Amazon Aurora vs Amazon RDS

Amazon Aurora9.0Visit Amazon RDS8.7Visit

Higher score Amazon Aurora #5 in Relational Databases 9.0/10 Paid ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit AWS Aurora

vs

Amazon RDS #8 in Relational Databases 8.7/10 Paid ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Amazon RDS

• Amazon Aurora fits best

  Scalable managed PostgreSQL or MySQL

• Amazon RDS fits best

  Managed multi-engine AWS databases

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Side by side

Feature	Amazon Aurora 9.0/10 Visit ↗	Amazon RDS 8.7/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.0	8.7
Ranking	#5 in Relational Databases	#8 in Relational Databases
Best for	Scalable managed PostgreSQL or MySQL	Managed multi-engine AWS databases
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	—	Not checked yet
Free plan	—	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Email, Live chat, Phone, Tickets, Community, Docs · 24/7	Phone, Live chat, Email, Community, Docs · 24/7
Compliance	SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS	SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS
Integrations	9 integrations	8 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Amazon Aurora 4/4 · Amazon RDS 4/4
Managed service	✓	✓
High availability	✓	✓
Read replicas	✓	✓
JSON data support	✓	✓
Specs
Deployment model	Cloud	Both
Backup retention	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Maximum connections	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	PostgreSQL- and MySQL-compatible engines with serverless options Automatic scaling, failover, backups, and point-in-time recovery Up to 15 read replicas plus multi-Region database support	Supports eight database engines in a managed AWS service Includes Multi-AZ failover, read replicas, backups, and point-in-time restore Connects with IAM, VPC, CloudWatch, RDS Proxy, and Outposts
Cons	No permanent free plan Pricing varies by region, engine, capacity, storage, and I/O Cloud-based service with AWS ecosystem dependencies	No free plan is available Usage-based pricing varies by region, engine, instance, storage, and configuration AWS-focused deployment may not suit teams seeking a standalone database platform
Our verdict	Amazon Aurora is a fully managed, cloud-based relational database service from Amazon Web Services. It supports PostgreSQL- and MySQL-compatible engines, along with Aurora DSQL, a distributed SQL engine. Provisioned and serverless… Read the review →	Amazon RDS is a managed relational database service for deploying, operating, and scaling databases in the AWS environment. It automates infrastructure provisioning, patching, backups, and failure recovery while leaving users to configure… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Amazon Aurora — where it wins

  • PostgreSQL- and MySQL-compatible engines with serverless options
  • Automatic scaling, failover, backups, and point-in-time recovery
  • Up to 15 read replicas plus multi-Region database support

  Where it doesn't

  • No permanent free plan
  • Pricing varies by region, engine, capacity, storage, and I/O
  • Cloud-based service with AWS ecosystem dependencies

• Amazon RDS — where it wins

  • Supports eight database engines in a managed AWS service
  • Includes Multi-AZ failover, read replicas, backups, and point-in-time restore
  • Connects with IAM, VPC, CloudWatch, RDS Proxy, and Outposts

  Where it doesn't

  • No free plan is available
  • Usage-based pricing varies by region, engine, instance, storage, and configuration
  • AWS-focused deployment may not suit teams seeking a standalone database platform

• Amazon Aurora9.0/10 · Paid

  A managed AWS database for scalable PostgreSQL, MySQL, and distributed SQL workloads.

  Visit AWS AuroraFull verdict →
• Amazon RDS8.7/10 · Paid

  A managed AWS database service for teams needing engine choice and operational automation.

  Visit Amazon RDSFull verdict →