Redshift
AWS Redshift — commitment brief
Data sourced: March 2026. Verify current figures at the AWS Pricing Calculator.
Coverage summary
Amazon Redshift supports Reserved Nodes (1-yr and 3-yr terms) for provisioned clusters across all current node types (dc2 and ra3 families). Reserved Nodes offer up to 42% discount for a 1-year All Upfront commitment and up to 76% for a 3-year All Upfront commitment versus on-demand node rates. Redshift Serverless has its own reservation model (Redshift Serverless Reservations) that provides up to 24% savings. Reserved Nodes are scoped to a specific node type and AWS region; there is no cross-node-type flexibility.
What is covered: Redshift provisioned cluster node compute charges (the per-node-hour cost). Each node in a multi-node cluster must be covered by a separate reservation.
What is not covered: Redshift managed storage charges (ra3 nodes have separate managed storage billing), Redshift Serverless RPU-hours (separate reservation model), data transfer, Redshift Spectrum queries (S3 scan charges billed separately), Redshift ML (SageMaker training charges), and Concurrency Scaling cluster-hours.
RI types
Amazon Redshift uses Reserved Nodes (not called "RI" formally, but equivalent in structure). Three payment options: All Upfront (maximum discount — up to 42% for 1-yr, up to 76% for 3-yr), Partial Upfront (up to 41% for 1-yr, up to 73% for 3-yr), No Upfront (up to 20% discount, 1-yr only). There are no Convertible RIs and no Savings Plans for Redshift provisioned clusters.
Instance / node / tier coverage
dc2.large
✅ Yes
~40–42%
~74–76%
Dense Compute; SSD storage included in node
dc2.8xlarge
✅ Yes
~40–42%
~74–76%
Dense Compute; SSD storage included in node
ra3.xlplus
✅ Yes
~40–42%
~74–76%
Managed storage billed separately per TB-month
ra3.4xlarge
✅ Yes
~40–42%
~74–76%
Most common production RA3 node
ra3.16xlarge
✅ Yes
~40–42%
~74–76%
Largest RA3; managed storage separate
Redshift Serverless
⚠️ Partial
~24%
—
Serverless Reservations model; 1-yr only; up to 24% savings
ds2 (legacy)
✅ Yes
~40–42%
~74–76%
Dense Storage; older generation, still reservable
Regional availability
Commitment scope: Regional — Reserved Nodes are purchased for a specific AWS region and node type; there is no cross-region or cross-node-type flexibility. The reservation applies only to usage in the designated region.
Available in all commercial AWS regions where Amazon Redshift is offered. GovCloud regions support Redshift Reserved Nodes, including DC2 nodes (available since 2018) and RA3 nodes. Redshift Serverless became available in GovCloud in October 2024.
Partition notes: GovCloud (us-gov-) regions support Redshift Reserved Nodes. China (cn-) regions support Redshift provisioned clusters; verify current reserved node offering availability via the console or describe-reserved-node-offerings API before purchasing in China or GovCloud.
⚠️ Regional and partition availability varies by instance type. Always verify at the AWS Pricing Console before purchasing.
Archera
Amazon Redshift is a core service within Archera's commitment management scope. Archera can automate Reserved Node purchases for provisioned Redshift clusters, monitor node-level utilization, and wrap commitments in a GRI/GSP — eliminating downside risk on over-commitment while preserving the full reservation discount. Archera handles Redshift reservations at the individual node level, which is important for multi-node clusters.
Sources
⚠️ Discount percentages are approximate and region/node-type-dependent. Always verify with the AWS Pricing Calculator.
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