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Amazon Aurora DSQL vs YugabyteDB

Amazon Aurora DSQL: Serverless, active-active distributed SQL on AWS with PostgreSQL compatibility and no instances to size. YugabyteDB: Apache-licensed distributed SQL that reuses the PostgreSQL query layer on a Raft-replicated storage engine.

key differences

  • Licensing: Amazon Aurora DSQL is proprietary (Proprietary (AWS service)); YugabyteDB is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0).
  • Only YugabyteDB has full-text search, vector search, json, change data capture, triggers.
  • Amazon Aurora DSQL has a serverless option; YugabyteDB does not.

choose amazon-aurora-dsql for

  • +New AWS-native microservices needing zero-ops relational storage
  • +Multi-Region active-active user, order and entitlement data
  • +Serverless apps on Lambda with spiky traffic
  • +Ledgers and counters that must never lose a committed write

best at · OLTP, Metadata, Ledger

choose yugabytedb for

  • +Scaling a Postgres application beyond one primary
  • +Multi-region customer and order data with zone/region resilience
  • +Retail and financial OLTP needing horizontal write capacity
  • +IoT and telemetry metadata with TTL on YCQL tables

best at · OLTP, Metadata, IoT

Amazon Aurora DSQLServerless, active-active distributed SQL on AWS with PostgreSQL compatibility and no instances to size.
YugabyteDBApache-licensed distributed SQL that reuses the PostgreSQL query layer on a Raft-replicated storage engine.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
–
Document, Wide-Column, Vector
Type
Managed service
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Amazon Web Services
Yugabyte, Inc.
First release
2025
2017
Latest version
–
2026.1.2.0 (Sep 22, 2026)
License
ProprietaryProprietary (AWS service)
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
14.7
32.7
Rank
#227
#69
GitHub stars
–
10.6K
Stack Overflow questions
1
370
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
Active active
Active active
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong, Tunable
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Serverless, Multi primary
Distributed, Multi primary, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
—
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
✓
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
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
SQL, PL/pgSQL, CQL
Client languages
Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, Rust, C#, Ruby
Java, Go, Python, JavaScript, C#, Rust, Ruby, C++
Best for
OLTP, Metadata, Ledger
OLTP, Metadata, IoT, Vector search
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Amazon Aurora DSQL vs YugabyteDB: FAQ

What is the difference between Amazon Aurora DSQL and YugabyteDB?

Amazon Aurora DSQL: Serverless, active-active distributed SQL on AWS with PostgreSQL compatibility and no instances to size. YugabyteDB: Apache-licensed distributed SQL that reuses the PostgreSQL query layer on a Raft-replicated storage engine. Licensing: Amazon Aurora DSQL is proprietary (Proprietary (AWS service)); YugabyteDB is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0). Only YugabyteDB has full-text search, vector search, json, change data capture, triggers. Amazon Aurora DSQL has a serverless option; YugabyteDB does not.

When should I choose Amazon Aurora DSQL over YugabyteDB?

Choose Amazon Aurora DSQL for new AWS-native microservices needing zero-ops relational storage; multi-Region active-active user, order and entitlement data; and serverless apps on Lambda with spiky traffic. Choose YugabyteDB for scaling a Postgres application beyond one primary; multi-region customer and order data with zone/region resilience; and retail and financial OLTP needing horizontal write capacity.

Is Amazon Aurora DSQL or YugabyteDB more popular?

YugabyteDB ranks #69 on the WhichDB Score (32.7/100) and Amazon Aurora DSQL ranks #227 (14.7/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Amazon Aurora DSQL and YugabyteDB open source?

No. Amazon Aurora DSQL is proprietary, closed-source software. Yes. YugabyteDB is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.