How to Use Amazon Redshift Free Tier in PostgreSQL

Is Amazon Redshift free or does it only offer a free trial?

Amazon Redshift is not fully free; AWS provides a limited free trial and a small perpetual serverless allowance—costs apply beyond those limits.

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Description

Example H2

Example H3

Is Amazon Redshift really free?

Amazon Redshift itself is a paid service. AWS offers two free options: a 2-month Free Trial for provisioned clusters (dc2.large) and a perpetual Redshift Serverless Free Tier that covers 1 GB of data stored and 1 TB of query data scanned each month. Charges begin once you exceed these limits or keep the trial cluster running after 2 months.

How does the Redshift Free Trial work?

The Free Trial lets you run a single dc2.large node (160 GB SSD, 2 vCPUs, 15 GiB RAM) for 750 node-hours per month for the first 2 months. You can load data, run queries, and integrate with PostgreSQL clients without paying compute charges. Storage beyond 160 GB and data transfer out of AWS incur costs.

What is the Redshift Serverless Free Tier?

Redshift Serverless offers 1 GB of storage and 1 TB of data scanned monthly at no cost. It auto-scales RPU (Redshift Processing Units) and pauses when idle, so you pay only after crossing the free thresholds. Ideal for development, demos, or learning PostgreSQL-compatible SQL.

Which costs are not covered by the Free Tier?

Data transfer out of AWS, snapshots stored in S3, spectrum queries that read external data, and reserved instances are billed separately. Always configure automatic snapshot retention, query monitoring rules, and idle-session timeouts to avoid surprise charges.

How to create a free Redshift Serverless workspace?

1. In the AWS Console, open Redshift → Serverless.
2. Click “Create” and choose a workgroup name.
3. Accept the default base-RPU value (recommended 32).
4. Enable “Base capacity autoscaling.”
5. Select a sample data set or leave empty.
6. Click “Create workgroup.” You now have a PostgreSQL-compatible endpoint covered by the Serverless Free Tier.

How to connect with psql or Galaxy?

Use the endpoint shown in the console:
psql "host=my‐workgroup.xxxxxxx.region.redshift.amazonaws.com port=5439 user=awsuser dbname=dev sslmode=require"
Galaxy users can paste the same endpoint, choose “Redshift,” and connect instantly to start writing SQL.

Best practices to stay within free limits

• Drop unused tables and snapshots.
• Enable auto-pause on Serverless.
• Use EXPLAIN to preview query cost.
• Partition large tables and limit SELECT * statements.
• Schedule nightly jobs to unload cold data to S3.

How to monitor free-tier usage?

Use AWS Cost Explorer and Redshift Console metrics. The aws redshift-serverless list-resource-usage CLI command provides RPU-hours, storage, and data-scanned values so you know when you’re nearing paid thresholds.

Practical SQL example

The Free Tier allows normal PostgreSQL syntax. Below we build an ecommerce star schema and run an aggregate to test performance without cost.

Why How to Use Amazon Redshift Free Tier in PostgreSQL is important

How to Use Amazon Redshift Free Tier in PostgreSQL Example Usage


-- Calculate monthly revenue while in the Free Tier
SELECT date_trunc('month', o.order_date)   AS month,
       SUM(o.total_amount)                 AS monthly_revenue,
       COUNT(DISTINCT o.id)                AS orders
FROM   Orders o
GROUP  BY 1
ORDER  BY 1 DESC;

How to Use Amazon Redshift Free Tier in PostgreSQL Syntax


-- Create demo tables in Redshift Free Tier
CREATE TABLE Customers (
    id INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100),
    email VARCHAR(255),
    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

CREATE TABLE Products (
    id INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100),
    price NUMERIC(12,2),
    stock INT
);

CREATE TABLE Orders (
    id INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
    customer_id INT REFERENCES Customers(id),
    order_date DATE,
    total_amount NUMERIC(12,2)
);

CREATE TABLE OrderItems (
    id INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
    order_id INT REFERENCES Orders(id),
    product_id INT REFERENCES Products(id),
    quantity INT
);

Common Mistakes

Assuming the Free Trial lasts indefinitely. After 2 months, your dc2.large cluster accrues on-demand charges unless you delete or pause it.
Loading terabytes of data into Serverless without checking the 1 GB storage cap. Delete large tables or switch to a paid plan once you exceed the limit.