Amazon RDS vs Amazon Aurora: A Factual Comparison
Are you looking for a reliable, scalable, and fast database service for your business needs? Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers two popular database services named Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) and Amazon Aurora.
Although both services might seem similar at a glance, there are significant differences between them. In this blog post, we'll provide you with an unbiased comparison of both services, including their key features, pricing, and performance.
Key Features
Amazon RDS
Amazon RDS is a managed relational database service that supports multiple database engines. You can choose from six popular database engines, including MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MariaDB, and Amazon Aurora.
In addition to backup and recovery features, Amazon RDS provides other features such as automatic software patching, read replicas, and multi-AZ (availability zone) deployment for high availability.
Amazon Aurora
Amazon Aurora is a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database engine that offers greater scalability, performance, and availability than its competitors. It also has advanced features like automatic scaling, automated backups, and read replicas.
Amazon Aurora uses a distributed architecture that allows its databases to span multiple availability zones. Unlike traditional MySQL or PostgreSQL databases, Amazon Aurora uses a clustered storage system that simplifies database and storage management.
Pricing
Amazon RDS
Amazon RDS has a simple pricing model. You pay for the database instance hours you use, the storage you provision, and the backup storage you consume. Pricing starts at $0.009 per hour for a micro instance, and pricing varies for different database engines.
Amazon Aurora
Amazon Aurora's pricing model is similar to Amazon RDS. You pay for the database instance hours you use, the storage you provision, and the backup storage you consume. Aurora's pricing starts at $0.022 per hour for a minimum of two database instances. Aurora also provides a serverless option where you only pay for the database capacity used per second.
Performance
Amazon RDS
Amazon RDS provides decent performance and scalability for small and medium-sized businesses. However, as your business grows, you might experience performance issues due to its single-master architecture.
Amazon Aurora
Amazon Aurora provides up to five times the performance of traditional MySQL with its optimized storage system and scalable architecture. Aurora also has an intelligent storage system that automatically grows and shrinks its database storage to maintain optimum performance.
Conclusion
Both Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora offer reliable, scalable, and fast database services. However, their pricing and performance differ significantly. Amazon RDS is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses that require a managed database service with multiple database engine options. On the other hand, Amazon Aurora is best suited for enterprise-grade workloads that require high-performance, scalability, and availability.
We hope this blog post has provided you with a better understanding of the differences between Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora. If you're still unsure which service to choose, we recommend consulting with an AWS expert.