# Amazon Aurora

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/databases/amazon-aurora/

AWS relational database engine compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL, built on a shared cluster volume with copy-on-write cloning and a serverless capacity mode.

## Who it suits

Teams on AWS who want a Postgres or MySQL cluster that can throw off a copy-on-write clone of production in minutes, keep up to fifteen readers behind it, and pause to nothing between bursts in serverless mode.

Consider something else if You want the upstream database rather than a compatible one, or a branch workflow rather than a clone. AWS documents cloning as a way to build a test environment, not as something you do per pull request.

## What the documentation says

### Pricing

- Free tier: Yes — capped Free plan plus time-limited credits ([source](https://aws.amazon.com/rds/aurora/pricing/), read 2026-09-09)
- Pricing model: Pay per use with no plan fee: instances plus storage plus I/O, or ACU-hours in serverless mode. AWS's own worked example prices serverless compute at $0.12 per ACU-hour on Aurora Standard and $0.156 on Aurora I/O-Optimized in US East (N. Virginia) — the difference being whether I/O is metered separately or folded into a higher compute and storage rate. Provisioned instances also offer Reserved Instance pricing, and usage may qualify for Database Savings Plans against a committed hourly spend. ([source](https://aws.amazon.com/rds/aurora/pricing/), read 2026-09-09)

### Infrastructure

- Scales to zero: Supported — serverless capacity mode only ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/aurora-serverless-v2-administration.html), read 2026-09-09)
- Regions: 34 AWS regions, the same list for the MySQL- and PostgreSQL-compatible editions. Counted from the two availability tables in Aurora's own docs, which publish the regions and no total. ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/Concepts.RegionsAndAvailabilityZones.html), read 2026-09-09)

### Data

- Engine: MySQL- and PostgreSQL-compatible. Aurora is AWS's own engine rather than a hosted build of either, so compatibility is the claim being made — existing code, tools and applications are stated to work, which is not the same as being the upstream database. ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/CHAP_AuroraOverview.html), read 2026-09-09)
- Database branching: Limited — clones, not a branch workflow ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/Aurora.Managing.Clone.html), read 2026-09-09)
- Point-in-time recovery: Any point inside the backup retention period, so up to 35 days. Aurora's backups are continuous and incremental against the cluster volume rather than periodic snapshots plus log replay, which is why AWS states no performance impact while they are taken. ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/Aurora.Managing.Backups.html), read 2026-09-09)
- Read replicas: Supported — 15 per cluster, a quota AWS will not raise ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/CHAP_Limits.html), read 2026-09-09)
- Backup retention: 1 to 35 days. Unlike an RDS DB instance it cannot be set to 0 — Aurora backs the cluster volume up continuously and there is no way to turn that off. ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/Aurora.Managing.Backups.html), read 2026-09-09)
- Rewind in place: Limited — Aurora MySQL edition only ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/AuroraMySQL.Managing.Backtrack.html), read 2026-09-09)

## Compared with

- [Amazon Aurora vs Neon](https://inetgeek.com/compare/amazon-aurora-vs-neon/)
- [Amazon Aurora vs Supabase](https://inetgeek.com/compare/amazon-aurora-vs-supabase/)
- [Amazon Aurora vs Amazon RDS](https://inetgeek.com/compare/amazon-rds-vs-amazon-aurora/)