Relational databasesUS East (N. Virginia)

RDS vs Aurora: PostgreSQL and MySQL Pricing Compared

Instance, storage and high-availability cost for PostgreSQL and MySQL

Verdict

For a highly available PostgreSQL pair on db.r7g.large with 500 GB, the instance and storage bill is about the same either way: $463.94 a month on RDS Multi-AZ against $452.96 on Aurora Standard with a writer and one reader. Aurora also bills per I/O, which is not in this dataset, so its figure is a floor. Aurora I/O-Optimized raises the instance rate by 30% and storage to 2.25 times the Standard rate, in exchange for no per-I/O charge. RDS wins on simplicity and engine choice; Aurora wins when you need many readers, fast failover, or storage that grows on its own.

Instance rate on db.r7g.large

On-demand, in US East (N. Virginia). One instance, no storage. Aurora Standard and I/O-Optimized share the same instance size.

Deployment	PostgreSQL	MySQL
RDS, Single-AZOne instance, no standby	$0.239/hr	$0.239/hr
RDS, Multi-AZInstance plus a standby in another zone	$0.478/hr	$0.478/hr
Aurora, StandardOne instance; storage is separate	$0.276/hr	$0.276/hr
Aurora, I/O-OptimizedOne instance; no per-I/O charge	$0.359/hr	$0.359/hr

Storage rate

Per GB-month. RDS storage here is gp3; provisioned IOPS and throughput above the baseline are extra. Aurora grows in place.

Storage	PostgreSQL	MySQL
RDS gp3, Single-AZ	$0.115	$0.115
RDS gp3, Multi-AZ	$0.23	$0.23
Aurora, Standard	$0.10	Not in dataset
Aurora, I/O-Optimized	$0.225	$0.225

Aurora MySQL Standard storage is missing from the processed data, so no total is shown for it.

Example: highly available database with 500 GB

Instances at 730 hours a month plus storage. Aurora counts a writer and one reader. Aurora I/O charges, backups and data transfer are excluded, so Aurora Standard is a floor and nothing is highlighted.

Setup	PostgreSQL	MySQL
RDS, Multi-AZOne Multi-AZ instance plus gp3 storage	$463.94	$463.94
Aurora, StandardWriter and one reader plus cluster storage	$452.96	Not in dataset
Aurora, I/O-OptimizedWriter and one reader plus cluster storage	$636.64	$636.64

Which one to pick

Each recommendation links to the page for that option.

Recommended:RDS Multi-AZ

When: One writer, predictable load, and you want the simplest highly available setup

Why: A single Multi-AZ instance price covers the standby. On db.r7g.large PostgreSQL that is $0.478 an hour.

Recommended:Aurora Standard

When: Read-heavy workloads that need several readers, or storage that should grow without planning

Why: Readers share the writer's storage, so adding one does not copy data. Cluster storage is $0.10 per GB-month against $0.23 for RDS Multi-AZ gp3.

Recommended:Aurora I/O-Optimized

When: Write-heavy or I/O-heavy databases where per-I/O charges are a large part of the bill

Why: Instances cost 30% more and storage is $0.225 per GB-month, with no charge per I/O. AWS suggests it when I/O is more than about a quarter of your Aurora spend.

Recommended:RDS

When: You need MariaDB, SQL Server, or Oracle, or a very small development instance

Why: Aurora only offers MySQL and PostgreSQL compatible engines. RDS covers the rest and has smaller instance classes.

What to watch for

Gaps and gotchas that the price table does not show.

Aurora I/O charges are missing from this dataset

Aurora Standard bills each I/O request on top of instance and storage. The processed pricing data has no row for it, so every Aurora Standard total on this page understates an I/O-heavy workload. Check your database's I/O metrics before choosing.

Aurora needs a second instance for high availability

RDS Multi-AZ prices the standby into one instance rate. Aurora keeps storage durable across zones by itself, but for fast failover to a separate instance you pay for a reader, so the example above counts two instances.

RDS Multi-AZ doubles the storage rate

RDS Multi-AZ gp3 storage costs $0.23 per GB-month, against $0.115 Single-AZ, because the standby holds its own copy. Aurora stores six copies across three zones inside one per-GB rate.

Aurora lags the community engines

Aurora PostgreSQL and Aurora MySQL are compatible with their community engines but can trail on new major versions and some extensions. Test your extensions and migration tooling before committing.

Aurora Serverless v2 and reserved pricing are not covered

This page prices provisioned on-demand instances only. Serverless capacity units, reserved instances, read replicas on RDS, and backup storage beyond the free allowance are outside the table.