independent scaling for ingestion, queries, and orchestration
- Streaming, batch loading, SQL, native queries, joins, and bitmap indexes
Where it doesn't
- Self-hosted deployment requires organizations to manage the platform
- Narrower scope than general cloud data warehouses
- Row-level security is not verified in the published security documentation
- Amazon Redshift9.3/10 · Paid
A broad AWS-native warehouse for teams balancing SQL analytics, lakes, streaming, and ML.
Try Amazon RedshiftFull verdict → - Apache Druid8.8/10 · Open source
A focused choice for sub-second event analytics on high-cardinality data.
Visit Apache DruidFull verdict →
More comparisons
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- Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse vs Apache Druid
- Azure Synapse Analytics vs Apache Druid
- Apache Doris vs Apache Druid
- Apache Druid vs Apache Pinot
All OLAP software comparisons → · Full ranking →
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Last updated · How we research and update







