Amazon RDS vs Cloud SQL for MySQL

Amazon RDS9.1Visit Cloud SQL for MySQL9.0Visit

Higher score Amazon RDS #3 in MySQL Hosting 9.1/10 Paid ✓ 1 of 4 features Visit Amazon RDS

vs

Cloud SQL for MySQL #4 in MySQL Hosting 9.0/10 30-day trial Free trial✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Google Cloud

• Amazon RDS fits best

  Enterprise AWS-native MySQL hosting

• Cloud SQL for MySQL fits best

  Google Cloud application backends

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Side by side

Feature	Amazon RDS 9.1/10 Visit ↗	Cloud SQL for MySQL 9.0/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.1	9.0
Ranking	#3 in MySQL Hosting	#4 in MySQL Hosting
Best for	Enterprise AWS-native MySQL hosting	Google Cloud application backends
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	Not checked yet	30-day trial
Free plan	—	—
Free trial	—	30 days
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Phone, Live chat, Email, Community, Docs · 24/7	Docs
Compliance	SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS	ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS
Integrations	8 integrations	6 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Amazon RDS 1/4 · Cloud SQL for MySQL 4/4
Automated backups	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Point-in-time restore	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
High availability	✓	✓
Private networking	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Specs
Scaling mode	Not checked yet	Both
Included storage	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Managed provisioning, patching, backups, and recovery Multi-AZ failover and read replicas support availability and scaling IAM, VPC, CloudWatch, RDS Proxy, and Outposts integrations	Point-in-time recovery and automated daily backups Automatic failover across zones with replica support Private connectivity and broad Google Cloud integrations
Cons	Usage-based pricing can make costs harder to forecast AWS-centered deployment may not suit non-AWS-first teams Configuration and engine choices add planning complexity	Paid service with no free plan Usage-based pricing varies by region and resources Not an open-source database service
Our verdict	Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a managed relational database service for deploying, operating, and scaling databases in AWS environments. It supports MySQL alongside Amazon Aurora, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, SQL Server,… Read the review →	Cloud SQL for MySQL is a fully managed relational database service for running MySQL Community Edition databases on Google Cloud. It is designed for application teams and organizations running production MySQL workloads, including backends… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Amazon RDS — where it wins

  • Managed provisioning, patching, backups, and recovery
  • Multi-AZ failover and read replicas support availability and scaling
  • IAM, VPC, CloudWatch, RDS Proxy, and Outposts integrations

  Where it doesn't

  • Usage-based pricing can make costs harder to forecast
  • AWS-centered deployment may not suit non-AWS-first teams
  • Configuration and engine choices add planning complexity

• Cloud SQL for MySQL — where it wins

  • Point-in-time recovery and automated daily backups
  • Automatic failover across zones with replica support
  • Private connectivity and broad Google Cloud integrations

  Where it doesn't

  • Paid service with no free plan
  • Usage-based pricing varies by region and resources
  • Not an open-source database service

• Amazon RDS9.1/10 · Paid

  A mature AWS-native choice for managed MySQL operations, scaling, and availability.

  Visit Amazon RDSFull verdict →
• Cloud SQL for MySQL9.0/10 · 30-day trial

  Managed MySQL with recovery, failover, replicas, and Google Cloud integrations.

  Visit Google CloudFull verdict →