Dremio vs Redpanda Pricing (2026)

Which one is cheaper?

One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.

Can I use either one for free?

Redpanda has a free plan. Dremio doesn't — though they do offer a free trial.

How do they charge?

Different approach here. Dremio uses usage-based pricing, while Redpanda goes with hybrid. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.

Which one is a better deal?

Depends on what you need. Dremio: Dremio's undercutting the classic 'pay for idle warehouse time' model that Snowflake and Databricks are historically criticized for, positioning itself as the leaner lakehouse query engine. It's aimed at data teams who want Snowflake-like SQL performance without committing to a warehouse-sized budget before proving out the use case. Redpanda: They're positioning as the leaner, faster alternative to Kafka and Confluent — free tier undercuts Confluent's entry cost entirely, but the custom pricing on BYOC and Enterprise signals they're not chasing bargain-bin buyers. This is a middle-to-premium play aimed at infra teams who are tired of Kafka's operational overhead and want something simpler without going full-managed-and-locked-in like Confluent Cloud.

Still deciding? See the best Dremio alternatives or the best Redpanda alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.