# Managed relational databases: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "managed relational database service" and as "hosted SQL database", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/it-data/managed-relational-databases/2026-11

**Standing:** Amazon RDS leads with 51% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 53 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Amazon RDS](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-rds/index.md) | 51% | 18% | 72 |
| 2 | [Azure SQL Database](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-sql-database/index.md) | 9% | 17% | 59 |
| 3 | [Google Cloud SQL](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/google-cloud-sql/index.md) | 8% | 16% | 73 |
| 4 | [Amazon Aurora](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-aurora/index.md) | 8% | 20% | 50 |
| 5 | [Supabase](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/supabase/index.md) | 8% | 12% | 24 |
| 6 | [DigitalOcean Managed Databases](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/digitalocean-managed-databases/index.md) | 8% | 6% | 16 |
| 7 | [Neon](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/neon/index.md) | 4% | 10% | 20 |
| 11 | [AlloyDB for PostgreSQL](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/alloydb-for-postgresql/index.md) | 0% | 15% | 13 |
| 14 | [Azure Database for PostgreSQL](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-database-for-postgresql/index.md) | 0% | 18% | 11 |
| 15 | [PlanetScale](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/planetscale/index.md) | 0% | 26% | 19 |
| 18 | [CockroachDB](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cockroachdb/index.md) | 0% | 25% | 12 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 82 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Amazon RDS, Google Cloud SQL; alternatives Azure SQL Database
- GPT-5.4 mini: Amazon RDS; alternatives Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL Database
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Amazon Aurora; alternatives AlloyDB for PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database, CockroachDB Cloud, Google Cloud SQL
- Perplexity Sonar: Amazon RDS; alternatives Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL Database, CockroachDB, Google Cloud SQL
- Grok 4.20: Google Cloud SQL; alternatives Amazon RDS, Azure SQL Database
- Mistral Small: Amazon RDS; alternatives Amazon Aurora, Google Cloud SQL
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Amazon RDS; alternatives Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
- Llama 4 Maverick: Amazon RDS; alternatives Amazon Aurora, Google Cloud SQL
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Amazon RDS; alternatives Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
- Kimi K2: Amazon RDS; alternatives Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Amazon RDS; alternatives Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
- MiniMax M2.5: Amazon RDS; alternatives Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
- GPT-6 Luna: Amazon RDS; alternatives Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Amazon RDS; alternatives Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL

## Sources the answers cite

67 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 13 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- gane.ai/index: 32 answers, 55 citations
- aws.amazon.com: 31 answers, 70 citations
- docs.aws.amazon.com: 22 answers, 33 citations
- learn.microsoft.com: 18 answers, 31 citations
- cloud.google.com: 18 answers, 30 citations
- docs.cloud.google.com: 17 answers, 21 citations
- github.com: 16 answers, 17 citations
- peerspot.com: 13 answers, 16 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://aws.amazon.com/rds (21 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/it-data/managed-relational-databases (19 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/it-data/managed-relational-databases/2026-09 (14 answers)
- https://github.com/PatrickWiloak/cloud-data-ai-security-zero-to-hero/blob/main/resources/service-comparison-databases.md (14 answers)
- https://docs.cloud.google.com/docs/get-started/aws-azure-gcp-service-comparison (13 answers)
- https://peerspot.com/products/comparisons/amazon-rds_vs_google-cloud-sql_vs_microsoft-azure-sql-database (12 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-rds (11 answers)
- https://cloud.google.com/sql (10 answers)
- https://aws.amazon.com/rds/features (8 answers)
- https://aws.amazon.com/rds/pricing (8 answers)

## Warned against

- Amazon RDS: 13 of 72 labels negative. "Some models explicitly recommend avoiding RDS for production core systems unless absolutely necessary." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Azure SQL Database: 10 of 59 labels negative. "frequent 60‑second storage stalls, IOPS throttling, memory‑to‑core mismatches" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Google Cloud SQL: 12 of 73 labels negative. "Avoid (or treat with extreme caution):  - Google Cloud SQL – accidental deletion risk, limited backup/recovery, low control over storage." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Amazon Aurora: 10 of 50 labels negative. "Some models explicitly recommend avoiding RDS for production core systems unless absolutely necessary." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Amazon RDS at 51%.

- Azure SQL Database: 2% to 9%, +7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 7 → 2 of 82.
- Amazon RDS: 45% to 51%, +6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 1 of 82, unchanged.
- Neon: 10% to 4%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 4 → 7 of 82.
- Amazon Aurora: 12% to 8%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 2 → 4 of 82.
- Google Cloud SQL: 10% to 8%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 3 of 82, unchanged.
- Supabase: 7% to 8%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 6 → 5 of 82.
- DigitalOcean Managed Databases: 9% to 8%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 5 → 6 of 82.
- AlloyDB for PostgreSQL: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 11 of 82.
- Aiven for PostgreSQL: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 → 12 of 82.
- Azure Database for PostgreSQL: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 12 → 14 of 82.
- PlanetScale: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 22 → 15 of 82.
- Google Cloud Spanner: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 56 → 16 of 82.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.