No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Amazon RDS vs Google Cloud Spanner comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (10th)
Google Cloud Spanner
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
8th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Amazon RDS is 12.8%, down from 20.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud Spanner is 7.2%, up from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database as a Service (DBaaS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Amazon RDS12.8%
Google Cloud Spanner7.2%
Other80.0%
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2592669 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director Software Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Positive experiences with database services, with minor room for feature enhancements observed
I don't really see any disadvantages of Amazon RDS. With Oracle, I think AWS doesn't provide the RAC stability. If you have Oracle installed in your own data centers, you can set up various clusters and we can set up the RACs, but in Amazon RDS, we cannot have the RAC feature of Oracle. They could add that feature. Amazon RDS has limitations regarding RAC. If we talk about installing Oracle in RDS, we cannot have the RAC, but if you deploy Oracle on GCP, then there is probably the RAC feature available. I observed that around two or three years back, but I'm not sure whether they have added the RAC feature in AWS. Amazon RDS is expensive compared to GCP. GCP also has the same features, and although it is quite extensive and feature-rich, I see Amazon RDS as slightly expensive compared to other clouds.
Ethan Lo - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructuer Security at Premise Data
A stable and scalable relational database that ensures a return on investment for its users
The most valuable feature of the solution is its scalability. Scalability comes with two options, among which Google Cloud Spanner can scale horizontally, compared to other relational databases that scale vertically. You can change Google Cloud Spanner's resource configuration, which is done through processing units. Suppose you set up Google Cloud Spanner initially with a hundred processing units, and then you run out of resources since your database used too much CPU. In the aforementioned scenario, you can scale up or down and face no downtime in the production phase. The solution's features are important when running a company twenty-four hours, seven days a week.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The provisioning is much faster. You don't have to prepare hardware or install software. You just need to create an instance and you have a database."
"Amazon RDS is easy to maintain and easy to deploy."
"I use Amazon RDS to store and manage data securely. It helps me retrieve information and gain insights from the data that comes in for my business or specific applications."
"Amazon RDS makes it easier for me to manage databases compared to traditional databases like MongoDB or local host servers."
"The solution’s scalability, usability, and availability are valuable to us."
"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."
"The product's installation phase is easy."
"The product's initial setup phase is totally easy."
"We can scale the solution if we need to."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its scalability. Scalability comes with two options, among which Google Cloud Spanner can scale horizontally, compared to other relational databases that scale vertically."
"Google Cloud Spanner is stable."
"The application deployment in the cloud is the best feature of the infrastructure."
"It is a very scalable solution."
 

Cons

"The solution could improve the administration tools."
"I think Amazon RDS can be improved or enhanced if it can be implemented with other monitoring tools such as Percona."
"There are a few aspects of database management that have room for improvement. There are a few parameters in the solution that are a bit unclear at our end as it's not understandable."
"Need to have in depth understanding of cost, else we are in position to pay more, which makes us think our own DB is better when cost is very huge amount."
"Some features are disabled, like running "alter system/database". There are Amazon alternatives, but it is not transparent to the application."
"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."
"RDS doesn't have shell access."
"As a customer of Amazon RDS, you don't have super-user privileges, and that is the only drawback where improvements are required."
"The tool needs to improve horizontal scaling."
"Google came up with something called Cloud Spanner Emulator, which fails to work like the real product if I want to develop some code and run a database locally on my machine."
"The cost can be a bit high."
"I want to improve the deployment of cameras and surveillance infrastructure."
"The tool lacks to offer AI features."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Amazon RDS is an expensive solution."
"The cost is manageable because you can see the expense associated with each instance and utilize tools for tagging and cost control."
"We are paying for a service license."
"if you don't know how to optimize and use your tool properly, the cost might hurt you."
"The solution’s pricing could be cheaper."
"The product is expensive."
"The solution's pricing needs improvement."
"The cost depends on the kind of instance we use."
"Price-wise, I heard that Google Cloud Spanner is on the higher side."
"Google Cloud Spanner is an expensive solution."
"It is expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Database as a Service (DBaaS) solutions are best for your needs.
911,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
25%
Healthcare Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise24
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Amazon RDS?
I think Amazon RDS can be improved or enhanced if it can be implemented with other monitoring tools such as Percona. Currently, I am trying to add Percona monitoring for monitoring in addition to i...
What is your primary use case for Amazon RDS?
Amazon RDS is typically used for AI applications. I am developing it for an AI recruitment agent and for collecting data for HRIS, Software as a Service for a workforce as a service, and storing data.
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Spanner?
Google Cloud Spanner has all the features of a traditional relational database, including schemas, SQL queries, ACID transactions, and provides excellent integration and monitoring tools as well as...
 

Also Known As

RDS
Google Spanner
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Edmodo
Streak, Optiva, Mixpanel
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon RDS vs. Google Cloud Spanner and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
911,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.