Managed relational databases · November 2026 Edition
Amazon RDS vs Amazon Aurora
Twelve of fourteen models named Amazon RDS first on the direct prompt; one named Amazon Aurora. Amazon RDS was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Amazon Aurora by thirteen and Amazon RDS carries 72 labels and Amazon Aurora 50, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Named in two categories this edition.
First-choice share51%8%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate18%20%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#4A position in a field of 11; printed, not drawn.
Labels7250A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Amazon RDS reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Google Cloud SQL was named alongside these two in thirteen of the fourteen direct answers. Amazon RDS vs Azure SQL Database · Amazon RDS vs Google Cloud SQL · Amazon RDS vs Supabase
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the managed relational databases page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Amazon RDSFirst choices, of fourteen modelsAmazon Aurora
Direct1212 against Amazon Aurora
Paraphrase1131 against Amazon Aurora
Comparative74
Budget-constrained403 against Amazon RDS · 1 against Amazon Aurora
Scale-constrained001 against Amazon Aurora
Negative1010 against Amazon RDS · 5 against Amazon Aurora
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora were named in the same answer 105 times, of the 200 answers naming Amazon RDS and the 139 naming Amazon Aurora. In those answers Amazon Aurora took the first choice thirteen times and Amazon RDS thirty-six.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | | | |
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | ||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | | |
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | | | |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | | | | |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | | |
| Kimi K2 | | | | | | |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | | |
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | | |
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | |||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | | |
Amazon RDS Amazon Aurora first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Amazon RDS on the left and Amazon Aurora on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora stood in it.
Amazon RDS first, Amazon Aurora an alternative
12 of 14 modelsAmazon Aurora was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Claude Haiku 4.5Amazon RDS, Google Cloud SQL alternatives: Azure SQL Database
GPT-5.4 miniAmazon RDS alternatives: Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL Database
Perplexity SonarAmazon RDS alternatives: Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL Database, CockroachDB, Google Cloud SQL, Supabase
Mistral SmallAmazon RDS alternatives: Amazon Aurora, Google Cloud SQL
DeepSeek V4 FlashAmazon RDS alternatives: Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
Llama 4 MaverickAmazon RDS alternatives: Amazon Aurora, Google Cloud SQL
Qwen 3.7 FlashAmazon RDS alternatives: Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
Kimi K2Amazon RDS alternatives: Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
GLM 4.7 FlashXAmazon RDS alternatives: Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
MiniMax M2.5Amazon RDS alternatives: Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
GPT-6 LunaAmazon RDS alternatives: Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
Muse Glimmer 30BAmazon RDS alternatives: Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
Amazon Aurora first, Amazon RDS not the choice
1 of 14 modelsAmazon RDS was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Gemini 3.5 FlashAmazon Aurora alternatives: AlloyDB for PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database, CockroachDB Cloud, Google Cloud SQL, Neon, Supabase
Neither was the first choice, one was named
1 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Grok 4.20Google Cloud SQL alternatives: Amazon RDS, Azure SQL Database
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Amazon RDS leads by nineteen points.
Amazon RDS24%#2 of 8Amazon Aurora5%#6 of 8Mid-marketThe figures above
Amazon RDS leads by forty-three points.
Amazon RDS51%#1 of 11Amazon Aurora8%#4 of 11Enterprise
The order flips: Amazon Aurora leads at enterprise.
Amazon Aurora43%#1 of 8Amazon RDS20%#2 of 8What the models said about Amazon RDS
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Some models explicitly recommend avoiding RDS for production core systems unless absolutely necessary.” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · hard negative
“Some models explicitly recommend avoiding RDS for production core systems unless absolutely necessary.” Llama 4 Maverick · negative prompt · hard negative
“AWS RDS – hidden markup, vendor lock‑in, limited operational control.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative
“AWS RDS or Azure SQL Database are solid default choices due to their maturity, reliability, compliance certifications, and strong support ecosystems” Claude Haiku 4.5 · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Amazon's Relational Database Service offers a free tier for the first 12 months... AWS Lightsail is also budget-friendly for smaller workloads.” Claude Haiku 4.5 · budget prompt · first choice
“Broad engine choice and familiar database behavior... You're already on AWS, want a conventional engine, or need Oracle, SQL Server, or Db2.” GPT-6 Luna · comparative prompt · first choice
What the models said about Amazon Aurora
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Some models explicitly recommend avoiding RDS for production core systems unless absolutely necessary.” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · hard negative
“Experts advise caution or avoidance for production core systems unless absolutely necessary.” Llama 4 Maverick · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid Overkill: Skip premium options like Amazon Aurora or Azure SQL Managed Instance” Grok 4.20 · budget prompt · hard negative
“If your infrastructure is already on AWS, choose Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL. It balances reliability, compliance, auto-scaling, and industry-standard adoption.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“Best Overall for AWS Infrastructure: Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL ... is the gold standard for mid-sized B2B platforms.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Choose Amazon Aurora if you're on AWS or need maximum scalability — it provides the best price/performance ratio” Kimi K2 · paraphrase prompt · first choice
Also compared
Amazon RDS vs Azure SQL DatabaseAmazon RDS vs Google Cloud SQLAmazon RDS vs SupabaseAmazon RDS vs DigitalOcean Managed DatabasesAmazon RDS vs NeonAzure SQL Database vs Amazon AuroraGoogle Cloud SQL vs Amazon AuroraAmazon Aurora vs SupabaseAmazon Aurora vs DigitalOcean Managed DatabasesAmazon Aurora vs NeonAll twenty-one head-to-head pages and the full managed databases standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.