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Amazon Aurora vs MySQL comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.6
Switching to Amazon Aurora saves costs nearly 30% over RDS while improving performance, reliability, and manpower efficiency by 50%.
Sentiment score
6.1
Calculating MySQL ROI involves costs of implementation and cloud resources, balanced by savings on licensing and operational efficiency.
Using Amazon Aurora has saved us significantly in terms of manpower costs, with nearly fifty percent savings compared to an on-premises solution.
Digital Services & Engagement Senior Manager at AXA
I have seen a return on investment with MySQL, as it allows us to manage with fewer employees, focusing on business logic rather than database management.
Software Developer at 8 Gallery India
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.3
Amazon Aurora offers varying support quality; enterprise users get prompt help, while free trial users experience limited assistance.
Sentiment score
6.8
MySQL users often utilize community resources, with mixed experiences of Oracle support and reliance on internal or third-party help.
Technical support from Amazon is rated very highly.
Digital Services & Engagement Senior Manager at AXA
The initial support could improve by having engineers familiarize themselves with the issue content to provide more specialized assistance from the start.
Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay
I would rate the documentation and online support a 10 out of 10.
Student at a university with 10,001+ employees
We have no issues and usually receive timely responses.
Assistant Vice President at National Bank of Pakistan
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Amazon Aurora excels in scalability, seamlessly auto-scaling for dynamic environments, though AWS's pricing model has limitations.
Sentiment score
6.7
MySQL scales effectively for small to medium applications but may struggle with high concurrency and very large workloads.
This scalability is critical as it allows for runtime expansion, which is essential for businesses moving from on-premises to the cloud.
Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay
Meeting scalability requirements through cloud computing is an expensive affair.
Technical Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
MySQL's scalability is currently adequate, as we have increased operations from ten thousand to twelve thousand devices, and it is working fine for us.
Software Developer at 8 Gallery India
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Amazon Aurora is stable with occasional minor issues, offering high availability and reliability for MySQL and PostgreSQL engines.
Sentiment score
7.7
MySQL is stable with rare crashes, issues in large operations, and stability significantly influenced by logging and query design.
It offers a stable environment, ensuring consistent performance.
Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay
We face certain integration issues, especially when we integrate the database with security solutions like IBM QRadar.
Assistant Vice President at National Bank of Pakistan
From my experience, MySQL was pretty stable.
Student at a university with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Amazon Aurora users seek better pricing, expanded support, smoother migrations, and improvements in performance, scalability, and developer resources.
MySQL faces scalability and performance issues, needs feature enhancements, better integration, security improvements, and advanced cloud compatibility.
There are technical challenges, such as the inability to provision the database using a PostgreSQL snapshot directly.
Digital Services & Engagement Senior Manager at AXA
Keeping extensions up-to-date with PostgreSQL releases would enhance Aurora's functionality.
Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay
I used the backup options in Amazon Aurora for cloning databases. It's very common.
Data & Solution Archtect at Enkel
When there are multiple application servers connecting to the MySQL cluster and going through the MySQL load balancer, the documentation is not user-friendly.
SR AVP–Presales Cloud & Platform Management Services at Path Infotech ltd
I would advise people thinking about using MySQL to look up if the indexing mechanism is useful for their needs and then accordingly select the right database, and also consider if relational databases make sense for their use case.
Student at a university with 10,001+ employees
It could be more beneficial if MySQL can enhance its data masking functionality in the same way it has improved data encryption.
Assistant Vice President at National Bank of Pakistan
 

Setup Cost

Amazon Aurora provides flexible, cost-effective pricing with notable performance benefits, though some consider it expensive compared to self-managed solutions.
Enterprise buyers appreciate MySQL's affordable pricing, minimal setup costs, and supportive community, with optional enterprise features for subscription.
Amazon Aurora is not very expensive as other solutions with similar features from other vendors come at almost the same cost.
Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay
The pricing is reasonable and not overly expensive.
Digital Services & Engagement Senior Manager at AXA
The pricing for Amazon Aurora is different from DocumentDB because DocumentDB is cheaper.
Data & Solution Archtect at Enkel
Oracle has different components, so if you need security, you have to procure a different license, but here everything is inbuilt and it's not costly.
SR AVP–Presales Cloud & Platform Management Services at Path Infotech ltd
 

Valuable Features

Amazon Aurora offers automated maintenance, high scalability, and compatibility, ideal for diverse databases and efficient FinOps management.
MySQL is open-source, cross-platform, scalable, with advanced SQL features, seamless integration, community support, and handles large datasets efficiently.
It replicates data across multiple Availability Zones, ensuring high availability and geographical redundancy, which can be considered a GR instead of a DR.
Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay
Amazon Aurora offers a 99.9% SLA compared to PostgreSQL. This ensures a high level of availability for our applications.
Digital Services & Engagement Senior Manager at AXA
The main feature we utilize in MySQL is the view, and I can say that it is the most valuable feature for our needs.
Software Developer at 8 Gallery India
With Oracle, we have to buy another solution for encryption and masking, but MySQL supports native encryption, which enhances our return on investment.
Assistant Vice President at National Bank of Pakistan
It's an inbuilt feature of the database itself, and you don't have to purchase an additional license for the replication.
SR AVP–Presales Cloud & Platform Management Services at Path Infotech ltd
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Aurora
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Database Management Systems (DBMS) (5th)
MySQL
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
152
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Amazon Aurora is 2.8%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 6.9%, down from 8.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
MySQL6.9%
Amazon Aurora2.8%
Other90.3%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

SP
Digital Services & Engagement Senior Manager at AXA
High availability and operational efficiency achieved with reliable managed services
We have primarily used Amazon Aurora for handling our databases. We migrated from PostgreSQL to Amazon Aurora about a year ago. It serves as a customized PostgreSQL database that we utilize Amazon Aurora offers a 99.9% SLA compared to PostgreSQL. This ensures a high level of availability for our…
Prabir Kumar Kundu - PeerSpot reviewer
SR AVP–Presales Cloud & Platform Management Services at Path Infotech ltd
Offers robust security and availability with impressive replication capabilities
Regarding their documentation and interface, there is room for improvement. Documentation is definitely required when running multiple databases on a cluster system. The load balancer, MySQL LB, which is used to connect to the application, lacks clear documentation. When there are multiple application servers connecting to the MySQL cluster and going through the MySQL load balancer, the documentation is not user-friendly. It's there, but only technical persons with deep knowledge of the MySQL database can implement it. Most of the community users or ISVs who use MySQL don't have many technical persons or DBA experts, so they face some challenges for the high availability of connecting high available databases from high available applications. That documentation should be simplified.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business74
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise62
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon Aurora?
Aurora's compatibility with MySQL or PostgreSQL benefited our database management. The migration from on-premise MySQL to Aurora was similar, so we didn't need to change our source code.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon Aurora?
The pricing for Amazon Aurora is different from DocumentDB because DocumentDB is cheaper. However, when you manage the administration more closely, you can control costs better with Amazon Aurora. ...
What needs improvement with Amazon Aurora?
I would like to see some tutorials from Amazon for Aurora because I'm too new to it. I believe Amazon can make more tutorials for the product since there's a lot of reading required, and a short tu...
Why are MySQL connections encrypted and what is the biggest benefit of this?
MySQL encrypts connections to protect your data and the biggest benefit from this is that nobody can corrupt it. If you move information over a network without encryption, you are endangering it, m...
Considering that there is a free version of MySQL, would you invest in one of the paid editions?
I may be considered a MySQL veteran since I have been using it since before Oracle bought it and created paid versions. So back in my day, it was all free, it was open-source and the best among sim...
What is one thing you would improve with MySQL?
One thing I would improve related to MySQL is not within the product itself, but with the guides to it. Before, when it was free, everyone was on their own, seeking tutorials and how-to videos onli...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Dow Jones, Arizona State University, Verizon, Capital One, United Nations, Nielsen, Autodesk, Fanduel
Facebook, Tumblr, Scholastic, MTV Networks, Wikipedia, Verizon Wireless, Sage Group, Glassfish Open Message Queue, and RightNow Technologies.
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Aurora vs. MySQL and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.