# Managed relational databases for enterprise buyers: 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 an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/it-data/managed-relational-databases/enterprise

**Standing:** Amazon Aurora leads with 43% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 49 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Amazon Aurora](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-aurora/index.md) | 43% | 13% | 55 |
| 2 | [Amazon RDS](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-rds/index.md) | 20% | 21% | 53 |
| 3 | [Azure SQL Database](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-sql-database/index.md) | 16% | 16% | 63 |
| 4 | [Google Cloud SQL](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/google-cloud-sql/index.md) | 8% | 12% | 60 |
| 10 | [AlloyDB for PostgreSQL](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/alloydb-for-postgresql/index.md) | 0% | 4% | 25 |
| 11 | [Oracle Autonomous Database](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/oracle-autonomous-database/index.md) | 0% | 21% | 14 |
| 12 | [Google Cloud Spanner](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/google-cloud-spanner/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 15 |
| 13 | [CockroachDB](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cockroachdb/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 99 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; alternatives Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
- GPT-5.4 mini: Amazon Aurora; alternatives Amazon RDS, Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL, Oracle Autonomous Database
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Amazon Aurora; alternatives AlloyDB for PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database, CockroachDB
- Perplexity Sonar: Amazon Aurora; alternatives AlloyDB for PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL, Google Cloud Spanner
- Grok 4.20: Amazon RDS; alternatives Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL, Oracle Autonomous Database
- Mistral Small: Amazon Aurora; alternatives Amazon RDS, Azure SQL Database
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Amazon Aurora; alternatives Amazon RDS, Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL / AlloyDB
- Llama 4 Maverick: Amazon Aurora; alternatives Amazon RDS, Google Cloud SQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: AWS; alternatives AlloyDB for PostgreSQL, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure
- Kimi K2: Amazon Aurora; alternatives Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL / AlloyDB
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Amazon Aurora; alternatives Azure SQL Database, EDB BigAnimal, Google Cloud SQL, YugabyteDB Aeon
- MiniMax M2.5: Amazon Aurora; alternatives Aiven for PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database, CockroachDB Cloud, DigitalOcean Managed Databases
- GPT-6 Luna: Amazon Aurora; alternatives AlloyDB for PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database, RDS for PostgreSQL
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Amazon Aurora; alternatives Azure SQL Database

## Sources the answers cite

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

- aws.amazon.com: 35 answers, 77 citations
- cloud.google.com: 32 answers, 55 citations
- learn.microsoft.com: 27 answers, 40 citations
- docs.aws.amazon.com: 25 answers, 35 citations
- gane.ai/index: 22 answers, 25 citations
- g2.com: 17 answers, 24 citations
- mariadb.com: 17 answers, 21 citations
- azure.microsoft.com: 16 answers, 34 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://gane.ai/index/it/it-data/managed-relational-databases/enterprise (22 answers)
- https://aws.amazon.com/rds (21 answers)
- https://cloud.google.com/sql (20 answers)
- https://ciopages.com/buyer-guides/database-platform (13 answers)
- https://mariadb.com/resources/white-papers/rds-hidden-costs-and-alternatives (11 answers)
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/sql-database-paas-overview?view=azuresql (10 answers)
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/decision-guides/latest/decision-guides/databases-on-aws-how-to-choose.html (9 answers)
- https://northflank.com/blog/best-database-providers (9 answers)
- https://techtarget.com/news/Cloud-database-comparison-AWS-Microsoft-Google-and-Oracle/842871 (9 answers)
- https://cloud.google.com/products/databases (8 answers)

## Warned against

- Amazon RDS: 11 of 53 labels negative. "rated Amazon RDS with "highest caution" and recommended avoiding it for "production core systems"" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Azure SQL Database: 10 of 63 labels negative. "Avoid Auto-Scaling Serverless Tiers for Core Workloads: ... far more expensive and less predictable" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt)
- Google Cloud SQL: 7 of 60 labels negative. "High Write Throughput: Avoid Google Cloud SQL (Standard)." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Amazon Aurora: 7 of 55 labels negative. "Avoid Auto-Scaling Serverless Tiers for Core Workloads: ... far more expensive and less predictable" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Amazon Aurora at 43%.

- Amazon Aurora: 26% to 43%, +17. Cleared the floor by 6 points · rank 1 of 99, unchanged.
- Azure SQL Database: 24% to 16%, −8. Inside the floor by 3 points · rank 2 → 3 of 99.
- Oracle Autonomous Database: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 6 → 11 of 99.
- Google Cloud SQL: 9% to 8%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 4 of 99, unchanged.
- Amazon RDS: 20% to 20%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 3 → 2 of 99.
- AlloyDB for PostgreSQL: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 15 → 10 of 99.
- Google Cloud Spanner: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 16 → 12 of 99.
- CockroachDB: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 18 → 13 of 99.
- PlanetScale: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 92 → 98 of 99.

## 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.