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Amazon Linux vs MySQL on Ubuntu comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
4.9
Amazon Linux offers cost savings, efficiency, and scalability through zero licensing fees, seamless AWS integration, and ARM optimization.
Sentiment score
3.7
Organizations experienced faster processing, better compliance, and cost savings with MySQL on Ubuntu, benefiting from efficient data management.
With Amazon Linux, selecting and launching instances on a public cloud provider means the machine spins up in fewer than ten seconds, making it efficient.
Cloud Solution Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
By switching the compute fleet from a paid distribution to Amazon Linux, we have reduced our OS-related overhead cost by 100%.
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Some wins commonly seen after switching, particularly when moving from general-purpose distributions such as Ubuntu, include approximately twenty to forty percent better price-performance ratio.
configuration and management deployment at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The audit trail MySQL provided also meant zero untracked data losses in production.
AI Engineer at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
I have seen a return on investment with MySQL on Ubuntu because I can say that everything we can do here is save money and time, and even we are using a small number of team to handle it.
Senior QA Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
I have indeed seen a return on investment, particularly in time saved, as using MySQL on Ubuntu has proven to be 15 to 20% quicker than building a Postgres database.
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
Amazon Linux support is highly rated for fast responses, knowledgeable engineers, and excellent problem-solving, ensuring user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
4.6
MySQL on Ubuntu support is community-driven, utilizing forums and resources, with high user satisfaction and optional paid support.
Amazon has the best expertise and they are available 24/7.
IT Analyst | Aws Cloud Ops | Dev Ops | Fin Ops at Tata Consultancy
Timely and helpful responses for performance, updates, or AWS integration issues.
QA Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It offers specific advantages and constraints depending on the use case.
Cloud Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
I used AWS support, and they are very quick to respond.
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Whenever we can, we call the support and they fix the problem right away.
IT Administrator at a university with 51-200 employees
GitHub Copilot provides substantial information that helps when encountering errors.
Erp Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Amazon Linux boasts high scalability, seamless AWS integration, and consistent reliability for efficient vertical and horizontal scaling across regions.
Sentiment score
6.0
MySQL on Ubuntu efficiently scales medium data volumes with indexing, supports partitioning, clustering, and offers cost-effective open-source solutions.
Since it is tightly integrated with AWS services, I can easily scale instances up or down based on demand using EC2 auto-scaling and load balancing.
Technical Team Lead - Content Security at Valuepoint Systems
Its real scalability comes from its seamless integration with AWS tools like CloudFormation, Auto Scaling, and user data scripts, which allow me to deploy and configure hundreds of identical ready-to-use instances automatically.
Student at Unemployed at the moment
The beauty here is that we can scale it immediately, which also saves cost.
IT Analyst | Aws Cloud Ops | Dev Ops | Fin Ops at Tata Consultancy
When running on EC2 instances, for example, I can scale it from zero to 10,000 machines or even higher.
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Clustering is useful because that helps with high availability and scalability.
CEO at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
MySQL on Ubuntu provides excellent reliability for scalability needs.
Senior Software Developer at hireHQ
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Amazon Linux ensures reliability and security with stable performance, seamless updates, and AWS integration, ideal for high-availability architectures.
Sentiment score
7.8
MySQL on Ubuntu offers stable uptime, reliable transaction support, and efficient process management, enhancing database operations and replication.
Combined with AWS managed infrastructure, it provides enterprise-grade reliability suitable for production workloads.
Software Engineer at INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING
Since it is purpose-built for the cloud, it lacks the bloat of traditional desktop-focused distributions, which leads to fewer crashes and higher uptime.
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Compared to other Linux distributions, Amazon Linux is significantly more stable for AWS workloads because it is pre-optimized for EC2 hypervisor and includes integrated AWS tools out of the box.
FullStack Developer at EnactOn Technologies
MySQL on Ubuntu uses the InnoDB engine, which has ACID properties integrated.
Senior Software Developer at hireHQ
In real-world production use, it has been consistently proven across startups, mid-sized companies, and large organizations as well.
Senior QA Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
MySQL on Ubuntu is stable; both the MySQL component and the Ubuntu component are very stable, popular, and actively maintained.
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Migrating to Amazon Linux 2023 faces challenges with package availability, unclear documentation, lacking third-party support, and integration issues.
MySQL on Ubuntu faces challenges with JSON handling, limited scalability, complex security, and inadequate full-text search optimization.
Documentation explaining the differences between Ubuntu and Amazon Linux would be valuable.
full stack developer at 71Lbs
Since we are working in a real-time manner and need to scale things immediately, the time it takes to boot an instance and then deploy things is preventing me from giving it a perfect rating.
Senior Data Engineer at a transportation company with 501-1,000 employees
My advice for others looking into using Amazon Linux is to make sure the command line is easy and that Amazon Linux has more performance than other Linux environments and is more secure than other Linux environments as well.
DevOps Engineer at Wissen infotech
Scaling out is much harder to do. Even though a master-slave setup can help maintain a real-time backup or offload queries, achieving true horizontal scaling with numerous nodes at once can be tricky with MySQL on Ubuntu.
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
A more self-tuning approach to index optimization and query execution would reduce that burden, particularly for teams that focus more on application logic than database administration.
AI Engineer at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
The only area where I would say I have seen potential for improvement is occasional slowness, but I cannot really attribute it to the product; it could also be the design of the database and the queries.
CEO at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Amazon Linux offers cost-effective deployment with no license fees, enhancing appeal for enterprises seeking budget-friendly alternatives.
MySQL on Ubuntu provides a cost-effective, efficient solution with low setup, maintenance, and operational costs for businesses of all sizes.
With Amazon Linux itself, there is no cost associated with using it, so I would say it is very good from a pricing perspective.
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
If I am a new AWS customer, the AWS Free Tier typically includes, for the first six months, micro instances such as t2.micro or t3.micro for free.
Software Engineer at INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING
I only pay for the EC2 instance and any other AWS resources I use, but the operating system itself has no licensing fees, which is a significant advantage over commercial operating systems like Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Windows servers, which incur extra hourly charges.
Student at Unemployed at the moment
Since MySQL on Ubuntu is quite lean, it results in low operational costs, making it favorable from a pricing perspective.
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
We can reduce licensing cost saving with MySQL on Ubuntu because there is no cost.
Senior QA Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Amazon Linux offers cost-effective, reliable performance with AWS integration, security features, and documentation for enhanced productivity and deployment efficiency.
MySQL on Ubuntu offers reliable, scalable performance with strong security, resource efficiency, and community support for various applications.
Amazon Linux handles this automatically. It is optimized for EC2, AWS hardware and software, mostly secure and stable, and there is no additional cost.
IT Analyst | Aws Cloud Ops | Dev Ops | Fin Ops at Tata Consultancy
In terms of service security, there are many constraint security protocols and policies that help me create our own networks, security groups, and inline policies.
Software Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Amazon Linux's security updates have been helpful in general because I have had to be more specific in using the Identity Access Management (IAM) service so that we can have role-based permissions in preference to just keeping it open.
Fullstack Developer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It extends with volume very well. Most RDBMS don't scale very well, but this one scales very well and has been very reliable and highly available.
CEO at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
By putting it in MySQL on Ubuntu, even if the node went down, the database would come back up.
Chief Data Strategy and Governance Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Since our EC2 instance is deployed in a virtual private network with MySQL on Ubuntu installed, it is protected from unauthorized access and use, and we have also encrypted the data in MySQL.
Senior Data Engineer at a transportation company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
MySQL on Ubuntu
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
19th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Amazon Linux is 1.6%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL on Ubuntu is 0.2%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Amazon Linux1.6%
MySQL on Ubuntu0.2%
Other98.2%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Saurab Gnagurde - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Analyst | Aws Cloud Ops | Dev Ops | Fin Ops at Tata Consultancy
“Amazon Linux delivers automated security updates— including live kernel patching in AL2023—ensuring protected workloads with minimal manual effort and zero-downtime patching.”
One improvement for Amazon Linux would be stronger support for running it outside AWS. Although Amazon provides local VM images for VirtualBox and VMware, they are intended mainly for development and testing. Unlike Ubuntu, Debian, or Red Hat, Amazon Linux is not designed or fully supported as a production OS in on-prem or hybrid environments. Expanding official support outside AWS would offer more flexibility for teams that maintain mixed infrastructure. Another area for improvement is the community ecosystem. Compared to Ubuntu or Red Hat, Amazon Linux has a smaller community and fewer third-party resources or tutorials. A larger ecosystem would make troubleshooting and adoption easier. Finally, improving backward compatibility between Amazon Linux 2 and Amazon Linux 2023—especially around package management (DNF vs yum) and updated toolchains—would simplify upgrades for teams managing large fleets.
Pranay Jain - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Developer at hireHQ
Reliable data platform has improved uptime and reduced infrastructure and licensing costs
MySQL on Ubuntu is an open-source relational database management system that stores data in tables and columns. It is free, open-source, and very stable for servers with easy installation for our production application. MySQL on Ubuntu demonstrates excellent stability and works very effectively with our Node.js backend. It is memory and disk efficient while providing regular security and bug updates. From an organizational perspective, MySQL on Ubuntu offers significant advantages. The cost is excellent since it is open-source with no licensing fees. The reliability it provides is outstanding with minimal crashes and exceptional stability. The improved application performance is notable with fast query searches and superior indexing properties. MySQL on Ubuntu saves considerable time and reduces operational costs through decreased database licensing fees as an open-source solution. We achieve a thirty to sixty percent reduction in infrastructure costs. System uptime is excellent in our stable Linux environment, reaching 99.9 percent uptime. Application performance improvements are substantial, delivering twenty-five to forty percent faster API responses when queries are optimized according to our needs.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Educational Organization
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Construction Company
26%
University
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Healthcare Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Amazon Linux?
Amazon Linux made a great change with the last version and made some features incompatible with the old version, so I did not like the new version and still prefer not to use Amazon Linux. Some opt...
What is your primary use case for Amazon Linux?
I use Amazon Linux on EC2 machines for different kinds of servers. I typically run automation scripts, deploy fast web servers, and use Docker machines for testing purposes and any other proprietar...
What advice do you have for others considering Amazon Linux?
All Linux distributions have stability and security. The only advantage of Amazon Linux is the package system. I did not see any other great advantage. I prefer to use Ubuntu as my main option when...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MySQL on Ubuntu?
Regarding pricing and licensing, I use the free tier, so I don't know much about pricing.
What needs improvement with MySQL on Ubuntu?
There are several areas where MySQL on Ubuntu can be improved. First, the initial configuration out of the box is not always optimal for production workloads. When MySQL on Ubuntu is first installe...
What is your primary use case for MySQL on Ubuntu?
MySQL on Ubuntu is used mainly for backend database management for our web applications. We handle a fair amount of transactional data, so we need something stable and fast. MySQL on Ubuntu fits th...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Linux vs. MySQL on Ubuntu and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.