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AlloyDB for PostgreSQL vs Amazon Aurora

AlloyDB for PostgreSQL: Google's Postgres-compatible service with disaggregated storage, a columnar engine and ScaNN vectors. Amazon Aurora: AWS's MySQL- and PostgreSQL-compatible engine on a shared, six-way replicated storage layer.

key differences

  • Horizontal scaling is none in AlloyDB for PostgreSQL and addon in Amazon Aurora.
  • Only AlloyDB for PostgreSQL has columnar storage, in-memory, compression.
  • Only Amazon Aurora has time travel, branching.
  • Amazon Aurora has a serverless option; AlloyDB for PostgreSQL does not.

choose alloydb for

  • +Migrating demanding Postgres or Oracle workloads to Google Cloud
  • +Operational analytics on live transactional data
  • +RAG and semantic search with vectors stored beside business data
  • +Hybrid deployments using AlloyDB Omni on-premises

best at · OLTP, HTAP, Vector search

choose amazon-aurora for

  • +Production MySQL or PostgreSQL backends on AWS
  • +Read-heavy web and SaaS applications
  • +Spiky or dev/test workloads on Serverless v2
  • +Cross-region disaster recovery with Global Database

best at · OLTP, Content, Metadata

AlloyDB for PostgreSQLGoogle's Postgres-compatible service with disaggregated storage, a columnar engine and ScaNN vectors.
Amazon AuroraAWS's MySQL- and PostgreSQL-compatible engine on a shared, six-way replicated storage layer.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Document, Spatial, Vector, Columnar / OLAP
Document, Spatial, Vector
Type
Managed service
Managed service
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Google
Amazon Web Services
First release
2022
2015
Latest version
–
–
License
ProprietaryProprietary (Google Cloud service; AlloyDB Omni commercial license)
ProprietaryProprietary (AWS service)
Free tier
—
—
popularity
WhichDB Score
3.6
24.9
Rank
#430
#123
GitHub stars
–
–
Stack Overflow questions
40
1.6K
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Horizontal scaling
None
Addon
Multi-region
Read replicas
Read replicas
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong, Eventual
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Shared storage, Primary replica
Shared storage, Primary replica, Serverless
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
—
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
—
✓
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
Google Cloud
AWS
capabilities
Transactions
✓
✓
Joins
✓
✓
Secondary indexes
✓
✓
Full-text search
✓
✓
Vector search
✓
✓
Geospatial
✓
✓
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
✓
✓
Triggers
✓
✓
Stored procedures
✓
✓
Materialized views
✓
✓
TTL / expiry
—
—
Pub/Sub
✓
✓
Columnar storage
✓
—
In-memory
✓
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
—
Encryption at rest
✓
✓
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
—
✓
Branching
—
✓
Online schema changes
—
—
Streaming ingest
—
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
SQL, PL/pgSQL
SQL, PL/pgSQL
Client languages
Java, Python, Go, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, PHP
Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, C#, PHP, Ruby
Best for
OLTP, HTAP, Vector search, RAG
OLTP, Content, Metadata, Vector search
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

AlloyDB for PostgreSQL vs Amazon Aurora: FAQ

What is the difference between AlloyDB for PostgreSQL and Amazon Aurora?

AlloyDB for PostgreSQL: Google's Postgres-compatible service with disaggregated storage, a columnar engine and ScaNN vectors. Amazon Aurora: AWS's MySQL- and PostgreSQL-compatible engine on a shared, six-way replicated storage layer. Horizontal scaling is none in AlloyDB for PostgreSQL and addon in Amazon Aurora. Only AlloyDB for PostgreSQL has columnar storage, in-memory, compression. Only Amazon Aurora has time travel, branching.

When should I choose AlloyDB for PostgreSQL over Amazon Aurora?

Choose AlloyDB for PostgreSQL for migrating demanding Postgres or Oracle workloads to Google Cloud; operational analytics on live transactional data; and RAG and semantic search with vectors stored beside business data. Choose Amazon Aurora for production MySQL or PostgreSQL backends on AWS; read-heavy web and SaaS applications; and spiky or dev/test workloads on Serverless v2.

Is AlloyDB for PostgreSQL or Amazon Aurora more popular?

Amazon Aurora ranks #123 on the WhichDB Score (24.9/100) and AlloyDB for PostgreSQL ranks #430 (3.6/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are AlloyDB for PostgreSQL and Amazon Aurora open source?

No. AlloyDB for PostgreSQL is proprietary, closed-source software. No. Amazon Aurora is proprietary, closed-source software.