How to Estimate Redshift Pricing Costs in PostgreSQL

Galaxy Glossary

How much does Amazon Redshift cost each month?

Redshift pricing combines compute (node hours), storage, data transfer, and optional features like Concurrency Scaling and Spectrum.

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Description

What makes up Amazon Redshift pricing?

Redshift bills on four pillars: node type/hourly rate, managed storage (RA3 only), data scanned by Spectrum, and data transfer out of AWS. Backups and Concurrency Scaling are free within generous limits. Reserved instances cut compute cost up to 64%.

How do I estimate on-demand cost quickly?

Multiply node hourly rate by node count and monthly hours (730 for 24×7). Add managed storage at $0.024/GB-month for RA3. For DC2/DS2, storage comes with the node so no extra fee.

Which node family is cheapest for my workload?

RA3 is cheapest when you have cold data because you pay separately for storage. DC2 is cheaper only for small, hot datasets (<2 TB). DS2 is legacy—avoid for new clusters.

How to check current disk usage in SQL?

SELECT
SUM(capacity_used) / 1024 AS used_gb,
SUM(capacity_total) / 1024 AS total_gb,
ROUND(100.0 * SUM(capacity_used) / SUM(capacity_total), 2) AS pct_used
FROM SVV_TABLE_INFO;

Compare used_gb to free 128 TB quota per RA3 cluster to predict storage charges.

Can I estimate Spectrum charges in advance?

Yes. Spectrum costs $5/TB of data scanned. Run EXPLAIN and look for bytes to retrieve the scan size, then multiply by 5/1 TB.

Example Spectrum size check

EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM spectrum.sales_external
WHERE sale_date = '2024-08-30';

How do reserved nodes change the math?

Reserved Instance (RI) pricing pre-pays 1 or 3 years for up to 64% savings. Compute usage beyond purchased nodes bills on-demand. Storage, Spectrum, and transfer stay unchanged.

What about Concurrency Scaling and RA3 elastic resize?

Each cluster gets one free Concurrency Scaling hour daily per node. Extra hours cost the normal on-demand rate. Elastic resize keeps billing per hour based on actual nodes after the resize completes.

Best practices to control spend

  • Pause non-production clusters during off-hours.
  • Pick RA3 with auto-vacuum to detach cold data.
  • Archive old tables to S3 and query through Spectrum.
  • Commit to RIs for predictable steady-state workloads.

Why How to Estimate Redshift Pricing Costs in PostgreSQL is important

How to Estimate Redshift Pricing Costs in PostgreSQL Example Usage


-- Check active node type and count
SELECT node_type, COUNT(*) AS nodes
FROM stv_nodes
GROUP BY 1;

-- Estimate storage used (GB) for cost forecasting
SELECT ROUND(SUM(used)/1024,2) AS used_gb
FROM svv_diskusage;

How to Estimate Redshift Pricing Costs in PostgreSQL Syntax


-- On-Demand cost
Monthly_Compute_Cost = Node_Count * Hourly_Rate * 730

-- Managed storage (RA3 only)
Monthly_Storage_Cost = Storage_GB * 0.024

-- Spectrum querying
Spectrum_Cost = (Data_Scanned_Bytes / 1e12) * 5

-- Example: 2×ra3.xlplus ($1.086/hr each), 5 TB storage, 3 TB Spectrum
Monthly_Compute_Cost = 2 * 1.086 * 730  --≈ $1,585.56
Monthly_Storage_Cost = 5,000 * 0.024     --     120.00
Spectrum_Cost       = 3 * 5              --      15.00
Total_Monthly_Estimate ≈ $1,720.56

Common Mistakes

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Does pausing a Redshift cluster stop all charges?

Pausing halts compute billing but managed storage and snapshots continue to accrue charges.

Is data transfer into Redshift charged?

No. Only data transferred out of AWS or between regions incurs network fees.

Can I mix node types in one cluster?

No. All nodes in a cluster must be the same family and size. You must migrate to change families.

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