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Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) vs. Azure SQL Database

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Amazon RDS

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AAmazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a database-as-a-service (DBaaS) from Amazon Web Services.N/A

    Azure SQL Database

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AAzure SQL Database is Microsoft's relational database as a service (DBaaS).

    $0.50

    Per Hour

    Pricing
    Amazon RDSAzure SQL Database
    Editions & Modules
    Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL
    $0.24 ($0.48)
    per hour, R5 Large (R5 Extra Large)
    Amazon RDS for MariaDB
    $0.25 ($0.50)
    per hour, R5 Large (R5 Extra Large)
    Amazon RDS for MySQL
    $0.29 ($0.58)
    per hour, R5 Large (R5 Extra Large)
    Amazon RDS for Oracle
    $0.482 ($0.964)
    per hour, R5 Large (R5 Extra Large)
    Amazon RDS for SQL Server
    $1.02 ($1.52)
    per hour, R5 Large (R5 Extra Large)
    2 vCORE
    $0.5044
    Per Hour
    6 vCORE
    $1.5131
    Per Hour
    10 vCORE
    $2.52
    Per Hour
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Amazon RDSAzure SQL Database
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Amazon RDSAzure SQL Database
    Considered Both Products
    Amazon AWS
    Chose Amazon RDS
    RDS Provides broader range of database engine. Well integration capabilities with third party makes it unique
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    RDS seems to be the best cross-section between cost, availability, deployment and throughput.
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) offers sql server version compatibility for earlier versions, but azure provides only for the latest version. Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) offers higher storage for each database instance. I think Amazon Relational Database …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    Earlier we were using the Azure Ecosystem but we faced some issues in DevOps side so we decided to migrate towards some other reliable infra so we migrated all our engines, RDS and other services to Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) and from that time we are using this. …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is an excellent option for those using AWS already, and provides a scalable, performant, database engine. Unlike Azure SQL Server it has a limit on the number of databases you can hold. However, if you're already in the AWS ecosystem it …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    Amazon RDS is more resilient and accepted industry wide when compared to its peers. Also, as we have other services on AWS so it would be easier to integrate with other services like ECS if we go with Amazon RDS. Furthermore, it would be more cost effective if we go with Amazon …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    We needed to use PostgreSQL due to it being the database engine that our application vendor uses. Once we were constrained on the database engine choice then Microsoft products (eg. SQL Server), whether on premise or in the cloud, were not appropriate. Therefore the only …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    we could use Azure SQL for our project but as our other parts of the solutions existed on AWS, it was a better choice to have AWS RDS or else traffic exiting AWS would have taken a lot of cloud changes.
    Microsoft SQL Server requires license, either core-based or full license …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    In my opinion, Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) has provided better services in terms of Scalability and data Security as compared to its competitor. It helped us to manage our data using RDS server more efficiently and effectively. The high Availability helped us to …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    Whether using AWS, GCP, or Azure, you get the most value out of using applications from the same suite. Since my organization is AWS first, I am using RDS because it provides the most value for us using it with the other AWS offerings
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    I selected AWS RDS over Azure because of the [number] of products AWS has that work together. The cost for RDS was cheaper than Azure's SQL also. I use Azure for MSSQL workloads and AWS for MySQL workloads. Probably the main reason was we wanted to use S3 and Azure doesn't have …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    RDS provides a much better deal in all contexts. It is fast reliable and trusted by hundreds. Loved to have this database.
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is very well integrated with AWS services like CloudWatch, Lambda, IAM, Secrets Manager, S3, etc. It is AWS managed database service. It provides a serverless version using Aurora with auto-scaling features. Its features like …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    We try to use Azure Databases, but we encountered issues of combining services between AWS and Azure, so this is the main reason we decided to move with Amazon RDS. I can say that between services they're quite alike but it all depends what cloud provider you use for the other …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    As a POC, we had worked with Azure and GCP's databases as well. One problem with Azure is that it seems slow in supporting new versions of MySQL. With GCP Cloud SQL, the security configuration for the database was not as intuitive as in AWS. The UI in both Azure and GCP was …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    We mainly used RDS because our infrastructure was already up and running on AWS so the networking between the systems was quite easy to set up and manage. For our Azure infrastructure, we used their SQL database option instead for the same reasons. If AWS made it easier to use …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    Our other application components are all hosted within Amazon's systems already, and the tight coupling of RDS with the security groups and virtual private cloud offerings made locking down privacy and security much easier than integrating with an outside provider. The deeper …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    There really isn't a comparable service. Azure was surprisingly complicated to set up and crashed at odd points during a POC without much help. We looked at Rackspace to check it out, but as most of our infrastructure is in AWS, any benefit to Rackspace's offerings were …
    Incentivized
    Chose Amazon RDS
    Azure and AWS RDS are very similar, both have similar capabilities and functions. When you need it, the aspect of only being charged for a running instance is very nice.
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    Chose Azure SQL Database
    We looked at Google Cloud SQL and Amazon RDS services, but we did not want to switch to a different structure from the system we currently use.
    Incentivized
    Chose Azure SQL Database
    Amazon RDS for SQL Server is the best example to compare with Azure SQL Database since both provide a Microsoft SQL Engine to host your databases.

    Amazon RDS for SQL is much more compatible with your on-premises databases than Azure SQL, the reason is that Amazon RDS for SQL …
    Incentivized
    Chose Azure SQL Database
    Amazon Relational Database Service is the other obvious competitor. We were already in Azure, so it's not a serious contender for our business due to that bias already, but I do personally find the marketing and documentation of RDS more intimidating to sort through.
    Incentivized
    Chose Azure SQL Database
    The simplicity and great features and good support of Microsoft as well as the more reasonable flexible price than other competitors is one of the important reasons for choosing it.
    Incentivized
    Chose Azure SQL Database
    It is very easy to setup SQL database on Azure. one can always refer to their documentation for best practices. It is highly available and scalable. It is cheaper than its alternatives and provide better performance than others. As we are using many other services of Azure for …
    Incentivized
    Chose Azure SQL Database
    Amazon's RDS offering is actually very good and is used in other parts of the company, we just have a lot of Azure experience so wanted to leverage that.
    Incentivized
    Chose Azure SQL Database
    Very similar product. Our company preferred to remain in the Microsoft Software Suite.
    Incentivized
    Chose Azure SQL Database
    If you are a company that is already invested in Microsoft technologies, then the Azure suite is a better fit than the Amazon suite.
    Incentivized
    Chose Azure SQL Database
    As we were early adopters with Azure and landed on the Azure PaaS (Platform as a Service), it made sense to use databases that were on the same platform as the application to save on costs. Also, we were impressed with the simplicity of Azure SQL. From a management perspective …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    99%
    Would buy again
    102 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    13 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    98 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    12 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    102 Answers
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    12 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    99%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    83 Answers
    92%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    11 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    96 Answers
    92%
    Implementation went as expected
    12 Answers
    Features
    Amazon RDSAzure SQL Database
    Database-as-a-Service
    Comparison of Database-as-a-Service features of Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) and Azure SQL Database
    Feature
    Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)
    -
    Ratings
    Azure SQL Database
    9.2
    28 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Automatic software patching00 Ratings9.026 Ratings
    Database scalability00 Ratings9.028 Ratings
    Automated backups00 Ratings10.028 Ratings
    Database security provisions00 Ratings9.028 Ratings
    Monitoring and metrics00 Ratings8.027 Ratings
    Automatic host deployment00 Ratings10.023 Ratings
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    Amazon RDSAzure SQL Database
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    Medium-sized Companies
    SAP HANA Cloud
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Azure Database
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
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    Score10 out of 10
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    Score8.4 out of 10
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    User Ratings
    Amazon RDSAzure SQL Database
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.8
    (130 ratings)
    8.0
    (28 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.4
    (5 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (7 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.6
    (13 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Online Training
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Amazon RDSAzure SQL Database
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Amazon AWS
    If your application needs a relational data store and uses other AWS services, AWS RDS is a no-brainer. It offers all the traditional database features, makes it a snap to set up, creates cross-region replication, has advanced security, built-in monitoring, and much more at a very good price. You can also set up streaming to a data lake using various other AWS services on your RDS.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Your upcoming app can be built faster on a fully managed SQL database and can be moved into Azure with a few to no application code changes. Flexible and responsive server less computing and Hyperscale storage can cope with your changing requirements and one of the main benefits is the reduction in costs, which is noticeable.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Amazon AWS
    • Automated Database Management: We use it for streamlining routine tasks like software patching and database backups.
    • Scalability on Demand: we use it to handle traffic spikes, scaling both vertically and horizontally.
    • Database Engine Compatibility: It works amazingly with multiple database engines used by different departments within our organization including MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and Oracle.
    • Monitoring: It covers our extensive monitoring and logging, and also has great compatibility with Amazon CloudWatch
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Maintenance is always an issue, so using a cloud solution saves a lot of trouble.
    • On premise solutions always suffer from fragmented implementations here and there, where several "dba's" keep track of security and maintenance. With a cloud database it's much easier to keep a central overview.
    • Security options in SQL database are next level... data masking, hiding sensitive data where always neglected on premise, whereas you'll get this automatically in the cloud.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Amazon AWS
    • It is a little difficult to configure and connect to an RDS instance. The integration with ECS can be made more seamless.
    • Exploring features within RDS is not very easy and intuitive. Either a human friendly documentation should be added or the User Interface be made intuitive so that people can explore and find features on their own.
    • There should be tools to analyze cost and minimize it according to the usage.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • One needs to be aware that some T-SQL features are simply not available.
    • The programmatic access to server, trace flags, hardware from within Azure SQL Database is taken away (for a good reason).
    • No SQL Agent so your jobs need to be orchestrated differently.
    • The maximum concurrent logins maybe an unexpected problem.
    • Sudden disconnects.
    • The developers and admin must study the capacity and tier usage limits https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-subscription-service-limits otherwise some errors or even transaction aborts never seen before can occur.
    • Only one Latin Collation choice.
    • There is no way to debug T-SQL ( a big drawback in my point of view).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Amazon AWS
    We do renew our use of Amazon Relational Database Service. We don't have any problems faced with RDS in place. RDS has taken away lot of overhead of hosting database, managing the database and keeping a team just to manage database. Even the backup, security and recovery another overhead that has been taken away by RDS. So, we will keep on using RDS.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    This is best solution as a DBA one could expect from a service provider and as a cloud service, it removes all your hassles.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Amazon AWS
    I've been using AWS Relational Database Services in several projects in different environments and from the AWS products, maybe this one together to EC2 are my favourite. They deliver what they promise. Reliable, fast, easy and with a fair price (in comparison to commercial products which have obscure license agreements).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    It just works!
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Amazon AWS
    I have only had good experiences in working with AWS support. I will admit that my experience comes from the benefit of having a premium tier of support but even working with free-tier accounts I have not had problems getting help with AWS products when needed. And most often, the docs do a pretty good job of explaining how to operate a service so a quick spin through the docs has been useful in solving problems.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We give the support a high rating simply because every time we've had issues or questions, representatives were in contact with us quickly. Without fail, our issues/questions were handled in a timely matter. That kind of response is integral when client data integrity and availability is in question. There is also a wealth of documentation for resolving issues on your own.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Amazon AWS
    the online training & digital content available on the web from AWS was having sufficient information to deploy and run the service
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Amazon AWS
    Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) stands out among similar products due to its seamless integration with other AWS services, automated backups, and multi-AZ deployments for high availability. Its support for various database engines, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle, provides flexibility. Additionally, RDS offers managed security features, including encryption and IAM integration, enhancing data protection. The pay-as-you-go pricing model makes it cost-effective. Overall, Amazon RDS excels in ease of use, scalability, and a comprehensive feature set, making it a top choice for organizations seeking a reliable and scalable managed relational database service in the cloud.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We moved away from Oracle and NoSQL because we had been so reliant on them for the last 25 years, the pricing was too much and we were looking for a way to cut the cord. Snowflake is just too up in the air, feels like it is soon to be just another line item to add to your Azure subscription. Azure was just priced right, easy to migrate to and plenty of resources to hire to support/maintain it. Very easy to learn, too.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Amazon AWS
    • The overall cost increases, but we spect this and we can mitigate other risks.
    • Is easy to work from the cloud. Is reliable, but we keep our local solution as well where RDS works quite good.
    • RDS allow us to focurs on owr objetives instead of the other matters regarding databases.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Perfect for small and medium databases, being very cost effective.
    • As a Platform as a Service, there is no concern about patches, upgrades and end of life.
    • Be aware of security and network capabilities. The service cannot run in the VNET as Azure Virtual Machines do.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Amazon RDS Screenshots

    Screenshot of A look inside the RDS console.