AWS - Types of Databases

Last Updated : 15 Jul, 2025

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides various database solutions catering to different application needs. Whether you’re building a small app or handling massive enterprise workloads, AWS offers flexible, scalable and reliable database services. The available AWS database services include:

Amazon DynamoDB
Amazon Aurora
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)
Amazon Timestream
Amazon Neptune
Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB)
Amazon RDS on VMware

Each of these services serves a unique purpose depending on the type of data you need to store and the nature of your application. Let’s take a deeper look into each one.

Types of AWS Database Services

The following table shows the different AWS Database Services and their use cases:

Database Service	Use Cases	Description
Amazon Aurora	Traditional applications ERP CRM e-commerce	A MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database offering high performance and availability, up to five times faster than MySQL and three times faster than PostgreSQL. Fully managed by Amazon RDS, it offers auto-scaling, fault-tolerant storage, and replication.
Amazon DynamoDB	High-traffic web applications gaming e-commerce systems	A fully managed NoSQL database service that offers low-latency data access at any scale, capable of handling over 10 trillion requests per day. Provides built-in security, backup, restore, and in-memory caching.
Amazon ElastiCache	Caching, session management gaming leaderboards geospatial applications	In-memory caching service to improve application performance with support for Redis and Memcached. Offers microsecond latency and scalability.
Amazon Keyspaces (for Apache Cassandra)	High-scale industrial apps fleet management route optimization	A scalable, managed Apache Cassandra-compatible service with serverless scaling. Provides seamless integration with Cassandra applications and handles backups and point-in-time recovery automatically.
Amazon MemoryDB	Microservices real-time applications IoT	A Redis-compatible, durable in-memory database providing ultra-fast performance and multi-AZ durability, useful for high-performance microservices applications.
Amazon Neptune	Fraud detection social networking recommendation engines	A fully managed graph database optimized for storing and querying highly connected data, supporting both property graphs and RDF models. Use cases include fraud detection, recommendation engines, and drug discovery.
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)	Enterprise applications web apps business analytics	A fully managed relational database service offering multiple engines (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server). Automates database management tasks like provisioning, backups, and scaling.
Amazon RDS for Db2	Business-critical workloads analytics	A fully managed service for Db2 databases, automating administrative tasks such as provisioning and backups. Includes features for high availability, disaster recovery, and integration with other AWS services.
Amazon RDS on VMware	Hybrid cloud disaster recovery on-premise deployments	Runs RDS in VMware environments with the same benefits as Amazon RDS, making it easy to scale and manage databases on-premise or in hybrid cloud deployments.
Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB)	Systems of record supply chain financial transactions	A fully managed ledger database that provides an immutable, cryptographically verifiable transaction log. Ideal for applications requiring a secure, transparent record of all data changes over time.
Amazon Timestream	IoT applications DevOps industrial telemetry	A purpose-built, fast, scalable time-series database for IoT and operational applications. Stores and processes large amounts of time-series data at a lower cost than relational databases.
Amazon DocumentDB (with MongoDB compatibility)	Content management catalogs user profiles	A fast, scalable, fully managed document database service compatible with MongoDB. Supports MongoDB workloads while offering improved scalability, availability, and performance.
Amazon Lightsail Managed Databases	Websites applications small businesses	Managed MySQL and PostgreSQL databases bundled with compute, SSD-based storage, and data transfer bandwidth into a fixed monthly price. Offers standard and high availability options.

Choosing the right AWS Database for your Application

Each AWS database solution has its strengths and is tailored for different types of applications:

For unstructured data that needs to scale quickly and flexibly, Amazon DynamoDB is the go-to choice.
For relational data with support for SQL queries, Amazon RDS or Amazon Aurora is ideal.
For highly connected data requiring graph-based queries, Amazon Neptune is the best option.
For time-series data from sensors or IoT devices, Amazon Timestream excels at real-time analysis.

Why use AWS Databases?

We use AWS databases because they make managing data easier, more secure, and cost-effective. Here’s why AWS databases are so popular:

1. Scalability

AWS databases grow with your business. Whether you're working on a small app or managing large-scale data, they automatically scale to fit your needs. You don’t have to worry about infrastructure management as everything adjusts seamlessly.

2. Fully Managed Services

AWS takes care of everything for you, from setting up and maintaining the database to handling backups, updates, and scaling. This means you can focus on your app without stressing about the technical side of managing databases.

3. High Availability & Durability

Your data is always available with AWS. Features like multi-AZ deployments and cross-region replication keep everything running smoothly, even if something goes wrong. AWS also ensures your data is safe and backed up, so you don’t have to worry about losing it.

4. Security

AWS databases come with strong security built in. They offer encryption for your data both while it’s being stored and during transfer. You also get full control over who can access your data, making sure everything stays secure and compliant with regulations.

5. Performance

AWS databases are optimized for speed and efficiency. Whether you need high-speed transactions with Amazon Aurora or fast data retrieval with DynamoDB, AWS ensures your applications perform well even under heavy load. Plus, you can use read replicas and caching to speed things up further.

6. Cost-Effectiveness

With AWS, you only pay for what you use, which helps keep costs under control. There are also options to optimize costs based on the type of workload, such as Aurora-Optimized for applications that need a lot of input/output operations.

7. Variety of Database Options

AWS offers a wide range of databases to choose from, whether you’re working with relational databases (RDS, Aurora), NoSQL options (DynamoDB), time-series data (Timestream), or graph databases (Neptune). You can pick what works best for your application.

8. Integration with Other AWS Services

AWS databases integrate easily with other AWS services, like Lambda and S3, helping you build comprehensive solutions that connect everything together. This makes it easier to manage and analyze your data.

9. Global Reach

AWS operates in multiple regions around the world, meaning you can deploy your databases closer to your users. This reduces latency and makes your application faster for a global audience.

10. Simplified Migration

Moving to AWS is easy with tools like the Database Migration Service (DMS), which helps you migrate your data with minimal downtime and complexity.

Best Practices for Managing AWS Databases: Security, Backup and Monitoring

1. Security

Always encrypt your data at rest and in transit. AWS offers powerful security features like IAM roles, VPCs, and multi-factor authentication to help protect your data.

2. Backup

Enable automatic backups in services like RDS and Aurora to ensure your data is protected. Use point-in-time recovery to easily restore data if needed.

3. Monitoring

Utilize Amazon CloudWatch to monitor the performance of your database. Set up alarms to get notified if something goes wrong.

4. Key-valued Databases

It focuses more on the values rather than the structure of the databases. It includes DynamoDB.

AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)

AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) helps you migrate databases to AWS quickly and with minimal downtime. It supports both homogeneous (same database engines) and heterogeneous (different database engines) migrations, making it flexible for various use cases.

The following table will help you to know more about AWS Data Migration Service(DMS)

Feature	Description
Supported Databases	Migrate from popular databases like Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL to AWS services (RDS, Aurora, Redshift, S3).
Continuous Replication	Enables near-zero downtime by continuously replicating data until migration is complete.
Schema Conversion	Use AWS Schema Conversion Tool to automatically convert schemas between different database engines.
Fully Managed	AWS manages infrastructure, scaling, and maintenance, letting you focus on the migration itself.
Cross-Region & Cross-Account	Allows migration between AWS regions or accounts.
Real-Time Monitoring	Integrated with Amazon CloudWatch to monitor progress and troubleshoot issues.
Use Cases	Upgrading Databases: Migrate to newer versions or different platforms (e.g., Oracle to Aurora). Cloud Migrations: Move databases from on-premises or other clouds to AWS. Disaster Recovery: Replicate data for backup and failover. Data Warehouse Migration: Migrate data to Redshift for analytics.
Benefits	Easy Setup: Simple migration process. Cost-Effective: Pay only for resources used. Scalable: Handles large migrations. High Availability: Multi-AZ deployment for failover. Secure: Data encryption during migration.

Easy ways to improve price performance and optimize costs

This following table show the methods for optimizing AWS database costs along with their respective improvements:

Cost Optimization Method	Price/Performance Improvement
AWS Graviton3 on Amazon Aurora and Amazon RDS	Up to 30% savings
Amazon Aurora Optimized Reads	Up to 30% cost savings, up to 8x faster query latency
Amazon Aurora Serverless v2 and Amazon Neptune Serverless	Up to 90% cost savings
Amazon DynamoDB import from S3 vs client-based writes with provisioned capacity	Up to 66% cost savings
Amazon ElastiCache	Up to 72% throughput increase, 71% latency reduction
Amazon MemoryDB	Up to 46% throughput increase, 21% reduction in P99 latency

Conclusion

AWS offers a wide variety of database services designed to meet different business needs, from small applications to large-scale enterprise systems. Whether you need a relational database, a NoSQL solution, or a time-series database, AWS provides flexible, scalable, and cost-effective options that grow with your business. With fully managed services like Amazon RDS and DynamoDB, you can focus on your application rather than infrastructure management. AWS also ensures high availability, performance, and security for your critical data.

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