Amazon Aurora vs MariaDB: Which Open Source Database Service is Better
Are you planning to use an open-source database service but can't decide between MariaDB and Amazon Aurora? Don't worry; we're here to help you. In this post, we'll compare both database services and point out their differences so that you can make an informed decision.
Introduction
MariaDB and Amazon Aurora are both open-source database infrastructure services with MySQL compatibility. They offer high-performance, scalability, and security features that make them ideal for modern cloud environments. However, several differences separate these two services. Let's dive into the details.
Performance
When it comes to performance, Amazon Aurora leads the race. According to AWS, Aurora is up to five times faster than the standard MySQL database and three times faster than the standard PostgreSQL database. Aurora uses a distributed and fault-tolerant architecture, which enables it to handle millions of transactions per second with consistent and predictable performance.
MariaDB, on the other hand, also claims to offer high-performance features. However, it's not as fast as Amazon Aurora. MariaDB doesn't offer distributed architecture, which limits its performance scaling capabilities in large-scale environments.
Scalability
Scalability is a vital feature of any database infrastructure service. Amazon Aurora is a clear winner when it comes to scalability. Aurora can scale up to 64 terabytes (TB) per database cluster, while MariaDB can only scale up to 16 TB per database instance. Moreover, Aurora enables horizontal scaling, which means you can add replicas to increase read scalability and high availability.
Availability and Reliability
Both MariaDB and Amazon Aurora guarantee high-availability and reliability features. MariaDB offers a master-slave replication feature, where data is centralized on the master server and replicated to slave servers. If the master server fails, one of the slave servers takes over automatically.
Amazon Aurora, on the other hand, offers automatic failover with Aurora Replicas. Aurora Replicas are a set of read-only instances that can be promoted to become the primary instance if the primary fails. Amazon Aurora also offers backup and restore features, which enable you to recover from failures.
Security
Security is critical for any cloud-based database infrastructure service. Both MariaDB and Amazon Aurora offer similar security features such as encryption at rest, SSL/TLS encryption, and network isolation. However, Amazon Aurora provides additional security features such as AWS Key Management Service (KMS), which enables you to manage your encryption keys.
Pricing
Pricing is a vital component of any cloud-based infrastructure service. Amazon Aurora and MariaDB both offer different pricing structures. In general, Amazon Aurora is more expensive than MariaDB, especially when considering the hardware costs involved.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Amazon Aurora is a clear winner when it comes to performance, scalability, and availability. However, MariaDB is more cost-effective and offers similar security features. Thus, if you have a limited budget and don't require massive-scale database infrastructure, MariaDB can be a good pick.