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Managed relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle, Db2, Aurora) · by Amazon Web Services

Amazon RDS and Aurora

AWS's managed relational databases: RDS for six engines on instances you size, plus Aurora and Aurora Serverless for PostgreSQL and MySQL, and the serverless distributed Aurora DSQL.

Visit aws.amazon.com ↗ Alternatives Trial EU region
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Overview

Amazon RDS is the managed relational database service on AWS. You choose an engine (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle or Db2), an instance class and storage, and AWS handles provisioning, backups, patching and failover. Multi-AZ deployments keep a standby in another Availability Zone, or two readable standbys for PostgreSQL and MySQL. Billing is per instance-hour (per second after a 10-minute minimum) plus storage and I/O, with Reserved Instances and Database Savings Plans for committed use.

Aurora is AWS's own MySQL- and PostgreSQL-compatible engine with distributed storage that grows automatically to 256 TiB, up to 15 read replicas and Global Database for cross-region reads. Aurora Serverless scales capacity in 0.5 ACU steps and can scale to 0 ACU when idle. Aurora DSQL is a separate serverless, distributed SQL service with an always-free monthly allowance.

AWS changed its free tier on 15 July 2025: new accounts now get sign-up credits and a time-limited Free plan instead of the old 12 months of 750 free micro-instance hours. The smallest RDS PostgreSQL instance (db.t4g.micro) costs $0.016/hr in us-east-1, roughly $12 a month before storage. Expect to use the AWS Pricing Calculator: storage, I/O, backups, data transfer and Multi-AZ all change the bill.

§2

Pricing and plans

checked 28 Sept 2026
Plan Price What you get
RDS On-Demand From $0.016/hr db.t4g.micro (2 vCPU, 1 GiB) PostgreSQL Single-AZ in us-east-1; $0.032/hr Multi-AZ; storage from 20 GiB billed separately
RDS Reserved Instances Custom 1- or 3-year terms, up to 69% off On-Demand for steady workloads
Aurora Serverless Per ACU-hour Scales from 0 ACU in 0.5 ACU steps up to 256 ACUs; 1 ACU is about 2 GiB of memory
Aurora provisioned Per instance-hour Aurora Standard (pay per I/O) or I/O-Optimized (no I/O charges)
Aurora DSQL Usage-based Serverless distributed SQL; free each month up to 100k DPUs and 1 GiB storage

AWS prices vary by region, engine, instance class and deployment. The RDS figure is from AWS's published price list for RDS for PostgreSQL in US East (N. Virginia) (db.t4g.micro $0.016/hr Single-AZ, $0.032/hr Multi-AZ; db.t3.micro $0.018/hr); T3/T4g instances in Unlimited mode also bill CPU credits at $0.075 per vCPU-hour above baseline. Storage (gp2/gp3, Provisioned IOPS), backup storage beyond the free allowance, data transfer and RDS Proxy are billed separately; their per-GB rates did not render on the pages read. Aurora ACU-hour and DSQL DPU rates also did not render, so no price is given. Commercial engines (SQL Server, Oracle, Db2) add licence costs. Free tier: accounts created on or after 15 July 2025 get $100 in credits at sign-up plus up to $100 more, valid up to 12 months (the Free plan lasts up to 6 months); the Free plan covers db.t3.micro and db.t4g.micro for MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB and SQL Server Express, and Aurora PostgreSQL serverless up to 4 ACUs and 1 GiB per cluster. Accounts created before that date keep the legacy 12-month free tier: 750 hours a month of a single-AZ micro instance, 20 GB gp2 storage and 20 GB backup storage. Aurora DSQL has an always-free monthly allowance. Compliance programmes were not listed on the pages read.

Source: aws.amazon.com/rds/pricing/ · prices as published, excluding tax.

§3

What it does

Six RDS engines
PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle and Db2, including bring-your-own-media licensing for SQL Server.
Multi-AZ high availability
One standby in another AZ, or two readable standbys across three AZs, with automatic failover.
Aurora Serverless
Capacity measured in ACUs and billed per second, scaling from 0 ACU up to 256 ACUs.
Aurora DSQL
A serverless, distributed SQL database with an always-free tier of 100k DPUs and 1 GiB storage per month.
Automated backups
Automated backups, manual snapshots, cross-region backup copies and point-in-time restore.
Zero-ETL integrations
Replicate transactional data to Amazon Redshift for near real-time analytics without building pipelines.
§4

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Widest engine choice, including commercial Oracle, SQL Server and Db2
  • Deep integration with the rest of AWS (IAM, VPC, CloudWatch, Redshift)
  • Aurora Serverless can scale to zero and up to large workloads
  • Reserved Instances and Savings Plans for large discounts on steady workloads
  • Regions worldwide, including the EU

Limitations

  • Pricing has many parts (instance, storage, I/O, backups, transfer, CPU credits) and varies by region
  • New accounts since 15 July 2025 get time-limited credits rather than the old 12-month free micro instance
  • T3/T4g burstable instances bill CPU credits when average usage exceeds baseline
  • Cross-AZ traffic between EC2 and RDS is charged at $0.01 per GB each way
§5

Who it suits

Good for

  • Teams already running on AWS
  • Enterprises needing Oracle, SQL Server or Db2 as a managed service
  • Large or regulated workloads needing Multi-AZ and cross-region options
  • Spiky workloads on Aurora Serverless

Look elsewhere if

  • Hobby projects wanting a free, simple, long-term database
  • Small teams who want one flat monthly price
§6

Pricing history

  • AWS Free Tier moves to credits for new accounts

    Effective 2025-07-15: new AWS accounts get $100 in credits (up to $100 more) and a time-limited free plan instead of 12 months of 750 free micro-instance hours; older accounts keep the legacy free tier. Source ↗

§7

Alternatives to Amazon RDS and Aurora

Tool From Free option Stages
Aiven Managed open-source data platform (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Kafka, Valkey, OpenSearch, ClickHouse)
$5/mo Free tier
Clever Cloud European managed PaaS
€6/mo Trial
CockroachDB Cloud (Cockroach Continuum) Managed distributed SQL (PostgreSQL-compatible)
Usage-based Trial
Convex Reactive backend and document database
$25/mo Free tier
Crunchy Bridge Managed PostgreSQL on AWS, Azure and GCP
$9/mo Paid
Dragonfly Cloud Managed Redis-compatible in-memory data store
$36/mo Trial

All managed databases →

§8

Questions

Is Amazon RDS free?

Only within the AWS Free Tier. Since 15 July 2025, new accounts get $100 in credits plus up to $100 more for up to 12 months, and a Free plan covering micro instances; older accounts keep 750 hours a month of a micro instance for 12 months.

What is the cheapest Amazon RDS PostgreSQL instance?

db.t4g.micro (2 vCPU, 1 GiB) at $0.016 per hour Single-AZ in us-east-1, plus storage and backups.

Can Aurora scale to zero?

Yes. Aurora Serverless lists a starting capacity of 0 ACU and scales in 0.5 ACU increments.

What is the difference between RDS and Aurora?

RDS runs the standard engines on instances with attached storage; Aurora is AWS's own MySQL- and PostgreSQL-compatible engine with shared distributed storage, more replicas and serverless scaling.

Does data transfer between RDS and EC2 cost money?

It is free within the same Availability Zone; between AZs in the same region, standard EC2 transfer charges of $0.01 per GB in and out apply.

Sources read for this page