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it_user689532 - PeerSpot reviewer
Full Stack Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Consultant
Valuable features are performance, data compression, and scalability. Query compilation time needs a lot of improvement.
Pros and Cons
  • "The valuable features are performance, data compression, and scalability."
  • "Query compilation time needs a lot of improvement for cases where you are generating queries dynamically."

What is most valuable?

The valuable features are performance, data compression, and scalability.

What needs improvement?

Query compilation time needs a lot of improvement for cases where you are generating queries dynamically. Also, it would help tremendously to have some more user-friendly, query optimization helper tools.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for 24 months now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not faced any stability related issues so far.

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The time it takes to scale the cluster up or down is not trivial and it can take a while. In case you need to do this fast, you will need to think about other solutions.

How are customer service and support?

Apart from the official documentation, we haven't had the need to reach out to technical support yet. The quality of the documentation is very good. There are a lot of very useful articles from the community.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, we were using AWS RDS for our use case. We found that we had outgrown it. Our data grew in size and we wanted to still have performance queries.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of the cluster was pretty straightforward. The following step, setting the right table configuration, was not so straightforward, though. It required an understanding of how the product works. Sort and distribution keys are required concepts to know about.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Redshift is very cost effective for a cloud based solution if you need to scale it a lot. For smaller data sizes, I would think about using other products.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We were thinking about using a self-managed PostgreSQL. We chose Redshift because we didn't need to manage it ourselves and because it integrates with the rest of the AWS services more fluently.

We are currently evaluating Druid.

What other advice do I have?

It is very important to understand how Redshift is designed to work. The database schema design is not trivial and requires an in-depth knowledge about it, especially if your use-case requires it to perform well.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1221354 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Cost effective and stable, for the performance for larger applications needs to be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup of this solution is straightforward."
  • "Running parallel queries results in poor performance and this needs to be improved."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case for this solution is related to statistical data.

What is most valuable?

The best part about this solution is the cost.

The performance of this solution is good if you have only a few use cases and a few queries, but for larger applications, it is not so good. 

What needs improvement?

Running parallel queries results in poor performance and this needs to be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for one year, and it has been used within the company for several years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable, although we have had some issues with maintenance.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of this solution needs to be improved.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have dealt with technical support and it is ok.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of this solution is straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

The suitability of this solution depends on the environment and the requirements. For some, Amazon Redshift is perfect. However, some people will need better queries. Based on my research, many of the products are pretty close. It is possible that the much higher priced solutions have more differences.

This is a good solution but the queries need to perform better.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Amazon Redshift
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about Amazon Redshift. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,823 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
High performance, efficient, and helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Amazon Redshift are that its fast and efficient. We have lots of TBs of data and it's very fast."
  • "Amazon Redshift could improve the user interface support."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Amazon Redshift services to query the data and to perform certain data science operations on that data, such as applying a machine learning algorithm or doing an analysis.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Amazon Redshift are that its fast and efficient. We have lots of TBs of data and it's very fast.

What needs improvement?

Amazon Redshift could improve the user interface support.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon Redshift for approximately one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazon Redshift is a stable solution. However, there are many times the environment configuration changes very quickly without any intimidation and it creates a lot of problems for running our codes.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Amazon Redshift is good. The solution is best suited for larger-scale businesses because the price is affordable for them and they need the complexity.

How are customer service and support?

The support from Amazon Redshift is very good.

How was the initial setup?

Amazon Redshift is somewhat complex to deploy. The process could improve.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Amazon Redshift is an expensive solution. Larger organizations can afford this solution, but smaller businesses would struggle to afford it.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Amazon Redshift an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
it_user576450 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Science Lead at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
The PostgreSQL interface is good because you can play with big data with just SQL.

What is most valuable?

The valuable features are:

  • PostgreSQL Interface
  • Scalability
  • Pricing/Maintenance/Setup

The PostgreSQL interface is good because you can play with big data with just SQL. This is one of the reasons why they made Hive.

However, Hive’s SQL is still not as standard as what Redshift provides:
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/red...

How has it helped my organization?

Redshift has been the data warehouse in at least three of my previous companies. The impact is huge to anyone who uses data in any way.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see improvements in the database integrations. Currently, Amazon does not provide real-time/near real-time integration with other products like RDS or DynamoDB out-of-the-box.

We need to either build the integrations ourselves, or rely on third-party services which are not always the best.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for over three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There were stability issues in the beginning. However, the product has improved quite a lot in the last two years in term of stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Redshift can scale up to a petabyte with a few simple clicks.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is good, but similar to any other Amazon Web Service, you have to pay for a good level of technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not have a previous solution. Redshift worked for us the first time we tried. The pricing could not be beaten by anything else in the market at that time.

How was the initial setup?

The installation was straightforward and only required a few clicks.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing was quite a strong point of Redshift when it was first released. Nowadays, quite a number of other services are very competitive in pricing, such as BigQuery.

What other advice do I have?

Redshift, like any other big data technology, isn’t a silver bullet for everything. The most important thing is to understand your data and your requirements before you make any decision to use any technology.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1207005 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Analytics at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
A solution with a straightforward setup, improved stability and good flexibility
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution's flexibility is its most valuable feature. It's also easy to scale and has relatively painless pricing."
  • "The speed of the solution and its portability needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for analytics.

What is most valuable?

The solution's flexibility is its most valuable feature. It's also easy to scale and has relatively painless pricing. 

What needs improvement?

The speed of the solution and its portability needs improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution since 2006.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is getting more stable with each new version. It's stable now, but it can always continue to improve.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution can scale easily.

How are customer service and technical support?

I've never been in touch with technical support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

We use public and hybrid cloud deployment models. We are Amazon partners.

The solution itself is very popular. Many people use it these days.

I recently went to an AWS summit in Zurich. I was very impressed by AWS and the presentation. Their solutions are very good.

I'd rate this solution eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Consultant at kulki data management & consultants
Real User
Integration with Excel is useful and has excellent performance
Pros and Cons
  • "Redshift's Excel features are handy. Redshift spectrum allows you to directly query the data on an Excel sheet. Now, SQL Server also allows this, but Redshift has many more features."
  • "Amazon should provide more cloud-native tools that can integrate with Redshift like Microsoft's development tools for Azure."

What is most valuable?

Redshift's Excel features are handy. Redshift spectrum allows you to directly query the data on an Excel sheet. Now, SQL Server also allows this, but Redshift has many more features.

What needs improvement?

Amazon should provide more cloud-native tools that can integrate with Redshift like Microsoft's development tools for Azure. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've only used Redshift a couple of times to do a proof of concept.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Redshift has had some scaling issues, but Redshift's performance overall is excellent. 

How are customer service and support?

We haven't encountered many challenges so far.

How was the initial setup?

Redshift setup is easy. It's not an issue. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Redshift nine out of 10. If you're thinking about implementing Redshift, I would recommend focusing on the use case. It's a warehouse database, not a transactional system, so they need to plan their workload before migrating to Redshift.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Amazon Redshift Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2025
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Amazon Redshift Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.