AWS Database Blog

2024: A year of innovation and growth for Amazon DynamoDB

2024 marked a significant year for Amazon DynamoDB, with advancements in security, performance, cost-effectiveness, and integration capabilities. This year-in-review post highlights key developments that have enhanced the DynamoDB experience for our customers.

Key highlights and launches of 2024 include:

These improvements, along with numerous other updates, reflect our commitment to making DynamoDB more resilient, flexible, and cost-effective for businesses of all sizes. In the following sections, we dive deeper into each category of updates, exploring how they can benefit your applications and workflows.

Whether you’re a long-time DynamoDB user or just getting started, this post will guide you through the most impactful changes of 2024 and how they can help you build reliable, faster, and more secure applications. We’ve sorted the post by alphabetical feature areas, listing releases in reverse chronological order. Note that certain announcements may be duplicated across feature areas; the first of these duplicates will cover comprehensive details.

Over the course of 2024, we’ve also overhauled areas of the official DynamoDB documentation, so be sure to check out all of the new and modified pages, and update your browser bookmarks. Be sure to contact us at @DynamoDB or on AWS re:Post if you have questions, comments, or feature requests.

Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)


Application integration


Developer and user experience

  • October 17Amazon DynamoDB announces user experience enhancement to organize your tables. You can choose the favorites icon to view your favorited tables on the console’s tables page. With this update, you have a faster and more efficient way to find and work with tables that you often monitor, manage, and explore. The favorites table console experience is now available in all Regions at no additional cost. Get started with creating a DynamoDB table from the AWS Management Console.
  • May 28 Amazon DynamoDB local supports configurable maximum throughput for on-demand tables. You can use the configurable maximum throughput for on-demand tables feature for predictable cost management, protection against accidental surging in consumed resources and excessive use, and safe guarding downstream services with fixed capacity from potential overloading and performance bottlenecks. With DynamoDB local, you can develop and test your application with managing maximum on-demand table throughput, making it easier to validate the use of the supported API actions before releasing code to production. To get started with the latest version refer to Deploying DynamoDB locally on your computer. Learn more in the documentation by referring to Setting Up DynamoDB Local (Downloadable Version).
  • April 24NoSQL Workbench for Amazon DynamoDB launches a revamped operation builder user interface. The revamped operation builder interface gives you more space to explore and visualize your data, lets you manage tables with just one click, and allows direct item manipulation right from the results pane. We’ve added a copy feature for quick item creation, streamlined the Query and Scan filtering process, and added a seamless DynamoDB local integration. For those who prefer a different look or need better accessibility, there’s a new dark mode too. All of these great features come at no extra cost, no matter which Region you’re using. Download the latest version now—you will love how much smoother your database management becomes! Get started with the latest version of NoSQL Workbench by downloading from Download NoSQL Workbench for DynamoDB. For more information about the latest updates, refer to Exploring datasets and building operations with NoSQL Workbench.
  • March 14Amazon DynamoDB local upgrades to Jetty 12 and JDK 17. DynamoDB local (the downloadable version of DynamoDB) version 2.3.0 migrates from Jetty 11 to Jetty 12 server, and from JDK 11 to JDK 17. With this update, developers using Spring Boot 3.2.x with Jetty 12 support can use DynamoDB local to develop and test their Spring applications when working with DynamoDB. With DynamoDB local, you can develop and test applications by running DynamoDB in your local development environment with incurring any costs.

Global tables


Security


Serverless


Documentation

  • December 26 – Application integration – Published a new topic on integrating Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (Amazon MSK) with DynamoDB. Learn how Amazon MSK integrates with DynamoDB by reading data from Apache Kafka topics and storing it in DynamoDB. For more information, refer to Integrating DynamoDB with Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka.
  • November 18 – Security – Added two new permissions to the AmazonDynamoDBReadOnlyAccess managed policy: dynamodb:GetAbacStatus and dynamodb:UpdateAbacStatus. These permissions allow you to view the attribute-based access control (ABAC) status and enable ABAC for your AWS account in the current Region. For more information, refer to AWS managed policy: AmazonDynamoDBReadOnlyAccess.
  • October 16 – Billing – Published two new topics regarding billing for global tables and billing for backups. For more information, refer to Understanding Amazon DynamoDB billing for global tables and Understanding Amazon DynamoDB billing for backups.
  • October 11 – Generative AI – Published a new topic that provides information about using generative AI with DynamoDB, including examples of generative AI use cases for DynamoDB.
  • September 3 – Application integration – Added documentation for account-based endpoints and the ACCOUNT_ID_ENDPOINT_MODE setting for SDK clients. For more information, refer to SDK support of AWS account-based endpoints.
  • July 31 – Developer and user experience – Overhauled Getting started with DynamoDB pages. We combined the AWS CLI and AWS SDK instructions into the same page as the AWS Management Console, so new users getting started with DynamoDB can choose the medium in which they interact with DynamoDB.
  • July 2 – Developer and user experience – Restructured and consolidated the DynamoDB backup and restore documentation in the DynamoDB Developer Guide. For more information, refer to Backup and restore for DynamoDB.
  • June 3 – DynamoDB Accelerator – Published a new best practices topic that provides you with comprehensive insights for using DAX effectively. This topic covers performance optimization, cost management, and operational best practices. For more information, refer to Prescriptive guidance to integrate DAX with DynamoDB applications.
  • May 29 – Developer and user experience – Added a new topic on migrating DynamoDB tables from one account to another. For more information, refer to Migrating a DynamoDB table from one account to another.
  • May 7 – Security – DynamoDB preventative security best practices pages updated.
  • March 6 – Developer and user experience – Added a programming guide for AWS SDK for JavaScript. Learn about the AWS SDK for JavaScript, abstraction layers, configuring connection, handling errors, defining retry policies, managing keep-alive, and more. For more information, refer to Programming Amazon DynamoDB with JavaScript.
  • March 5 – Developer and user experience – Created a new programming guide for AWS SDK for Java 2.x that goes in depth about high-level, low-level, and document interfaces, HTTP clients and their configuration, and error handling, and addresses the most common configuration settings that you should consider when using the SDK for Java 2.x. For more information, refer to Programming DynamoDB with AWS SDK for Java 2.x.
  • February 26 – Developer and user experience – Allowed developers to use NoSQL Workbench to copy or clone tables between development environments and Regions (DynamoDB Local and DynamoDB web). For more information, refer to Cloning tables with NoSQL Workbench.
  • January 11 – Developer and user experience – Created a new guide that goes in depth about both high-level and low-level libraries and addresses the most common configuration settings that you should consider when using the Python SDK. For more information, refer to Programming Amazon DynamoDB with Python and Boto3.
  • January 3 – Developer and user experience – Updated Using time to live (TTL) in DynamoDB documentation, with updated code samples in Java, Python, and JavaScript.

Summary

2024 marked a year of considerable advancement for DynamoDB, with major strides in security, cost optimization, and seamless integrations. Key developments like multi-Region strong consistency, reduced pricing for on-demand throughput, and zero-ETL integrations with services like Amazon Redshift and SageMaker Lakehouse have empowered customers to build more resilient, cost-effective, and data-driven applications.

As we look towards 2025, we’re excited to see how you use these new capabilities. Whether you’re an experienced DynamoDB user or just starting your journey, there’s never been a better time to explore what’s possible. We encourage you to try out our new features, and share your experiences with us at @DynamoDB or on AWS re:Post.

Get started with the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide and the DynamoDB getting started guide, and join the millions of customers that push the boundaries of what’s possible with DynamoDB.


About the Author

Author Photo of Michael ShaoMichael Shao is a Senior Developer Advocate on the Amazon DynamoDB team. Michael has spent over 8 years as a software engineer at Amazon Retail, with a background in designing and building scalable, resilient, and highly performing software systems. His expertise in exploratory, iterative development helps drive his passion for helping AWS customers understand complex technical topics. With a strong technical foundation in system design and building software from the ground up, Michael’s goal is to empower and accelerate the success of the next generation of developers.