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Amazon Aurora vs MySQL comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Oracle are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.5, while Oracle is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.3. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 3.0% mindshare in SQL, compared to Oracle’s 8.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Oracle users who would recommend it.
Amazon Aurora
Read 18 Amazon Aurora reviews
  • 2,410 Views
  • 1,575 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
MySQL
Read 149 MySQL reviews
  • 5,915 Views
  • 2,444 Comparison Views
91% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

MySQL and Amazon Aurora compete in the database management systems category. Amazon Aurora seems to have the upper hand due to its managed services and enhanced scalability by AWS, providing high performance and availability.

Features: MySQL offers a multi-threaded architecture, indexed conditional pushdown, and compatibility with LAMP/WAMP, being open-source, extensible, and scalable. Amazon Aurora provides high performance and availability, along with unique scalability features and compatibility with MySQL and PostgreSQL.

Room for Improvement: MySQL faces challenges with complex InnoDB functionality, lack of active directory integration, and less strong support for large-scale databases compared to Aurora. Amazon Aurora's pricing concerns and limited feature enhancement outside the AWS ecosystem suggest areas for improvement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: MySQL is commonly deployed on-premises or in hybrid cloud environments with community support but lacks consistent official technical backing. Amazon Aurora benefits from AWS's public cloud deployment, offering robust customer support including AWS managed service advantages.

Pricing and ROI: MySQL's open-source nature offers a cost-effective option for businesses, though enterprise versions incur costs but offer favorable ROI for non-critical tasks. Amazon Aurora may be costlier than self-managed alternatives but is seen as cost-effective for its performance capabilities.

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To learn more, read our detailed Amazon Aurora vs. MySQL Report (Updated: June 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Amazon Aurora vs. MySQL
June 2025
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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
7.4
Switching to Amazon Aurora saved 30% in costs and improved performance, reducing operational expenses and enhancing customer satisfaction.
Sentiment score
6.6
MySQL offers cost-effective implementation with high ROI potential, enhancing productivity despite potential higher commercial version costs.
Using Amazon Aurora has saved us significantly in terms of manpower costs, with nearly fifty percent savings compared to an on-premises solution.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the MySQL report
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.6
Amazon Aurora offers responsive support for premium subscribers, with enterprise-level 24/7 assistance, though access varies for personal accounts.
Sentiment score
6.8
MySQL's open-source model encourages users to rely on community resources, though official support is valued for complex issues.
Technical support from Amazon is rated very highly.
The initial support could improve by having engineers familiarize themselves with the issue content to provide more specialized assistance from the start.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
We have no issues and usually receive timely responses.
For more quotes and insights, download the MySQL report
SP
Adnan Shafiq - PeerSpot reviewerMuzzamil Hussain - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Amazon Aurora seamlessly scales to meet high-performance demands, handling large data volumes efficiently, vital for growing businesses.
Sentiment score
6.8
MySQL scales well for small to medium apps, but larger databases require manual effort and third-party solutions for scalability.
This scalability is critical as it allows for runtime expansion, which is essential for businesses moving from on-premises to the cloud.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
Meeting scalability requirements through cloud computing is an expensive affair.
For more quotes and insights, download the MySQL report
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Amazon Aurora maintains high reliability and performance, with occasional downtimes, quickly resolving initial bugs for minimal user interruptions.
Sentiment score
7.7
MySQL is praised for its stability and reliability, suitable for small to medium applications, despite some memory concerns.
It offers a stable environment, ensuring consistent performance.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
We face certain integration issues, especially when we integrate the database with security solutions like IBM QRadar.
For more quotes and insights, download the MySQL report
 

Room For Improvement

Amazon Aurora users seek better pricing, Oracle integration, enhanced AI features, scalability, PostgreSQL extensions, and improved serverless query tools.
MySQL users seek better scalability, cloud integration, advanced features, improved performance, reliable clustering, and enhanced security and backup processes.
There are technical challenges, such as the inability to provision the database using a PostgreSQL snapshot directly.
Keeping extensions up-to-date with PostgreSQL releases would enhance Aurora's functionality.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
It could be more beneficial if MySQL can enhance its data masking functionality in the same way it has improved data encryption.
Oracle could improve on scalability.
For more quotes and insights, download the MySQL report
SP
Adnan Shafiq - PeerSpot reviewerMuzzamil Hussain - PeerSpot reviewer
RS
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find Amazon Aurora's pricing reasonable, cost-effective compared to similar products, though costly versus self-managed solutions.
MySQL provides cost-effective solutions, appealing to enterprises with open-source options and commercial licenses based on business needs.
The pricing is reasonable and not overly expensive.
Amazon Aurora is not very expensive as other solutions with similar features from other vendors come at almost the same cost.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the MySQL report
 

Valuable Features

Amazon Aurora offers scalability, AWS integration, high availability, speed, and features enhancing performance, cost-efficiency, and operational ease.
MySQL's open-source, cross-platform compatibility and ease of use make it ideal for startups due to scalability and cost-effectiveness.
Amazon Aurora offers a 99.9% SLA compared to PostgreSQL. This ensures a high level of availability for our applications.
It replicates data across multiple Availability Zones, ensuring high availability and geographical redundancy, which can be considered a GR instead of a DR.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
With Oracle, we have to buy another solution for encryption and masking, but MySQL supports native encryption, which enhances our return on investment.
It allows programming, writing stored procedures, creating views, constraints, and triggers easily.
For more quotes and insights, download the MySQL report
SP
Adnan Shafiq - PeerSpot reviewerMuzzamil Hussain - PeerSpot reviewer
RS
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Aurora
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
MySQL
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
149
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Amazon Aurora is 3.0%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 8.1%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Adnan Shafiq - PeerSpot reviewer
High availability and geographical redundancy ensure reliable performance and cost efficiency
Amazon Aurora ( /products/amazon-aurora-reviews ) provides up to fifteen to sixteen read replicas. It replicates data across multiple Availability Zones, ensuring high availability and geographical redundancy, which can be considered a GR instead of a DR. As a managed service, maintenance tasks like backup and restore are handled by AWS ( /products/amazon-aws-reviews ), saving my organization significant time and money. Additionally, its fast cloning feature allows us to create a new clone from a large database swiftly, similar to a zero-copy cloning feature in Snowflake ( /products/snowflake-reviews ). This makes Amazon Aurora a compelling choice for my organization.
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Muzzamil Hussain - PeerSpot reviewer
Native encryption ensures secure data management with a simple deployment
The most valuable feature is the on-premises data encryption facilities. By default, we can provide encryption, and this feature in MySQL is why we prefer it over other databases. The native encryption in MySQL encourages us to use this database model more frequently compared to Oracle and other databases. With Oracle, we have to buy another solution for encryption and masking, but MySQL supports native encryption, which enhances our return on investment. It perfectly supports our ROI, and we have no issues with its functionality.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
27%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
6%
Insurance Company
5%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon Aurora?
Amazon Aurora is not very expensive as other solutions with similar features from other vendors come at almost the same cost. I rated it as two to three on a scale where ten is very expensive.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Amazon Aurora?
Amazon Aurora should upgrade its base PostgreSQL ( /products/postgresql-reviews ) versions more frequently and offer all PostgreSQL extensions. Keeping extensions up-to-date with PostgreSQL release...
See all answers
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...
See all answers
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...
See all answers
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...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

SQL Server vs Amazon Aurora Logo
SQL Server vs Amazon Aurora
Compared 32% of the time
Oracle Database vs Amazon Aurora Logo
Oracle Database vs Amazon Aurora
Compared 21% of the time
MariaDB vs Amazon Aurora Logo
MariaDB vs Amazon Aurora
Compared 8% of the time
Citus Data vs Amazon Aurora Logo
Citus Data vs Amazon Aurora
Compared 7% of the time
Neon vs Amazon Aurora Logo
Neon vs Amazon Aurora
Compared 3% of the time
More Amazon Aurora Competitors
Firebird SQL vs MySQL Logo
Firebird SQL vs MySQL
Compared 26% of the time
PostgreSQL vs MySQL Logo
PostgreSQL vs MySQL
Compared 14% of the time
SAP HANA vs MySQL Logo
SAP HANA vs MySQL
Compared 9% of the time
MariaDB vs MySQL Logo
MariaDB vs MySQL
Compared 6% of the time
SQL Server vs MySQL Logo
SQL Server vs MySQL
Compared 6% of the time
More MySQL Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Amazon Aurora
June 2025
Amazon Aurora reportDownload Amazon Aurora product report
Buyer's Guide
MySQL
May 2025
MySQL reportDownload MySQL product report
 

Overview

Amazon Aurora is a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud, that combines the performance and availability of traditional enterprise databases with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of open source databases.

Amazon Aurora is up to five times faster than standard MySQL databases and three times faster than standard PostgreSQL databases. It provides the security, availability, and reliability of commercial databases at 1/10th the cost. Amazon Aurora is fully managed by Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), which automates time-consuming administration tasks like hardware provisioning, database setup, patching, and backups.

Amazon Aurora features a distributed, fault-tolerant, self-healing storage system that auto-scales up to 64TB per database instance. It delivers high performance and availability with up to 15 low-latency read replicas, point-in-time recovery, continuous backup to Amazon S3, and replication across three Availability Zones (AZs).

Visit the Amazon RDS Management Console to create your first Aurora database instance and start migrating your MySQL and PostgreSQL databases.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

MySQL is a cost-efficient and scalable relational database management system widely used in web, mobile applications, and academic projects.

MySQL is utilized for backend operations, data analysis, reporting, financial transactions, and ERP databases. It supports deployment on local servers, Cloud, and Kubernetes. Its free, open-source nature along with strong community support make it popular among companies. MySQL's compatibility with multiple platforms and programming languages enhances its appeal. While it remains stable and easy to use, areas such as replication, clustering, and backup require improvement to better serve enterprise applications. Enhanced security, error messages, and monitoring tools are also desired for a better user experience.

What are the most important features of MySQL?
  • Free and Open-Source: No licensing costs, perfect for budget-conscious projects.
  • Compatibility: Works with multiple platforms and programming languages.
  • High Performance: Efficient performance across large datasets.
  • Scalability: Easily scales to meet growing business needs.
  • Clustering and Replication: Ensures data availability and redundancy.
  • Easy Installation: Quick setup process on various operating systems.
  • Community Support: Extensive resources and community assistance.
  • Cross-Platform: Operates seamlessly on different operating systems.
  • Data Management Interface: Simplifies data handling and manipulation.
What are the benefits of using MySQL?
  • Cost Efficiency: Reduce expenses with a free, open-source database.
  • Scalability: Adapt to increasing data demands effortlessly.
  • Performance: Handle large datasets with ease and speed.
  • Community Support: Access a vast pool of knowledge and resources.
  • Flexibility: Integrate with various platforms and languages for diverse use cases.
  • Data Reliability: Clustering and replication for high data availability.

In multiple industries, MySQL supports internal applications, billing systems, academic teaching purposes, and ERP databases. Companies leverage MySQL for Cloud and local deployments, ensuring effective data manipulation and backend operations in diverse projects. Its role in financial transactions and reporting further emphasizes its versatility.

Oracle
 

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.
Buyer's Guide
Amazon Aurora vs. MySQL
June 2025
Free Report: Amazon Aurora vs. MySQL
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