Amazon Redshift vs Azure Synapse Analytics vs Google BigQuery – Cloud Data Warehousing Comparison

Cloud data warehouses are the cornerstone of modern analytics, enabling organizations to perform petabyte-scale data processing with ease. AWS, Azure, and GCP offer powerful services in this space:
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Amazon Redshift
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Azure Synapse Analytics
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Google BigQuery
This Level 500 article provides a comprehensive comparison of these cloud data warehousing services, covering architecture, performance, pricing, use cases, and real-world deployment scenarios.
Architecture
Feature | Amazon Redshift | Azure Synapse Analytics | Google BigQuery |
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Engine | Columnar, MPP-based | MPP, supports SQL and Spark | Serverless columnar storage & compute |
Separation of Storage/Compute | Redshift RA3 supports it | Yes (Synapse Data Warehouse pools) | Full separation |
Storage Layer | Redshift Managed Storage (S3-based) | Azure Storage-backed | Colossus (GCP proprietary) |
Performance & Scaling
Feature | Amazon Redshift | Azure Synapse | Google BigQuery |
Scaling Model | Manual or elastic (RA3 nodes) | Manual with scaling options | Fully serverless, auto-scaling |
Query Performance | Advanced optimization, concurrency | Integrated Spark, materialized views | Query acceleration via Dremel engine |
Caching | Result & metadata cache | Integrated cache for repeated queries | Automatic caching |
Integration & Ecosystem
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Amazon Redshift: Deep AWS service integration (e.g., S3, Glue, Lake Formation), Redshift Spectrum, federated queries.
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Azure Synapse: Unified workspace for SQL, Spark, and Data Explorer, native integration with Power BI and Azure Data Factory.
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Google BigQuery: Integrated with Looker Studio, Vertex AI, and Dataflow; excellent performance with minimal tuning.
Real-World Scenario: Global Retail Analytics Platform
A multinational retail company needs to process real-time and batch sales data from various markets for executive dashboards and machine learning use:
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Redshift: Chosen for its seamless S3 integration and high concurrency support, using federated queries from operational DBs.
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Synapse: Adopted where Microsoft stack dominates, leveraging Data Factory pipelines and deep Power BI insights.
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BigQuery: Preferred for ML-based product forecasting and serverless usage across global regions with low admin overhead.
Security & Compliance
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Redshift: KMS-based encryption, VPC, IAM roles, auditing via CloudTrail.
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Synapse: Azure Defender, VNet, AAD integration, RBAC.
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BigQuery: Customer-managed keys (CMEK), VPC Service Controls, fine-grained IAM.
Pricing Models
Pricing Model | Amazon Redshift | Azure Synapse | Google BigQuery |
On-Demand | Per hour/node | Per DWU-hour | Per TB of data queried |
Serverless Model | Redshift Serverless (by usage) | Synapse Serverless SQL pool | Native serverless |
Reserved Capacity | Reserved instances (1/3 years) | Reserved capacity via Synapse | Flat-rate pricing available |
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Disclaimer
This article is independently developed and not affiliated with or endorsed by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP). All service names, prices, and descriptions are based on publicly available sources as of June 2025 and may change.