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Amazon Linux vs PostgreSQL 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
6.2
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu reduces costs by 40-70% with fewer staff needed, easy demos, data consistency, and enhanced performance.
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
We cut database infrastructure costs by roughly sixty to seventy percent by moving away from managed databases to using hosted PostgreSQL on Ubuntu VPS instances.
CEO at Grant Corporation
Since there are no upfront licensing fees, the ROI is increased with a scalable system without exponential cost growth.
Senior Software Developer at hireHQ
Think about if you are in a different geographic location and your cluster is hosted in two different geographic locations, maybe one in South Pacific and one in Western Europe. In both cases, if write transactions are happening, this is a good way to basically order the transactions so that the eventual data consistency is there.
Specialist Programmer L3 at Infosys
 

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
5.4
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu offers 24/7 responsive support, with many users relying on community resources and public documentation.
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
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu also has some of the most detailed technical documentation in existence.
Agriculturalist/Founder of France Farms at France Farms
Community support is usually helpful in addressing queries and finding solutions to various scenarios.
Director IT at Artizense Hub
When I needed help with my vector search, I contacted them, and they provided substantial assistance.
AI Engineer at a educational organization with 51-200 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
6.6
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu offers excellent scalability and performance, though challenges exist with horizontal scaling and native cloud elasticity.
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
Read scaling is supported natively; PostgreSQL enables statement replication, allowing us to spin up read replicas on Ubuntu to distribute read-heavy workloads, which is fantastic.
CEO at Grant Corporation
The scalability of PostgreSQL on Ubuntu is very good because complex joins are performed smoothly and efficiently.
Senior Software Developer at hireHQ
I do not see any limits in scalability for PostgreSQL on Ubuntu; it scales well without constraints.
Director IT at Artizense Hub
 

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
8.3
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu is praised for stability, transaction efficiency, Linux compatibility, and reliable data integrity across diverse applications.
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
It also guarantees asset compliance; after atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability, it means that even if the power goes out during a transaction, PostgreSQL on Ubuntu ensures that the data is 100 percent saved or rolled back.
Agriculturalist/Founder of France Farms at France Farms
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu is quite stable.
Specialist Programmer L3 at Infosys
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu is handling my production infrastructures very well and it is going very good.
Manager Dev Ops at a tech services company 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.
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu requires improvements in speed, ease of setup, user interfaces, and additional features like AI integration and GUI security.
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
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu is very stable in terms of performance and query optimization.
Software Engineer at a university with 501-1,000 employees
Maybe it makes more sense to use AI for configuration in future updates of PostgreSQL on Ubuntu so that the database is automatically optimized for the best performance for a given hardware.
Head of IT at Givo Pvt Ltd
I would also appreciate the ability to use the EXPLAIN ANALYZE tool.
Consultant 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.
Enterprise users save on costs by using open-source PostgreSQL on Ubuntu, reducing monthly expenses significantly compared to managed services.
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
There was no pricing and cost involved in using PostgreSQL on Ubuntu.
Software Engineer at a university with 501-1,000 employees
Now we are running multiple projects on a single Ubuntu VPS with PostgreSQL for around twenty to forty dollars a month total.
CEO at Grant Corporation
Because it is an open source solution, we did not have acquisition or usage costs for this solution.
Analista de Infraestrutura de TI at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

Amazon Linux offers cost-effective, reliable performance with AWS integration, security features, and documentation for enhanced productivity and deployment efficiency.
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu offers advanced queries, reliability, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and strong community support, enhancing performance and data integrity.
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
One of the most important points about PostgreSQL on Ubuntu is that it is free.
Head of IT at Givo Pvt Ltd
Overall, PostgreSQL on Ubuntu is a powerful and reliable database management system; it is easy to use and good for students who want to move beyond basic and industry-level skills.
Database developer at a university with 501-1,000 employees
Any open-source software allows me to look into the code, understand the logic, and mold my code according to it, and it will work perfectly rather than proprietary solutions where I am very much dependent on the vendor and have to wait for their next release to fix things.
Manager Dev Ops at a tech services company with 10,001+ 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
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
15th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
18
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 PostgreSQL on Ubuntu is 0.9%, 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%
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu0.9%
Other97.5%
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.
MG
CEO at Grant Corporation
Consistent use of flexible data and solid transactions has reduced costs and simplified projects
PostgreSQL on Ubuntu could be improved with easier out-of-the-box configuration. The default settings for PostgreSQL on a fresh Ubuntu install are very conservative. Things such as shared buffers and work memory are too low for any real production workloads, and you have to know how to go in and tune it manually. A smart default configuration wizard during installation that detects hardware and suggests settings would save a lot of junior developers from performance headaches. That is important. Built-in connection pooling is another area; PostgreSQL does not handle large numbers of concurrent connections well natively. You end up needing to set up PG Bouncer separately, which is another tool to learn, configure, and maintain. Having a lightweight connection pooler built into the core installation would be a real quality-of-life improvement. Additionally, a better built-in monitoring UI would help. Primarily, if you are working with Ubuntu, you are largely working with PostgreSQL on the command line and installing third-party tools such as pgAdmin or Adminer. A lightweight built-in web dashboard for basic health monitoring would improve projects significantly. Finally, upgrades between major versions and smaller versions should be a lot easier as well. None of these are deal-breakers; they are just nice to have improvements.
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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%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
6%
 

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 Business11
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise11
 

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 PostgreSQL on Ubuntu?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for PostgreSQL on Ubuntu is that everything is good.
What needs improvement with PostgreSQL on Ubuntu?
I chose a nine out of ten for PostgreSQL on Ubuntu because everything is good, but I need it to be easier to understand and learn. The initial stage is a bit tough, and we do not have adequate sour...
What is your primary use case for PostgreSQL on Ubuntu?
My main use case for PostgreSQL on Ubuntu is to work with the database, so all the fields should be aligned. When we scale the projects, it helps us to do better compared to other software. Postgre...
 

Overview

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