PostgreSQL
RDS ManagedOn-demand instance-class pricing for Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL across 37 AWS regions, and 1 license model.
Alternatives to PostgreSQL
| Option | Price vs PostgreSQL | Why look at it |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Aurora PostgreSQLCompare → | +16%+$0.035/hr db.r6g.large, Single-AZ, us-east-1, instance hours only (storage and I/O billed separately) | PostgreSQL-compatible engine with Aurora's distributed storage |
| RDS for MySQLCompare → | -4%-$0.01/hr db.r6g.large, Single-AZ, us-east-1, instance hours only (storage and I/O billed separately) | Other widely used open-source engine on RDS |
| Amazon DynamoDB | No like-for-like unit | Different database service |
| EBS gp3 | No like-for-like unit | Related option |
What to know about PostgreSQL
Managed PostgreSQL on dedicated instances, with Multi-AZ failover at double the instance price.
RDS for PostgreSQL runs standard PostgreSQL on an instance you choose, with AWS handling backups, patching and failover. You pay for instance hours, storage, and any extra IOPS or throughput.
Instance choice is the biggest lever. In us-east-1, a single-AZ db.m7g.large costs $0.168 an hour, about 6% less than the Intel db.m7i.large at $0.178. A db.t4g.large costs $0.129, but it is burstable and meant for light or intermittent use.
Multi-AZ keeps a standby in a second zone and doubles the instance price: the db.m7g.large goes from $0.168 to $0.337 an hour. Storage doubles too, from $0.115 to $0.23 per GB-month on gp3. Production databases usually want it and dev databases usually don’t. The readable-standbys option triples the storage rate to $0.345.
RDS storage costs more than raw EBS. RDS gp3 is $0.115 per GB-month against $0.08 for an EBS gp3 volume.
Aurora PostgreSQL uses a different pricing model, so compare it directly before choosing a service.
Good for
- Standard PostgreSQL apps that want managed backups and patching
- Teams that want a plain instance price instead of Aurora's model
- Graviton-based db.m7g and db.t4g sizes for lower cost
Watch for
- Multi-AZ doubles the instance price
- RDS gp3 storage costs $0.115 per GB-month, about 44% more than raw EBS gp3
- Burstable db.t classes suit dev and light use, not steady load
Instance Class Pricing & Specs
On-demand hourly rate and estimated monthly cost per database instance class| Instance Class | Arch | Category | vCPU | Memory | Deployment | Price / hr | Price / mo | Cost / GiB‑mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| db.t4g.micro | Graviton2 | Burstable | 2 | 1 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.0160 | $11.68 | $11.68 |
| db.t2.micro | x86_64 | Burstable | 1 | 1 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.0180 | $13.14 | $13.14 |
| db.t3.micro | x86_64 | Burstable | 2 | 1 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.0180 | $13.14 | $13.14 |
| db.t1.micro | x86_64 | Burstable | 1 | 0.613 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.0260 | $18.98 | $30.96 |
| db.t4g.micro | Graviton2 | Burstable | 2 | 1 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.0320 | $23.36 | $23.36 |
| db.t4g.small | Graviton2 | Burstable | 2 | 2 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.0320 | $23.36 | $11.68 |
| db.t2.micro | x86_64 | Burstable | 1 | 1 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.0360 | $26.28 | $26.28 |
| db.t2.small | x86_64 | Burstable | 1 | 2 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.0360 | $26.28 | $13.14 |
| db.t3.micro | x86_64 | Burstable | 2 | 1 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.0360 | $26.28 | $26.28 |
| db.t3.small | x86_64 | Burstable | 2 | 2 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.0360 | $26.28 | $13.14 |
| db.t1.micro | x86_64 | Burstable | 1 | 0.613 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.0520 | $37.96 | $61.92 |
| db.m1.small | x86_64 | General Purpose | 1 | 1.7 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.0600 | $43.80 | $25.76 |
| db.t4g.medium | Graviton2 | Burstable | 2 | 4 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.0650 | $47.45 | $11.86 |
| db.t4g.small | Graviton2 | Burstable | 2 | 2 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.0650 | $47.45 | $23.73 |
| db.t2.small | x86_64 | Burstable | 1 | 2 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.0720 | $52.56 | $26.28 |
| db.t3.medium | x86_64 | Burstable | 2 | 4 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.0720 | $52.56 | $13.14 |
| db.t3.small | x86_64 | Burstable | 2 | 2 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.0720 | $52.56 | $26.28 |
| db.t2.medium | x86_64 | Burstable | 2 | 4 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.0730 | $53.29 | $13.32 |
| db.m3.medium | x86_64 | General Purpose | 1 | 3.75 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.0950 | $69.35 | $18.49 |
| db.m1.medium | x86_64 | General Purpose | 1 | 3.75 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1200 | $87.60 | $23.36 |
| db.m1.small | x86_64 | General Purpose | 1 | 1.7 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.1200 | $87.60 | $51.53 |
| db.t4g.large | Graviton2 | Burstable | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1290 | $94.17 | $11.77 |
| db.t4g.medium | Graviton2 | Burstable | 2 | 4 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.1290 | $94.17 | $23.54 |
| db.t2.large | x86_64 | Burstable | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1450 | $105.85 | $13.23 |
| db.t3.large | x86_64 | Burstable | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1450 | $105.85 | $13.23 |
| db.t3.medium | x86_64 | Burstable | 2 | 4 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.1450 | $105.85 | $26.46 |
| db.t2.medium | x86_64 | Burstable | 2 | 4 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.1460 | $106.58 | $26.64 |
| db.m6g.large | Graviton2 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1590 | $116.07 | $14.51 |
| db.m7g.large | Graviton3 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1680 | $122.64 | $15.33 |
| db.m8g.large | Graviton4 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1680 | $122.64 | $15.33 |
| db.m5.large | x86_64 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1780 | $129.94 | $16.24 |
| db.m6i.large | x86_64 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1780 | $129.94 | $16.24 |
| db.m7i.large | x86_64 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1780 | $129.94 | $16.24 |
| db.m4.large | x86_64 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1820 | $132.86 | $16.61 |
| db.m9g.large | x86_64 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1830 | $133.59 | $16.70 |
| db.m6gd.large | Graviton2 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1870 | $136.51 | $17.06 |
| db.m3.medium | x86_64 | General Purpose | 1 | 3.75 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.1900 | $138.70 | $36.99 |
| db.m3.large | x86_64 | General Purpose | 2 | 7.5 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1950 | $142.35 | $18.98 |
| db.m8gd.large | Graviton4 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.1976 | $144.25 | $18.03 |
| db.m5d.large | x86_64 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.2100 | $153.30 | $19.16 |
| db.m8a.large | x86_64 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.2149 | $156.88 | $19.61 |
| db.m6id.large | x86_64 | General Purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.2240 | $163.52 | $20.44 |
| db.r6g.large | Graviton2 | Memory Optimized | 2 | 16 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.2250 | $164.25 | $10.27 |
| db.c6gd.medium | Graviton2 | Compute Optimized | 1 | 2 GiB | Multi-AZ (readable standbys) | $0.2385 | $174.11 | $87.05 |
| db.r7g.large | Graviton3 | Memory Optimized | 2 | 16 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.2390 | $174.47 | $10.90 |
| db.r8g.large | Graviton4 | Memory Optimized | 2 | 16 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.2390 | $174.47 | $10.90 |
| db.m1.medium | x86_64 | General Purpose | 1 | 3.75 GiB | Multi-AZ | $0.2400 | $175.20 | $46.72 |
| db.m1.large | x86_64 | General Purpose | 2 | 7.5 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.2450 | $178.85 | $23.85 |
| db.r3.large | x86_64 | Memory Optimized | 2 | 15.25 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.2500 | $182.50 | $11.97 |
| db.r4.large | x86_64 | Memory Optimized | 2 | 15.25 GiB | Single-AZ | $0.2500 | $182.50 | $11.97 |
No instance classes match your filter criteria.
RDS & Aurora Sizing Guide
Memory-Optimized (db.r / db.x)
Standard choice for production relational databases. High RAM-to-vCPU ratio ensures query working sets and buffer pools fit comfortably in memory, minimizing disk I/O penalties.
General Purpose (db.m)
Balanced memory-to-vCPU allocation suitable for mid-sized relational workloads, reporting queries, or backend operational services with moderate cache sizes.
Burstable (db.t)
Cost-effective for development, test environments, and light traffic databases. Accumulates baseline CPU credits during idle periods; avoid for high sustained production loads.
Graviton Generations
Graviton4 (db.r8g) and Graviton3 (db.r7g) offer superior performance, lower latency, and 10%–20% lower hourly cost than legacy x86 (db.r5, db.r6i) equivalents.