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Amazon RDS vs Google Cloud SQL

Amazon RDS: AWS's managed service for six relational engines: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server and Db2. Google Cloud SQL: Google Cloud's managed MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQL Server, with an Enterprise Plus tier for fast failover.

key differences

  • These two are very similar on paper. Compare ecosystems, pricing and team familiarity.

choose amazon-rds for

  • +Lift-and-shift of existing PostgreSQL, MySQL or Oracle apps to AWS
  • +Standard web and line-of-business application backends
  • +Licensed commercial databases without managing servers
  • +Cost-sensitive workloads where Aurora is overkill

best at · OLTP, Content, Metadata

choose google-cloud-sql for

  • +Standard web and mobile backends on Google Cloud
  • +Migrating on-prem MySQL, Postgres or SQL Server to GCP
  • +Cloud Run and GKE application databases
  • +WordPress and CMS hosting

best at · OLTP, Content, Metadata

Amazon RDSAWS's managed service for six relational engines: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server and Db2.
Google Cloud SQLGoogle Cloud's managed MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQL Server, with an Enterprise Plus tier for fast failover.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Document, Spatial
Document, Spatial, Vector
Type
Managed service
Managed service
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Amazon Web Services
Google
First release
2009
2011
Latest version
–
–
License
ProprietaryProprietary (AWS service; engine licenses vary)
ProprietaryProprietary (Google Cloud service)
Free tier
✓
—
popularity
WhichDB Score
27.1
10.9
Rank
#107
#292
GitHub stars
–
–
Stack Overflow questions
7K
3.9K
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
None
None
Multi-region
Read replicas
Read replicas
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong, Eventual
Strong, Eventual
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Primary replica, Client server
Primary replica, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
—
—
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS
Google Cloud
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, T-SQL, PL/SQL
SQL, PL/pgSQL, T-SQL
Client languages
Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, C#, PHP, Ruby
Java, Python, Go, JavaScript, C#, PHP, Ruby
Best for
OLTP, Content, Metadata, Geo
OLTP, Content, Metadata, Vector search
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Amazon RDS vs Google Cloud SQL: FAQ

What is the difference between Amazon RDS and Google Cloud SQL?

Amazon RDS: AWS's managed service for six relational engines: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server and Db2. Google Cloud SQL: Google Cloud's managed MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQL Server, with an Enterprise Plus tier for fast failover.

When should I choose Amazon RDS over Google Cloud SQL?

Choose Amazon RDS for lift-and-shift of existing PostgreSQL, MySQL or Oracle apps to AWS; standard web and line-of-business application backends; and licensed commercial databases without managing servers. Choose Google Cloud SQL for standard web and mobile backends on Google Cloud; migrating on-prem MySQL, Postgres or SQL Server to GCP; and cloud Run and GKE application databases.

Is Amazon RDS or Google Cloud SQL more popular?

Amazon RDS ranks #107 on the WhichDB Score (27.1/100) and Google Cloud SQL ranks #292 (10.9/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Amazon RDS and Google Cloud SQL open source?

No. Amazon RDS is proprietary, closed-source software. No. Google Cloud SQL is proprietary, closed-source software.