View all Data Warehouse / OLAP Alternatives
Best Free Alternatives to Amazon Redshift
Stop paying $0.25 - $13.04/hr per node. Discover professional-grade tools that won't break your budget.
Category: Data Warehouse / OLAPVerified for 2025
Top Recommended Replacements
Apache Doris
FREEBest Professional Replacement
Why we like it
The 2025 benchmark leader; specialized in high-speed JOINs and sub-second query latency; 100% MySQL protocol compatible; handles both batch and streaming data in a single system; zero license fees.
Keep in mind
Requires managing a cluster (unless using a managed service like VeloDB/SelectDB).
StarRocks
FREEBest for Real-Time / Lakehouse
Why we like it
Incredible performance on 'Data Lake' files (Iceberg/Parquet) without needing to ingest them first; features a cost-based optimizer for complex SQL; supports real-time data updates much better than Redshift.
Keep in mind
Steeper learning curve for optimal schema design.
ClickHouse
FREEBest for Speed & Logs
Why we like it
The fastest database for single-table aggregations; passes the 'Laptop Test' (run the same binary on your Mac as your server); incredible data compression (saves 90% on storage costs compared to Redshift).
Keep in mind
Historically weaker at complex multi-table JOINs compared to Doris/StarRocks.
DuckDB
FREEBest for Local / Small Data
Why we like it
The 'SQLite of OLAP'; no server needed; process 100M+ rows locally in seconds; perfect for unbundling small ETL tasks that would normally clog up a Redshift cluster.
Keep in mind
Single-node only; not for multi-petabyte distributed storage.
PostgreSQL (with ParadeDB)
FREEBest for Postgres Lovers
Why we like it
A Postgres extension that adds columnar storage and elastic search; gives you 'Redshift-like' performance inside a standard Postgres database; zero new syntax to learn.
Keep in mind
Not as scalable as a true MPP cluster for massive enterprise data.
Greenplum
FREEBest for Traditional MPP
Why we like it
A battle-tested open-source MPP database based on Postgres; supports deep analytics and ML; ideal for on-premises replacements of Redshift.
Keep in mind
Can feel 'heavy' and more difficult to maintain than modern alternatives.
Trino (formerly Presto)
FREEBest for Data Federation
Why we like it
Query data where it lives (S3, MySQL, etc.) without moving it to a warehouse; no 'Storage' cost because there is no ingest; powers the world's largest data lakes.
Keep in mind
It's a query engine, not a storage layer; requires a separate metadata catalog.
Apache Druid
FREEBest for Streaming
Why we like it
Purpose-built for 'slice-and-dice' analytics on streaming data (e.g., Kafka); provides sub-second responses even on massive event streams.
Keep in mind
Very complex to set up and manage compared to ClickHouse.
Databend
FREEBest Cloud-Native OSS
Why we like it
Built in Rust; designed for object storage (S3) from day one; very fast and cost-effective; the modern open-source answer to Snowflake/Redshift.
Keep in mind
Younger ecosystem; fewer legacy integrations.
Glance
FREEBest for Instant BI
Why we like it
A new tool that provides instant dashboards over DuckDB/Parquet; no warehouse setup required; perfect for data exploration without the Redshift price tag.
Keep in mind
Not a database, but a visualization layer for open formats.
Apache Iceberg
FREEBest for Data Sovereignty
Why we like it
Not a database, but an open table format; by storing data in Iceberg on S3, you can switch between Redshift, StarRocks, or Trino without migrating data.
Keep in mind
Requires a query engine to be useful.
Hydra
FREEBest Columnar Postgres
Why we like it
Lightweight columnar Postgres; perfect for small-to-medium datasets where Redshift's $0.25/hr minimum is too much.
Keep in mind
Limited horizontal scaling compared to Doris.
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