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Data Engineering11 min read

Snowflake vs. BigQuery vs. Redshift: The Real Cost Comparison

Warehouse costs vary 3-5x depending on query patterns, not headline pricing.

By Richard Ewing·

It's About Query Patterns

Snowflake: Best for: variable, bursty workloads. Pricing: compute credits ($2-4/credit). Risk: runaway queries = runaway costs.

BigQuery: Best for: ad-hoc analytical queries. Pricing: $5/TB scanned. Risk: full-table scans on large datasets = expensive.

Redshift: Best for: predictable, steady workloads. Pricing: fixed cluster cost. Risk: over-provisioning for peak = wasted spend during off-peak.

At $10M data budget, choice of warehouse can save or waste $2-3M annually.

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Published Work

This article expands on ideas from my published work in CIO.com, Built In, Mind the Product, and HackerNoon. View published articles →

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Richard Ewing

The Product Economist — Quantifying engineering economics for technology leaders, PE firms, and boards.