Databases · alternatives
Alternatives to Amazon RDS
23 databases tools sit alongside Amazon RDS in this directory. Below is what separates each from Amazon RDS on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 23
- With a free tier
- 18
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Amazon RDS starts at
- Free
Why people look past Amazon RDS
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. Amazon RDS has a free tier. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Intelligent, scalable cloud database service from Microsoft
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where Amazon RDS does not.
Fully managed relational database service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where Amazon RDS does not.
- 2 tiers to Amazon RDS's 3.
MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where Amazon RDS does not.
- 2 tiers to Amazon RDS's 3.
MPP analytical database with a MySQL wire protocol and sub-second aggregation on wide tables
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than usage-based.
- 1 tier to Amazon RDS's 3.
The Meta-lineage distributed SQL query engine, distinct from the Trino fork
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than usage-based.
- 1 tier to Amazon RDS's 3.
Erlang MQTT broker for large IoT fleets, relicensed to BSL with production free use limited to one node
- Publishes an entry price of $234/month, where Amazon RDS does not.
- Sold on a Per month by connection and session volume model rather than usage-based.
- 4 tiers to Amazon RDS's 3.
Every Amazon RDS alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon RDS (this page) | Free | Usage-based | 3 | |
| Azure SQLMicrosoft's managed SQL database service with similar features and often lower costs for enterprises | Free | - | - | vs Amazon RDS |
| Google Cloud SQLGoogle's managed relational database service with integrated backup and high availability | Free | Usage-based | 2 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Amazon AuroraAWS's high-performance MySQL and PostgreSQL compatible database with automatic scaling | Free | Usage-based | 2 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Apache Doris | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Presto | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Amazon RDS |
| EMQX | Free, then $234/month | Per month by connection and session volume | 4 | vs Amazon RDS |
| StarRocks | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Solace PubSub+ | Free | Quote | 4 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Tinybird | Free, then $25/month | Per month by compute and storage | 4 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Dremio | Free, then $0.2/hour | Per Dremio Compute Unit consumed | 3 | vs Amazon RDS |
| VerneMQ | Free | Quote | 3 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Timeplus | Free, then $199/month | Per month for cloud, quoted for self-hosted | 3 | vs Amazon RDS |
| RisingWave | Free, then $0.227/hour | Per RisingWave Unit hour | 4 | vs Amazon RDS |
| NATS | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Redpanda | Free | Source-available community edition with paid enterprise and cloud tiers | 1 | vs Amazon RDS |
| RabbitMQ | Free | Open source, no licence fee; managed services billed separately | 1 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Canary Labs | $3000/year | Per tag band per year | 4 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Instaclustr | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Immuta | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Privacera | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Amazon RDS |
| TIBCO Enterprise Message Service | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Apache Solr | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Amazon RDS |
| Apache Pulsar | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Amazon RDS |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Amazon RDS badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (18)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Azure SQL , Free
- Google Cloud SQL , Free
- Amazon Aurora , Free
- Apache Doris , Free
- Presto , Free
- EMQX , Free, then $234/month
- StarRocks , Free
- Solace PubSub+ , Free
What you would be giving up
Amazon RDS is most often brought in for transaction processing, data storage, application backend, reporting, data analytics. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Amazon RDS is broadly right and the question is cost, the Amazon RDS pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Databases category lists everything the directory holds, and best databases tools ranks them.
Amazon RDS runs on aws cloud, multi-az, multi-region. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Amazon RDS alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Amazon RDS?
- 23 other databases tools are listed in this directory, led by Azure SQL, Google Cloud SQL, Amazon Aurora, Apache Doris. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Amazon RDS?
- 18 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Azure SQL, Google Cloud SQL, Amazon Aurora, Apache Doris, Presto.
- Is there a reason to switch away from Amazon RDS?
- Nothing in the data flags one. Amazon RDS has a free tier. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from Amazon RDS?
- Amazon RDS is most often brought in for transaction processing, data storage, application backend, reporting, data analytics. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Amazon RDS?
- None of the databases tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Amazon RDS alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Databases, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Amazon RDS against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Amazon RDS covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every databases tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Databases category, 23 tools beside Amazon RDS. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.