Skip to content
SPECIFICTION
Get listed

Amazon RDS

aws.amazon.com

Free plan WebAPISelf-hosted
Visit aws.amazon.com
Spec score 8.9 #3 of 31 in Database Proxy Software

Spec sheet

What it does
Amazon RDS is a managed relational database service that sets up, operates and scales databases in AWS while handling common administration.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Free plan
NoRead 22 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Compliance
AWS states that RDS participates in compliance programs including SOC, PCI, FedRAMP and HIPAA.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Headquarters
Seattle, Washington, United StatesRead 23 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Founded
2006Read 23 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Automated administration
RDS automates provisioning, configuration, backups, software patching, monitoring and failure recovery.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Automated backups
Automated backups are enabled by default and support point-in-time recovery up to the configured retention period, which can be up to 35 days.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Company founded
AWS states that it launched in spring 2006.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Company headquarters and size
LinkedIn lists AWS headquarters in Seattle, Washington and company size of 10,001+ employees.Read 21 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
Company legal name
AWS site terms identify the provider as Amazon Web Services, Inc.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Compute scale
The feature page lists push-button scaling up to 128 vCPUs and as many as 15 read replicas for several engines.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Cross-region replication
Cross-Region read replicas asynchronously replicate databases between AWS Regions for disaster recovery and performance.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Database engines
Supported engines include Db2, MariaDB, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle Database, PostgreSQL and Amazon Aurora variants.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Documentation depth
AWS provides a user guide, engine-specific guides, getting-started material, API reference and release-history documentation.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Free Tier exclusions
The RDS Free Tier excludes custom engine options, Reserved Instances, deployments other than Single-AZ, snapshot migration, Query Editor, and Aurora read replicas.Read 30 Sep 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Free-tier restrictions
The free tier supports MariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQL Server Express on micro instances and excludes Multi-AZ, reserved instances, custom engines and some Aurora actions.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
High availability
Multi-AZ deployments synchronously replicate data and automatically fail over to a standby instance.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
HIPAA eligibility
AWS says all RDS database engines are HIPAA-eligible when used under an executed Business Associate Agreement.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Interfaces
Administrators can use the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI and Amazon RDS APIs.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Licence
Amazon RDS is a proprietary hosted AWS service; the database engines it hosts may be open-source or commercial under their respective licences.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Limit: migration and lock-in
Capterra reviewers describe migration away from AWS as difficult and note proprietary elements in the managed engine environment.Read 21 Oct 2026 · capterra.com
Limit: pricing complexity
Reviewers report that costs can rise quickly and become difficult to predict because of instance, storage, backup, monitoring, transfer and availability charges.Read 21 Oct 2026 · gartner.com
Limit: restricted control
Reviewers complain about lacking root or operating-system access and having less low-level customization than self-managed databases.Read 21 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Limit: sharding and large workloads
TrustRadius reviewers mention limited sharding support and weaker suitability for very large unstructured or extremely low-latency workloads.Read 21 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Limit: support complaints
Trustpilot reviewers commonly report unexpected billing, account suspension and difficulty reaching human AWS support.Read 21 Oct 2026 · trustpilot.com
Managed relational database
Amazon RDS is a fully managed relational database service that automates provisioning, patching, backups, and scaling.Read 30 Sep 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Monitoring integrations
RDS integrates with Amazon CloudWatch, CloudWatch Logs, CloudTrail, Performance Insights, and Database Activity Streams for monitoring and audit.Read 30 Sep 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Network security
RDS supports SSL/TLS connections and deployment inside an Amazon VPC with configurable firewall access.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Notable news: 2025 outage
The Associated Press reported that an AWS outage on October 20, 2025 disrupted many online services worldwide before recovery that evening.Read 21 Oct 2026 · apnews.com
Partner ecosystem
The AWS RDS Ready program validates partner products integrating with RDS engines for monitoring, security, SQL performance tuning, migration, and business applications.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Praise: AWS integration
Reviewers highlight integration with AWS services, cross-region replication, monitoring and security controls.Read 21 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Praise: operational simplicity
Reviewers repeatedly praise quick setup, automated backups and patching, easy scaling, high availability and reduced database administration.Read 21 Oct 2026 · getapp.com
Programmatic access
Users can manage RDS through the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, Amazon RDS APIs, SDKs, and AWS CloudFormation.Read 30 Sep 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Public API
The RDS API reference documents query operations, data types, common parameters and error codes for programmatic management.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Rating on Capterra
4.7 out of 5 from 220 reviewsRead 21 Oct 2026 · capterra.com
Rating on G2
4.5 out of 5 from 907 reviewsRead 21 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Rating on Gartner Peer Insights
4.6 out of 5 from 386 ratingsRead 21 Oct 2026 · gartner.com
Rating on GetApp
4.7 out of 5 from 217 reviewsRead 21 Oct 2026 · getapp.com
Rating on Google Play
4.7 out of 5 from 28.8K reviews for the AWS Console app, which supports RDS managementRead 21 Oct 2026 · play.google.com
Rating on Trustpilot
1.3 out of 5 from 431 reviews for AWS overallRead 21 Oct 2026 · trustpilot.com
Rating on TrustRadius
8.2 out of 10 from 290 reviews and ratingsRead 21 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Read scaling
Read replicas let applications distribute read-heavy workloads across multiple copies of a database.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Scaling limits
The features page lists push-button compute scaling up to 128 vCPUs, storage up to 256 TiB for some engines, and up to 15 read replicas for several engines.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
SDK extensibility
AWS SDKs and standard database drivers can be used alongside API calls and the CLI to manage and connect to RDS.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Security controls
RDS supports VPC network isolation, security groups, IAM permissions, SSL/TLS in transit, and AWS KMS encryption at rest using AES-256.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Security encryption
RDS encrypts storage, automated backups, snapshots and replicas with customer-managed AWS KMS keys using AES-256.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Storage scale
General Purpose SSD storage ranges from 20 GiB to 64 TiB, while Provisioned IOPS supports 100 GiB to 64 TiB.Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Supported engines
Amazon RDS supports eight engines: Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible, Aurora MySQL-Compatible, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle, and Db2.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
System requirements
RDS is accessed as an AWS cloud service through web console, CLI, API or database drivers rather than installed locally.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com

Plans and prices

AWS Free Tier Free Credits valid up to 12 months for customers signing up after July 15, 2025 Participating AWS Regions only · Additional $100 may be available for foundational services Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
AWS Free Tier for RDS Free Free Tier credits are valid for up to 12 months; legacy accounts may receive 750 hours per month for up to 12 months new sign-ups receive $100 credits plus up to $100 additional credits; legacy offer includes select Single-AZ instances, 20 GB storage, and 20 GB automated backup storage Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
On-demand Price not published Per-second instance billing with no long-term commitment; storage, I/O, transfer and optional features billed separately No minimum fees · No upfront commitment Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
On-Demand Instances Price not published per second while the DB instance runs; no long-term commitment compute, storage, backup, and data-transfer charges apply separately Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Reserved Instance Price not published One- or three-year reservation; payment choices are no upfront, partial upfront or all upfront Up to 69% savings versus on-demand for steady usage Read 21 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Reserved Instances Price not published 1-year or 3-year term; No Upfront, Partial Upfront, or All Upfront payment options discount applies to hourly instance usage; storage, backup, and I/O are billed separately Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Every Amazon RDS plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

Alternatives to Amazon RDSAll alternatives →