Amazon RDS vs Azure Database for PostgreSQL comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are both solutions in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3, while Microsoft is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.7. Additionally, 98% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Amazon RDS

Read 54 Amazon RDS reviews

5,264 Views
4,374 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Read 9 Azure Database for PostgreSQL reviews

242 Views
45 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Amazon RDS

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 30, 2025

Amazon RDS and Azure Database for PostgreSQL are key players in managed PostgreSQL database services, each offering unique strengths. Amazon RDS leads with its extensive scalability and robust cloud integration, whereas Azure PostgreSQL stands out for its secure networking and seamless Azure services integration, tailored for AI and data applications.

Features: Amazon RDS enhances user operations through its managed database service by automating backups, monitoring, and patches. It supports various databases like MySQL and Oracle, and offers size adjustments seamlessly. Azure PostgreSQL excels in networking capabilities, making upgrades and observability tools straightforward, and integrates well into cloud-centric environments.

Room for Improvement: Amazon RDS needs to address feature accessibility, particularly the absence of shell access for troubleshooting and administrative tasks. Azure PostgreSQL could improve performance reliability during peak loads and refine cost management for comprehensive metric access. Both services have room for enhancing specific features to better serve their user bases.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon RDS offers versatile deployment across public and hybrid clouds but requires detail-oriented cost provisioning. Its customer service varies by tier, with community resources often stepping in. Azure PostgreSQL facilitates flexible deployment with Azure service integration and rapid support although its initial response time could improve for enhanced user satisfaction.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon RDS offers a scalable, pay-as-you-go model but careful cost management is vital to avoid unexpected fees, despite reduced DBA resource needs. Azure PostgreSQL’s pay-as-you-go model is noted for affordability, delivering cost savings versus on-premises solutions, aided by Infrastructure as Code and FinOps for resource scaling and cost control.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon RDS vs. Azure Database for PostgreSQL Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon RDS vs. Azure Database for PostgreSQL

April 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:

Categories and Ranking

Amazon RDS

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

8th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Open Source Databases (10th)

Featured Reviews

Samuel Ebite

AICE Graduate at alx_africa

Ensure high availability with robust encryption and seamless backups

Amazon RDS provides data encryption using services like KMS, crucial for securing high-sensitive data and meeting compliance requirements such as HIPAA or PCI DSS. The best practices we've employed with RDS help design a well-architected framework, encompassing security, encryption, scalability with multi-availability zone deployment, and operational excellence with automated backups. RDS features, such as reserved instances, storage auto-scaling, monitoring with technologies like CloudWatch, and proxies, contribute to cost optimization. The solution enhances security with IAM authentication and offers high availability to end users.

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Daniel Amini

Head of cloud, data, and AI at BJSS

An incredibly powerful industry leader that enabled us to build critical pieces of national infrastructure

Azure Database is simple and easy to use. We followed the prescribed training and upskilled 10 engineers. They think it's straightforward. They've already got PostgreSQL skills to optimize the solution, so they know what to do. It was easy to get started quickly and become effective. My team speaks highly of the platform's observability and monitoring features. It's as efficient as an enterprise needs it to be and. has all of the tooling and telemetry necessary to run an enterprise database. We take security seriously. The team has looked at the security features, and nothing has been flagged to us. My takeaway as a CTO is that they're comfortable with the security posture, the features, the observability, alerts, and now it integrates into the rest of the Azure landscape. The OpenAI integration and extensions have massively simplified integrating AI into a database. PostgreSQL's native vector capabilities are also incredibly powerful.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Amazon RDS is very easy to use."

"Amazon RDS provides data encryption using services like KMS, crucial for securing high-sensitive data and meeting compliance requirements such as HIPAA or PCI DSS."

"The solution has unique features like backup and recovery, and snapshots. It upgrades automatically. The solution offers easy analytics concerning performance metrics. Its reliability and scalability are very good. The tool's most valuable features are disaster recovery, high availability and scalability."

"Amazon RDS handles database backup mechanisms and patch management."

"It is very easy to set up initially."

"Amazon RDS is a scalable solution."

"The most valuable feature of Amazon RDS is its performance."

"The dashboard and performance are the most valuable features of Amazon RDS."

More Amazon RDS pros

"PostgresSQL is acknowledged as an incredibly powerful industry leader. We've built critical pieces of national infrastructure in the UK that rely on Postgres. A version of Postgres on Azure that's easy to adopt enables us to innovate. The addition of AI extensions is even more exciting. It's a significant opportunity for us."

"The performance of our RAG application is very good. We have 96% satisfaction."

"Postgres has helped us innovate and stay competitive."

"We use PostgreSQL to speed up application development. Our applications are ready sooner because we don't need to depend on other database teams."

"Our organization's database uptime has improved after implementing Azure Database for PostgreSQL, particularly with the flexible server's redundant configuration capabilities, which allow for failovers and read-only configurations."

"I rate Azure Database for PostgreSQL 10 out of 10."

"The operational efficiency of Azure Database for PostgreSQL is good."

"The effective integration of Postgres with Microsoft products, especially with the inclusion of AI features in Azure AI, is significant for our applications."

Cons

"If Amazon RDS can be provided as a service platform, it would be beneficial for years. Instead of focusing on infrastructure, they can assist backend engineers and those with varying technical expertise in utilizing it effectively. It would be helpful if Amazon could provide a more predictable pricing strategy."

"Amazon has a policy of automatically restarting the server every seven days."

"The solution's version upgrade and performance could be improved."

"In the next release, it would be great to see RDS provide connection pooling out of the box."

"The solution could improve the administration tools."

"Amazon RDS could improve by having more sophisticated. I use other solutions that have better technology for more difficult tasks."

"A lot of the features are disabled by default. The solution should enable more features. I understand this could cause challenges to management for many clients using RDS, however."

"Amazon cannot guarantee the stability of some extensions, and there is a need for different extensions to meet PCI requirements."

More Amazon RDS cons

"There is a stability issue where, if the database usage peaks quickly, it may crash and require intervention to restore functionality. It does not auto-heal or self-heal in such situations."

"Support at best is a five out of ten."

"In the future, I would like to see anomaly detection."

"Perhaps a minor improvement could be made in simplifying user additions, allowing for an easier process rather than scripting it out. However, scripting is not a significant issue."

"They can offer more RAG extensions. Currently, it only has the vector search."

"While the flexibility of the server for financial reasons is understandable, better switching between primary and backup would make transitions smoother."

"The critical service is the Azure OpenAI service. It would help to make it simpler and easier to integrate with that or cognitive services."

"There is a stability issue where, if the database usage peaks quickly, it may crash and require intervention to restore functionality. It does not auto-heal or self-heal in such situations."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The prices for different regions are different."

"The cost is manageable because you can see the expense associated with each instance and utilize tools for tagging and cost control."

"The price could be better."

"The solution's pricing needs improvement."

"Amazon RDS is not a very expensive solution."

"The pricing of RDS is a little bit high compared to Microsoft... However, it is a good price compared to other solutions."

"The solution’s pricing could be cheaper."

"I would rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."

More Amazon RDS pricing and cost advice

"The pricing experience is positive. Azure Database for PostgreSQL reduces the need for hardware investments, and the pay-as-you-go pricing model positively affects database-related costs by allowing us to start small and scale as needed."

"We do not pay for a full-year subscription because our usage is still at the beginning phase and not much. The pay-as-you-go model works well for us."

"The pay-as-you-go pricing model plays a critical role in managing database-related costs and resource allocation. We build using Infrastructure as Code (IAC) and maintain a focus on FinOps to control Azure service costs. Some clients are pushy on price. It's critical to automate it, so we're just using it when appropriate and switching it off in certain scenarios."

"There aren't any notable areas for improvement that I could see. PostgreSQL was self-sufficient with no need for additional database knowledge to maintain it."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

14%

University

Healthcare Company

Manufacturing Company

21%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Marketing Services Firm

15%

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon RDS?

The product's installation phase is easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon RDS?

The pricing for Amazon RDS is reasonable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon RDS?

One key improvement would be adding support for multi-storage paradigms, including columnar support, as seen in TiDB. The serverless support with Aurora could also be enhanced. Additionally, having...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Database for PostgreSQL?

Pricing is affordable for us. PostgreSQL is good and affordable for our needs.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Database for PostgreSQL?

While the flexibility of the server for financial reasons is understandable, better switching between primary and backup would make transitions smoother. I noticed an issue where the primary refuse...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Azure Database for PostgreSQL?

We started using Azure Database for PostgreSQL ( /products/azure-database-for-postgresql-reviews ) about five to six years ago. Initially, we were doing an on-premises Kubernetes ( /products/kubern...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 22% of the time

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Compared 17% of the time

Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs Amazon RDS

Compared 16% of the time

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Compared 1% of the time

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Compared 55% of the time

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Product Reports

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Amazon RDS

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

April 2025

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Also Known As

RDS

No data available

Overview

Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a web service that makes it easier to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud. It provides cost-efficient, resizeable capacity for an industry-standard relational database and manages common database administration tasks.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Azure Database for PostgreSQL is a robust cloud solution designed to host scalable applications, manage large datasets, enable advanced analytics, and ensure data integrity through strong security features and automated backups.

Many utilize Azure Database for PostgreSQL due to its seamless integration with other Azure services and ease of setup. It supports advanced analytics and data warehousing with powerful querying capabilities. Users appreciate its high availability, automated backups, and strong security measures like advanced threat protection and encryption. Azure Database for PostgreSQL's compatibility with standard PostgreSQL ensures a smooth migration process and minimal disruption to existing applications. However, some areas needing improvement include scalability, performance under heavy loads, monitoring tools, integration with other services, documentation, support response times, and stability during peak times. Pricing is also considered high by smaller businesses.

What are the most important features of Azure Database for PostgreSQL?

High Availability: Built-in redundancy and failover capabilities to ensure continuous operation.
Automated Backups: Regular, automated backups for data protection and recovery.
Scalability Options: Flexible scaling to handle varying workloads efficiently.
Advanced Security: Features like threat protection and encryption to safeguard data.
Integration with Azure Services: Seamless interoperability with other Azure tools and services.
Performance Metrics: Robust monitoring tools for performance tracking and optimization.
Simplified Management: Easy management through the Azure portal.
PostgreSQL Compatibility: Ensures smooth migration and minimal disruption to existing applications.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Enhanced Security: Protects sensitive data through comprehensive security features.
Cost Efficiency: Potential for reduced infrastructure and maintenance costs.
Improved Performance: Optimized querying and data processing capabilities.
Simplified Operations: Streamlined database management and maintenance.
Scalability: Ability to scale resources based on workload demand.
Reliability: High availability and failover support to ensure operational continuity.

In healthcare, Azure Database for PostgreSQL is often implemented to manage and analyze large patient datasets while ensuring data security and compliance with regulations. E-commerce companies utilize it to handle scalable transactions and customer data management, leveraging its integration with data analytics tools. Financial institutions employ it to securely store and process large volumes of financial data, relying on its robust security and automated backups.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Edmodo

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Amazon RDS vs. Azure Database for PostgreSQL

April 2025

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