Databases · head to head
DynamoDB vs Fig
DynamoDB
Databases
AWS-only managed key-value and document database with fixed per-partition throughput limits and no ad hoc queries.
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
Fig
Developer Tools
IDE-style autocomplete for your existing terminal
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Fig is free; DynamoDB starts at $0.625/mo.
- Where Fig falls short: the standalone desktop app is no longer available or supported.
- Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which DynamoDB and Fig actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in DynamoDB
- Managed and serverless
- Predictable latency
- On-demand or provisioned capacity
- Global secondary indexes
- Transactions
- DynamoDB Streams
- Global tables
- Point-in-time recovery
Only in Fig
Nothing recorded that DynamoDB does not also cover.
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
DynamoDB
- High-volume keyed workloads such as sessions, shopping carts, device state or user profiles where the access pattern is fixed and knownnot Fig
- Traffic that spikes unpredictably, where on-demand capacity absorbs a burst without a capacity-planning exercisenot Fig
- Serverless applications on Lambda, where an HTTP-based datastore avoids the connection pooling problem relational databases havenot Fig
- Event or telemetry ingestion where writes vastly outnumber reads and each record is retrieved by a known identifiernot Fig
Fig
No use cases recorded yet. See the Fig review.
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
DynamoDB
- Access patterns must be designed into the key schema before launch; a query nobody anticipated needs a new global secondary index, which is a full extra copy of the projected attributes billed as storage and as writes, or an offline migration
- Global secondary indexes are eventually consistent and cannot be read strongly, so a read-after-write against an index can legitimately miss the item that was just written, and application code must be written to tolerate that
- Per-partition throughput is capped at roughly 3,000 read and 1,000 write units, so a hot key throttles even when the table has spare capacity overall, and the only real fix is changing the key design to spread the load
- Items are limited to 400 KB and query results paginate at 1 MB, so large or list-shaped data has to be split, offloaded to S3 with a pointer, or read through pagination loops that complicate every consumer
- It runs only on AWS and the API is proprietary rather than a standard, so moving the data layer means rewriting it; ScyllaDB's Alternator is the only meaningfully compatible target and it brings a much smaller ecosystem
Fig
- Shut down on 1 September 2024. Amazon acquired Fig in August 2023 and folded it into Amazon Q Developer, which now carries the terminal autocomplete
- The standalone desktop app is no longer available or supported
- The completion specs remain open source on GitHub, but the product that consumed them is gone
Pricing, plan by plan
DynamoDB
Free- On-Demand CapacityOn request
- Pay-per-request pricing with automatic scaling
- Read: 0.5 RRU per 4 KB (eventually consistent), 1 RRU per 4 KB (strongly consistent), 2 RRU per 4 KB (transactional)
- Write: 1 WRU per 1 KB
- Provisioned CapacityOn request
- Fixed hourly charges based on reserved capacity
- RCU rate: $0.00013 per hour (Standard)
- WCU rate: $0.00065 per hour (Standard)
- Standard Table Class Storage$0.25/per gb/month
- $0.25 per GB/month after free tier
- First 25 GB free per month (free tier)
- Standard-Infrequent Access Table Class$0.1/per gb/month
- $0.10 per GB/month
Fig
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Fig review.
Which should you pick?
Choose DynamoDB if
- You need managed and serverless.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on AWS.
- You also want predictable latency.
Questions people ask
- Is DynamoDB or Fig better?
- Neither clearly leads. DynamoDB starts at Free and Fig at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, DynamoDB or Fig?
- DynamoDB starts at Free and Fig at Free.
- Does DynamoDB or Fig run on more platforms?
- DynamoDB runs on AWS. Fig runs on Web.
- Can I use DynamoDB for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is DynamoDB best used for?
- DynamoDB is most often used for high-volume keyed workloads such as sessions, shopping carts, device state or user profiles where the access pattern is fixed and known, traffic that spikes unpredictably, where on-demand capacity absorbs a burst without a capacity-planning exercise, serverless applications on lambda, where an http-based datastore avoids the connection pooling problem relational databases have, event or telemetry ingestion where writes vastly outnumber reads and each record is retrieved by a known identifier. Of those, high-volume keyed workloads such as sessions, shopping carts, device state or user profiles where the access pattern is fixed and known and traffic that spikes unpredictably, where on-demand capacity absorbs a burst without a capacity-planning exercise are not what Fig is typically brought in for.
- What can DynamoDB do that Fig cannot?
- DynamoDB covers Managed and serverless, Predictable latency, On-demand or provisioned capacity, Global secondary indexes.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
DynamoDB: On-demand or provisioned capacity?
On-demand suits unpredictable or spiky traffic and removes capacity planning. Provisioned with autoscaling is considerably cheaper for steady high-volume workloads. Tables can be switched between them, though not arbitrarily often.
DynamoDB: Can I run DynamoDB outside AWS?
No. DynamoDB Local exists for development and testing only. For a production-compatible alternative elsewhere, ScyllaDB's Alternator implements the DynamoDB API, but it is a different system with a different ecosystem.
DynamoDB: Can I run ad hoc queries or analytics?
Not on the table itself. Scans are slow and expensive at scale. The usual pattern is to export to S3 or stream changes out and query them in Athena, Redshift or another analytical engine.
DynamoDB: Is single-table design necessary?
It is the pattern that gets the most from DynamoDB when access patterns are well known, because it lets related items be retrieved in one query. It also makes the model harder to evolve, so many teams reasonably choose multiple simpler tables and accept extra requests.
DynamoDB: What are the real limits I should design around?
400 KB per item, 1 MB per query or scan page, 100 items per transaction, roughly 3,000 read and 1,000 write units per partition, and eventual consistency on global secondary indexes.
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- Fig vs Firebase Realtime Database
- Fig vs Microsoft SQL Server
- Fig vs QuestDB
- Fig vs Vitess
- Fig vs Aiven
- Fig vs CouchDB
- Fig vs Google Cloud SQL
- Fig vs CosmosDB
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- Fig vs Warp
- Fig vs Visual Studio Code
- Fig vs CodeSandbox
- Fig vs GitLab
- Fig vs Keycloak
- Fig vs Vite
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- Fig vs Depot
- Fig vs ESLint
- Fig vs Helix
- Fig vs Refact
- Fig vs Restate
- Fig vs RubyMine
- Fig vs Soketi
- Fig vs SonarQube
- Fig vs Sourcegraph