As businesses become increasingly data-driven, it is essential that all collected data be stored in a reliable cloud-based data warehouse where it can be efficiently analyzed. Snowflake vs Amazon Redshift are two top-tier AWS-based cloud data warehousing technologies that have significantly improved the velocity and accuracy with which business intelligence can be gleaned. Choosing between the two options doesn’t come down to which product is better, but rather to which solution fits your data strategy best. This article explains the key differences between Redshift vs Snowflake vs Databricks to help you navigate which one to go for.
Let’s dive in now!
What Is a Snowflake?
Whether your data is highly structured or deeply nested, Snowflake’s data warehouse can help you gain analytical insights. You may construct a highly adaptable, highly available, and highly scalable modern data architecture with the help of this SaaS. The data warehouse is powered by the relational database management system SQL, which facilitates readability and use. By decoupling computing and storage, Snowflake makes it possible to use external resources like Amazon’s S3 and EC2 instances.
The virtual warehouse concept underpins Snowflake’s intuitive interface, lightning-fast performance, and adaptability. You can create numerous data warehouses using the same underlying data with the help of this virtual warehouse, which sits above the database storage service. The architecture, query optimization, and security for this virtual warehouse are all handled by a query service layer. You can execute several different kinds of jobs at once without slowing down the system because of this architecture.
When To Use Snowflake
The Snowflake Elastic Data Warehouse is Snowflake’s solution for storing and analyzing data in the cloud. Users can employ cloud-based hardware and software in this scenario to evaluate and save data. Once your data is hosted in a public cloud service like Amazon S3, for example, you can access it from anywhere with Snowflake ETL. Its effectiveness can be utilized without the need for technological offerings like Hadoop.
With Snowflake, you can connect to a data lake and easily sort or rearrange raw data stored there because it can manage unstructured data. With Snowflake’s cloud-native infrastructure, Agile DevOps teams can easily log dynamic usage trends and other fast-changing data sets.
Both AWS Redshift vs Snowflake are excellent options for cloud-based data warehousing, but there are some major distinctions between the two that are worth knowing. Choosing the best solution involves weighing several factors, including price, maintenance, security, database functionality, and integration.
What Is Redshift?
Redshift is a petabyte-scale, fully-managed data warehouse solution that can be easily integrated with BI tools and is available in the cloud. Amazon makes it simple to begin with a few hundred gigabytes of data and smoothly grow up or down based on current needs. Because of this, companies can learn useful information about their operations or their clientele by analyzing their own data.
Launching a Redshift cluster is the first step in building a cloud data warehouse. The next step is to create “slices” on each cluster node. A part of the node’s RAM and storage space is allotted to each slice. This improves query performance by balancing the workload on the node. Data sets can be uploaded, and data analysis queries can be conducted after the cluster has been set up.
Fast query performance is possible with the same SQL-based tools and BI apps, regardless of the size of your data set. By utilizing its own networking components, Amazon Redshift displays exceptional performance. The system provides high-speed communication between nodes by the use of high-bandwidth connections, proximity, and specialized communication protocols.
When To Use Redshift
Redshift is ideally suited for workloads with petabyte-scale data sets. Redshift’s usefulness as a database solution improves with increasing data volumes. Real-time analytics, including data from various sources in transit, are a breeze in Redshift. This allows companies to swiftly make data-driven decisions and effectively respond to market shifts.
Redshift also simplifies the processing of complex data sets, such as those used in behavioral analytics. Redshift could be used by a developer who wants to keep track of user activity across platforms and devices.
Amazon Redshift vs Snowflake
The following are the differences between Amazon Redshift vs Snowflake:
#1. Amazon Redshift vs Snowflake: Performance
Depending on the type of job that is being processed, Snowflake vs Amazon Redshift will exhibit different behaviors and require different architectures. Therefore, comparing results can be a bit of a challenge. Both Snowflake vs Amazon Redshift use columnar storage and distributed computing on a huge scale. By taking advantage of parallel processing, this structure speeds up the processing of huge queries and allows for more complex analyses. Amazon Redshift has machine learning capabilities in addition to its scalability for concurrent processing.
Unoptimized query execution time is another area where the two services diverge. The performance of non-optimized queries is improved in Snowflake. Amazon Redshift’s query times are optimized for subsequent inquiries by using a query compilation cache, despite a slightly longer initial query time. Amazon Redshift also provides a number of methods for harmonizing your data queries and organization. Users can make use of ATO (Automatic Table Optimizations), where Redshift handles the SORTKEY and DISTKEY for them, to drastically cut down on the execution time of JOIN and WHERE queries. Redshift also provides a manual configuration option for users who prefer to handle such details themselves.
#2. Snowflake vs. Redshift: Database Features
Snowflake facilitates data sharing between accounts with relative ease. Sharing data with clients, for example, can be done without ever needing to make a duplicate of the data itself. When utilizing external sources of information, this method proves to be extremely effective. When used with Amazon S3 or AWS Data Exchange, Redshift provides functionalities similar to those of Amazon RDS. However, semi-structured data types such as Array, Object, and Variant are not supported in Redshift without additional, often complicated, additions. Yes, Snowflake.
Redshift VARCHAR (variable character data) data types have a cap of 65535 characters, making them insufficient for lengthy string usage. The column length must also be determined in advance. The default maximum string size in Snowflake is 16MB, therefore, there is no performance hit when using large strings. Therefore, the string size value is not required to begin the exercise.
#3. Redshift vs Snowflake: Pricing
Snowflake and Redshift are both available for an on-demand price, but their feature bundles are different. Snowflake’s pricing model unbundles computing and storage costs, while Redshift treats them separately. Concurrency scaling is available in all Snowflake editions by default, but it is an optional add-on for Redshift users who are allotted a certain amount every day and charged by the second after they surpass it.
Redshift offers the choice between an hourly rate (determined by the type and number of nodes in each cluster) and a per-byte-scanned rate (via the Spectrum function), with the former promising significant savings over the course of a multi-year contract. Snowflake has five different editions with progressively more expensive features, allowing you to exclude whichever ones aren’t appropriate for your company. Editions are based on the amount and type of data, the geographic area, and whether the platform is AWS or Azure.
Think about the hardware, software, and man-hours each platform will need to accommodate the volume, velocity, and variety of data generated by your company as you evaluate your options. When properly implemented, a warehouse can increase return on investment (ROI) over the long run by facilitating data-driven decisions with greater speed, efficiency, and precision.
#4. Redshift vs Snowflake: Security
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has long prioritized customer safety, and its data warehousing solutions are no exception. Amazon Redshift has a more roundabout approach to security, whereas Snowflake is more erratic. The Snowflake platform supports encryption and virtual private network (VPN) isolation. However, the level of security it provides is edition-specific and therefore pricey.
The end-to-end encryption provided by Amazon Redshift can be adjusted to meet your specific needs. Access management, cluster encryption, security groups, sign-in credentials, SSL connections, and virtual private networks (VPNs) are a few of the extra security features and tools provided. Furthermore, adding security capabilities to Redshift does not incur any additional fees (i.e. licensing costs or separate tier pricing).
#5. Redshift vs Snowflake: Ecosystem and Integration
First, firms need to comprehend the data they acquire. For this reason, specialized analysis tools developed by a third party are required. Both Snowflake vs Amazon Redshift allow for the use of other applications. With its vast ecosystem and third-party connections, such as those with ETL and business intelligence tools, Amazon Redshift stands head and shoulders above the competition.
#6. Redshift vs. Snowflake: Maintenance
Amazon Redshift requires all users to share a single cluster and compete for shared storage and processing power. In fact, WLM queues are required for its management, and due to its complex ruleset, this can be a significant challenge. Snowflake avoids this issue entirely. Different data warehouses of differing sizes can be launched without any copying of data being necessary. Assigning them to specific people or projects is a breeze.
Snowflake triumphs over Redshift in the table vacuuming and analysis department. Snowflake is a complete service provider. This can be problematic when using Redshift because scaling up or down can be difficult. It’s easy for Redshift resizing operations to rack up hundreds of dollars in costs and cause hours of downtime.
Since Snowflake’s computing and storage resources are decoupled, scaling up or down does not necessitate copying any data. Although adding and removing nodes is a laborious process, the data computation capacity can be switched on the fly.
#7. Redshift vs Snowflake: Storage and Compute Separation
When using Snowflake, users can adjust the capacity of their storage and computing resources separately. Before, there was no real separation between the compute and storage parts of Amazon Redshift. Due to the inability to partition data, additional clusters must be added in order to accommodate growing data or processing needs. Now that R3 nodes are available, users can grow computing independently of storage, making the system scalable in a manner analogous to that of Snowflake.
With Redshift’s Spectrum functionality, you can run SQL queries on S3 bucket data without moving the data there in the first place. Amazon Redshift Managed Storage with RA3 nodes already supports the Advanced Query Accelerator (AQUA) feature at no extra cost. By dynamically enhancing specific sorts of queries, AQUA, a distributed and hardware-accelerated cache, makes Amazon Redshift up to 10 times faster than comparable enterprise cloud data warehouses.
Read Also: SNOWFLAKE VS DATABRICKS: Full Comparison 2023
Redshift vs. Snowflake: Pros & Cons
The following are the cons and pros of Amazon Redshift vs Snowflake:
Amazon Redshift Pros
- Amazon Redshift is a very accessible platform.
- It requires almost no management. To manage scalability, for instance, you need only construct a cluster, choose an instance type, and go from there.
- It is compatible with a wide range of AWS services (part of the most extensive cloud ecosystem in the world).
- Spectrum makes complicated querying of Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) data easy. Simply permit computing and storage to scale separately.
- It works wonderfully in a reporting setting to aggregate and denormalize data.
- Allows for simultaneous analysis and provides lightning-fast querying for analytics.
- Provides a number of formats for data export, JSON among them.
- Costs for reserved instances of computing and storage space on demand are calculated on a per-hour and per-node basis.
- Amazon has both a comprehensive database security program and a comprehensive integrated compliance program.
- Offers secure, user-friendly, and dependable data storage.
Amazon Redshift Cons
- This is not a transaction system and should not be used.
- While waiting for AWS to provide a fix, you may need to revert to an older version of Redshift in the meantime.
- There will be an additional fee for using Amazon Redshift Spectrum’s byte scanning capabilities.
- Redshift is not up-to-date in terms of features or data types, and its dialect is very similar to that of PostgreSQL 8.
- There may be issues with external tables that cause queries to hang.
- Verifying the accuracy of data can be difficult.
- Redshift doesn’t store any data based on the primary key or foreign key. In this system, originality is not required. For this reason, an alternative method of deduplication will be required.
Snowflake Pros
- It’s a web-based, user-friendly SaaS application.
- The computing and storage components are decoupled, allowing for elastic scaling with tiered pricing from several cloud service providers.
- It’s cross-cloud, so you can use it with Azure, GCP, or any of the other major cloud services.
- It’s self-sufficient in terms of upkeep.
- It’s compatible with JSON and other forms of semi-structured data.
Snowflake Cons
- It’s designed to work exclusively in the cloud, with no onsite deployment options.
- It may cost more than Amazon Redshift for many applications.
- The extra cost for ensuring security varies heavily depending on the product version you’re utilizing.
- Since working with Snowflake typically requires learning specialized tools such as Snowpipe, SnowSQL, Snowpark, and others, it has the potential to lock users into a single technology solution.
Which Warehouse Is Better for You, Redshift vs Snowflake?
Taking a closer look at the similarities and differences between these two data warehouse solutions makes it clear that they serve distinct purposes.
#1. Features
Redshift combines processing power with persistent storage to speed up the process of scaling to an enterprise-level data warehouse. Snowflake, however, allows businesses to buy exactly the capabilities they need by separating computation and storage and giving tiered editions, all while retaining the ability to scale.
#2. JSON
Whether this is a dealbreaker or not. Snowflake’s JSON storage capability is noticeably more robust than Redshift’s. This means that Snowflake has native support for storing and querying JSON documents. Redshift converts incoming JSON into strings, which complicates manipulation and querying.
#3. Security
While Redshift offers a wide variety of encryption options, you may tailor the amount of security to your needs using Snowflake’s compliance and security features, which are tailored to each edition.
#4. Data Duties
Is it mechanized, or do you have to manually intervene? Redshift has a wider variety of non-automatable operations, such as data vacuuming and compression, which necessitate more manual upkeep. Snowflake comes out on top because it automates more of these problems, which means less work is spent identifying and fixing them.
Take into account your desired level of data warehouse efficiency. You can determine the benefits or drawbacks of these characteristics by comparing them to your data approach.
Redshift vs Snowflake vs Databricks
The following are the differences between Redshift vs Snowflake vs Databricks:
#1. Redshift vs Snowflake vs Databricks: Core Features
- Database functionality, solid support options, security features, validations, and connectors are all made possible by Snowflake’s design.
- Databricks’ features include shared notebooks, workflows, audits, integrated identity management, interactive exploration, and dashboards.
- Column-oriented databases, MPP, end-to-end data encryption, network isolation, fault tolerance, concurrency limitations, etc. are all possible with AWS Redshift.
#2. Redshift vs Snowflake vs Databricks: Structured Data
Structured and semi-structured files can both be uploaded to and stored in Snowflake’s cloud data warehouse. There’s no need to use an ETL tool to get them in order before you load them into an EDW. Immediate conversion to an internally ordered format is performed for snowflake data types.
Databricks can process information in any format. It could function as an ETL tool, organizing data in preparation for processing in databases like Snowflake and Redshift.
Creating your own ETL procedure, utilizing Amazon’s managed ETL service, or utilizing one of the many compatible third-party cloud ETL services are the three basic means by which data can be extracted and loaded into AWS Redshift. Data is organized into columns in Redshift, and the contents of each column are kept together.
#3. Redshift vs Snowflake vs Databricks: Integration
- Snowflake is compatible with a wide variety of business software, including Looker, AWS, Tableau, Talend, and Fivetran.
- Databricks can connect to a wide variety of business tools and platforms, including Looker, Amazon Redshift, Tableau, Talend, Pentaho, Alteryx, Redis, Cassandra, MongoDB, and many more.
- The Cluster information page in the AWS Redshift admin portal is where integration with AWS Partners is handled. Datacoral, Etleap, Fivetran, Informatica, SnapLogic, etc. are just some of the programs it can connect to.
#4. Redshift vs Snowflake vs Databricks: Security
- Even on the most basic Snowflake subscription, Business Critical, you’ll have access to features like two-factor authentication, always-on enterprise-grade encryption, and PCI compliance. Snowflake has the ability to encrypt data and provide virtual private network (VPN) isolation.
- From feature requests to production monitoring, Databricks’ secure software development lifecycle (SDLC) has you covered. Multi-factor authentication is required for access to critical infrastructure consoles, like cloud service provider consoles.
- Two-factor authentication is supported by AWS Redshift. Redshift, being part of AWS, may use the IAM function inside. Redshift may be made compliant with regulatory requirements because of its flexible end-to-end encryption, VPC, and AWS CloudTrail audits.
#5. Redshift vs Snowflake vs Databricks: Pricing
- The cost of using Snowflake is proportional to the amount of time it takes for a query to be completed. Standard, Premier, Enterprise, and Enterprise for Sensitive Data are the four available business tiers.
- The clusters in Databricks are billed on the basis of “VM cost + DBU cost,” as opposed to the amount of time spent executing the Spark application or any notebook runs or jobs, as is the case with some of Databricks’ rivals. In addition, there are three different business price tiers available to customers. Databricks offers a variety of plans, including those tailored to data engineering, data analytics, and enterprise use.
- Instance/cluster fees and capacity usage fees are how AWS Redshift makes its money. You pay a fixed rate regardless of whether or not you use the allocated computing resources that you have specified. It offers both a subscription model and a pay-as-you-go model.
What Are the Benefits of Redshift over Snowflake?
Redshift also allows data to be shared between clusters. Users can query data from various AWS accounts or AWS regions without having to duplicate the data across the accounts or regions. In this regard, Amazon Redshift outperforms Snowflake when it comes to optimizing for high-performance workloads.
What Is the Difference between Redshift vs Snowflake Data Types?
Unlike Redshift, Snowflake has native support for JSON storage and query, making it a superior option for storing and retrieving JSON data. Instead of loading JSON as a single string, Redshift breaks it up into many strings, making it more difficult to query and work with.
Why Snowflake Instead of Redshift?
Adding extra nodes to Redshift takes minutes, but adding them to Snowflake only takes seconds. When compared to Redshift, Snowflake features more fully automated upkeep. Redshift has enhanced compatibility with Amazon’s extensive library of cloud services and native security features. The autocomplete function in Snowflake’s built-in SQL has been improved.
Is Redshift Outdated?
Amazon Redshift might have some drawbacks and be a little out of date because it is not fully self-managed like some newer solutions and is not built on SaaS alone. There is still some degree of self-management and administration required here, such as database administration.
Final Thoughts
Both Snowflake and Redshift are important stops on the way to enhanced business intelligence. No matter which you choose as your data warehouse, speed is of the essence in getting all your data there so you have the context you need for greater business intelligence. When picking between Snowflake vs Amazon Redshift, it’s important to take into account your specific requirements and available budget. You can start getting useful insights from your data with the correct technology.
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