BigQuery vs Redshift: Pricing, Serverless vs Clusters, and Which Warehouse to Choose
A straight comparison of Google BigQuery and Amazon Redshift, the two cloud warehouses most teams end up choosing between, with prices we verified. We connect to BigQuery, so we are honest below about where that colors the view.
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Direct answer
BigQuery is fully serverless and charges $6.25 per TiB scanned on demand, with the first 1 TiB each month free, so you pay per query and never manage a cluster. Redshift gives you a choice: serverless at about $0.375 per RPU-hour, or provisioned RA3 clusters from about $0.543 an hour that you size and run. BigQuery suits spiky, unpredictable workloads and teams already on Google Cloud; Redshift suits steady, high-utilization workloads and teams already on AWS, where a right-sized cluster can be cheaper than per-query billing. Choose by your cloud, your workload shape and how much infrastructure you want to manage.
Last updated July 2026
›_ side by side
BigQuery vs Redshift, honestly.
| Dimension | BigQuery (Google Cloud) | Redshift (AWS) |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Fully serverless. No clusters to size or manage, ever. | Serverless option, or provisioned RA3 clusters you size, run and tune. |
| On-demand compute price | $6.25 per TiB scanned; first 1 TiB per month free. | Serverless about $0.375 per RPU-hour (US East); 4-RPU base is roughly $1.50/hour of active work. |
| Provisioned option | Capacity (slot) commitments available for predictable spend. | RA3 clusters from about $0.543/hour; you pay for the cluster whether busy or idle unless paused. |
| Storage price | Active $0.02 per GiB per month; long-term $0.01 after 90 days; 10 GiB free. | Redshift Managed Storage $0.024 per GB per month (US East). |
| Billing granularity | Per byte scanned. A careless SELECT * on a big table costs real money. | Per second with a 60-second minimum on serverless; per hour on provisioned. |
| Ecosystem fit | Native to Google Cloud, Sheets, Looker and the analytics stack. | Native to AWS, S3, Glue and the rest of the Amazon data stack. |
| Cost control lever | Limit bytes scanned: partition, cluster, and avoid SELECT *. | Right-size the cluster or set serverless base capacity; pause when idle. |
| Who it suits | Spiky or unpredictable query patterns, Google Cloud shops, teams that never want to manage infrastructure. | Steady high-utilization workloads, AWS shops, teams that want a tunable cluster. |
Comparison reflects our understanding of publicly available information and is meant to be fair, including where each tool beats us. Vendors evolve; verify the latest before deciding.
›_ what it costs
BigQuery vs Redshift pricing.
| Plan | BigQuery | Redshift |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | First 1 TiB scanned per month and 10 GiB storage free | No ongoing free query tier; trial credits for new accounts |
| On-demand compute | $6.25 per TiB scanned | Serverless about $0.375 per RPU-hour (US East) |
| Provisioned compute | Slot commitments (capacity pricing) available | RA3 clusters from about $0.543 per hour |
| Active storage | $0.02 per GiB per month | $0.024 per GB per month (RMS, US East) |
| Long-term storage | $0.01 per GiB per month after 90 days untouched | Managed storage bills at one rate; no separate long-term tier |
| Commitment discount | Editions and slot commitments lower effective compute cost | Serverless reservations save up to 24% (1 yr) or 45% (3 yr) |
BigQuery prices were read from Google Cloud on 16 July 2026. Redshift prices were verified from AWS and independent pricing sources on 19 July 2026 for the US East (N. Virginia) region. Cloud pricing changes and varies by region, and reserved commitments cut the rates, so confirm current numbers before you commit.
›_ the call
Which one should you pick?
01
Choose BigQuery if
Your query volume is spiky or hard to predict, you are already on Google Cloud, or you simply never want to size and babysit a cluster. Serverless billing means an idle warehouse costs almost nothing, and the first terabyte each month is free. The catch is discipline: because you pay per byte scanned, an unpartitioned table and a habit of SELECT * will run up a bill fast.
02
Choose Redshift if
You run steady, high-utilization workloads and you are already on AWS. A right-sized RA3 cluster running most of the day can be cheaper than per-query billing, and you get fine-grained control to tune it. You pay for that control with operational work: someone has to size the cluster, watch it, and pause it when it is idle.
03
Either warehouse, then the questions problem
Whichever you pick, the warehouse only stores and serves the data. Getting answers out still means someone writes SQL or builds a dashboard. If your bottleneck is that people wait on an analyst for every one-off question, the choice of warehouse does not touch that. Agentsql connects read-only to BigQuery, turns plain-English questions into SQL and returns the answer, which is a different job from the warehouse itself.
What is the main difference between BigQuery and Redshift?
The core difference is who manages the compute. BigQuery is serverless: Google runs the machinery, you send queries, you pay for what they scan. Redshift historically gave you a cluster to run, and while it now has a serverless option too, the provisioned RA3 model, where you size and manage the hardware, is still where much of its value and its cost control live.
That single design choice ripples through everything. With BigQuery an idle warehouse is nearly free, but a heavy query is expensive because you pay per byte scanned. With a provisioned Redshift cluster you pay for the cluster whether it is busy or not, so a warehouse that runs hot most of the day amortizes well and a warehouse that sits idle wastes money.
The other honest factor is which cloud you already live in. BigQuery is the natural warehouse for a Google Cloud shop, wired into Sheets, Looker and the rest. Redshift is the natural warehouse for an AWS shop, wired into S3, Glue and the Amazon data stack. Very few teams choose a warehouse in a vacuum; they choose the one that fits the cloud they already pay for.
Is BigQuery cheaper than Redshift?
It depends entirely on your workload shape, and anyone who gives you a flat answer is guessing. BigQuery bills per terabyte scanned at $6.25, with the first terabyte each month free. Redshift serverless bills about $0.375 per RPU-hour, and a provisioned RA3 cluster starts around $0.543 an hour and runs continuously until you pause it.
For spiky, occasional analytics, BigQuery usually wins, because you pay nothing while nobody is querying. For a warehouse that is queried hard all day by dashboards and pipelines, a right-sized Redshift cluster often wins, because the per-hour cost is fixed while the work it does keeps climbing.
Storage is close either way: BigQuery active storage is $0.02 per GiB per month, dropping to $0.01 after 90 days untouched, and Redshift Managed Storage is $0.024 per GB per month. Storage is rarely the deciding cost. Compute is, and the deciding question is whether your usage is bursty or steady.
How do you control cost on each warehouse?
On BigQuery the lever is bytes scanned. Partition tables by date, cluster them by the columns you filter on, and never run SELECT * on a wide table when you need three columns. A single unpartitioned full-table scan on a large table can cost more than a month of careful queries, and it is the most common way teams get a surprise bill.
On Redshift the lever is capacity. Right-size the cluster to your real workload, use pause and resume so you are not paying for idle compute overnight, and for serverless set a sensible base capacity so a runaway query cannot scale you into a large bill. Reserved commitments cut the rate meaningfully: up to 24% for a one-year serverless reservation and up to 45% for three years.
Both warehouses reward attention and punish neglect. The teams that get burned are almost always the ones who set it up once and never looked at what the queries were actually costing.
Where Agentsql fits with either warehouse
We connect to BigQuery, so we are not neutral, and we will say so. But the point of this section is not to sell you a warehouse; it is to note what the warehouse does not solve.
A warehouse stores your data and runs the SQL you send it. It does not write that SQL for you. Whether you land on BigQuery or Redshift, someone on the team still has to translate a business question into a query, and the people asking the questions are usually not the people who can write them. That gap is where the days-long wait for an answer comes from.
Agentsql connects read-only to BigQuery (as well as Postgres, MySQL and Snowflake), takes a plain-English question, writes the SQL, runs it, and returns a chart, a table and a one-line answer, with the SQL shown so an analyst can verify it. It does not replace the warehouse or a BI tool; it removes the SQL bottleneck between a question and its answer. It starts at $49 a month.
›_ frequently asked
BigQuery vs Redshift questions, answered.
Is BigQuery cheaper than Redshift?
It depends on your workload. BigQuery bills $6.25 per TiB scanned with the first TiB free each month, so idle time is nearly free and it wins for spiky use. Redshift provisioned clusters start around $0.543 an hour and run continuously, so a busy, high-utilization warehouse often costs less on Redshift. Model both against your real query pattern.
What is the difference between BigQuery and Redshift?
BigQuery is fully serverless: Google manages the compute and you pay per byte scanned. Redshift offers a serverless option plus provisioned RA3 clusters that you size and run. BigQuery suits unpredictable workloads and Google Cloud teams; Redshift suits steady workloads and AWS teams that want a tunable cluster.
Does Agentsql connect to Redshift?
No. Agentsql connects to PostgreSQL, MySQL, Snowflake and BigQuery. This page is a neutral comparison of the two warehouses to help you choose, and does not imply a Redshift connection. If you are on BigQuery, Agentsql can turn plain-English questions into SQL against it directly.
How do I control BigQuery costs?
Limit the bytes each query scans. Partition tables by date, cluster by the columns you filter on, select only the columns you need instead of SELECT *, and use the free first terabyte each month. One unpartitioned scan of a large table can cost more than a month of careful queries, so partitioning is the highest-value habit.
Is Redshift serverless or does it need a cluster?
Both are available. Redshift Serverless bills about $0.375 per RPU-hour and manages capacity for you, while provisioned RA3 clusters from about $0.543 an hour give you a fixed, tunable resource you size and run. Serverless suits variable workloads; a right-sized provisioned cluster suits steady, heavy usage.
Which warehouse is better for a small team?
For most small teams BigQuery is the easier start: nothing to manage, the first terabyte each month is free, and idle time costs almost nothing. Redshift becomes attractive once you are already on AWS or your query volume is steady enough that a small right-sized cluster beats per-query billing.
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