Billing

How much does Amazon Aurora cost?

See the Aurora pricing page for current pricing information. Aurora offers two cluster configurations — Aurora Standard and Aurora I/O-Optimized — so you can optimize costs based on your workload.

Is there a free tier for Amazon Aurora?

Yes. Amazon Aurora is available with the AWS Free Tier for Aurora PostgreSQL serverless and Aurora DSQL. New customers will receive up to $100 in credits at sign-up and can earn up to an additional $100 in credits, totaling $200, to explore eligible AWS services, including Aurora, on both Free and Paid plans. In addition, the Aurora free tier offers the following benefits:

Aurora PostgreSQL provides 4 ACUs and 1 GiB of storage per cluster on the Free plan.

Aurora DSQL provides the first 100k DPUs and 1 GiB of storage every month on the Free and Paid plans.

Check the Aurora pricing page for current Free Tier details and eligibility.

Can I save money with a Database Savings Plan?

Yes, you can purchase a Database Savings Plan for your Aurora usage and reduce costs by up to 35% when you commit to a consistent amount of usage over a 1-year term.

Is there a charge for Aurora replication?

No, Aurora replication is bundled into the price. You are charged based on the storage your database consumes at the database layer, not the storage consumed in the virtualized storage layer.

What are I/O operations in Aurora and how are they calculated?

I/O operations are performed by the Aurora database engine against its SSD-based virtualized storage layer. Every database page read operation counts as one I/O.

Key details about I/O billing:

With Aurora Standard, you pay per-request for I/O. With Aurora I/O-Optimized, read and write I/O operations are included at no additional charge.

What is the difference between Aurora Standard and Aurora I/O-Optimized?

Aurora offers two configurations to optimize your database spend: Aurora Standard and Aurora I/O-Optimized.

You can switch between configurations using the Amazon RDS console, AWS CLI, or AWS SDK. You can switch to I/O-Optimized once every 30 days, and switch back to Standard at any time. Aurora I/O-Optimized works with existing Aurora Reserved Instances.

When should I choose Aurora I/O-Optimized?

Aurora I/O-Optimized is the ideal choice when you need predictable costs for any application. It delivers improved price performance for I/O-intensive applications that require high write throughput or run analytical queries processing large amounts of data. For customers with an I/O spend exceeding 25% of their Aurora bill, you can save up to 40% on costs.

How do I switch to Aurora I/O-Optimized?

You can use the one-click experience in the Amazon RDS console to change the storage type of your existing database clusters. You can also use the AWS CLI or AWS SDK. You can switch to I/O-Optimized once every 30 days and switch back to Standard at any time.

Does Aurora I/O-Optimized work with Reserved Instances?

Yes, Aurora I/O-Optimized works with existing Aurora Reserved Instances. Aurora automatically accounts for the price difference between Aurora Standard and Aurora I/O-Optimized with Reserved Instances, providing even more savings on your I/O spend.

Are there changes to backup or snapshot pricing with I/O-Optimized?

No. There are no changes to the price of backtrack, snapshot, export, or continuous backup with Aurora I/O-Optimized.

Do cross-Region replication I/O charges still apply with I/O-Optimized?

Yes. The charges for I/O operations required to replicate data across Regions continue to apply. Aurora I/O-Optimized does not charge for read and write I/O operations, which is different from data replication.

Are there additional charges for optimized reads for Aurora PostgreSQL?

No. There are no additional charges for optimized reads beyond the price of Intel-based R6id and Graviton-based R6gd and R8gd instances. For more information, visit the Aurora pricing page.