What's the difference between Amazon RDS and Amazon DynamoDB?
DynamoDB is a serverless NoSQL database for applications with well-defined access patterns that need consistent single-digit millisecond performance. RDS is a managed relational database for applications that need SQL, joins, and transactional integrity across multiple engines.
Compare side-by-side
*Content generated by AI and reviewed for accuracy
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Comparisons
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Amazon RDS
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Amazon DynamoDB
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Category
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Databases, Relational databases |
Databases, NoSQL databases, Non-relational databases |
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Description
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Easy to manage relational databases optimized for total cost of ownership. Supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server, and Db2. |
Serverless, NoSQL, fully managed database designed for single-digit millisecond performance at any scale. |
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Best for
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Key features
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Pricing model
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On-Demand, Reserved, or Serverless |
On-demand or provisioned capacity |
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Free Tier
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Yes |
Yes — 25GB + 25 read/write units |
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Expert take
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RDS removes the undifferentiated heavy lifting of database administration — patching, backups, failover — so your team can focus on schema design and query optimization instead of infrastructure. |
DynamoDB gives you single-digit millisecond reads and writes at any scale with zero operational overhead. The key is data modeling — when you design your access patterns upfront, DynamoDB rewards you with consistent performance that doesn't degrade as your table grows to petabytes. |
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Customer story
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View product pages
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How DynamoDB and RDS compare
Both Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon RDS are fully managed with encryption at rest and in transit, IAM integration, automated backups, and point-in-time recovery. The features listed in the table above highlight where the services differ.
Choose DynamoDB when you know your access patterns upfront, need predictable millisecond latency at any scale, want zero operational overhead, or your data fits a key-value or document model.
Choose RDS when you need SQL for complex queries (joins, aggregations, subqueries), your data has relationships that benefit from foreign keys and referential integrity, or you need compatibility with a specific engine (Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB).
Key distinction: This is the fundamental SQL-or-NoSQL decision. DynamoDB trades query flexibility for unlimited scale and zero ops. RDS gives you full SQL power with managed infrastructure. Many teams use both — DynamoDB for the application's hot path and RDS for reporting and complex queries.
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