Is 2026 the Year to Move Away from RDS?
Choosing the right database platform on AWS has never been more important - or more confusing. Between RDS, Aurora (provisioned & serverless), and EC2-hosted databases, the right choice depends on your engine requirements, workload shape, growth, and tolerance for operational responsibility.
At Absolute Ops, we design and operate all three models for customers on AWS, Azure, and even on-premise. This article gives you a clear, business-oriented comparison - including real numbers, pros and cons, and scenarios where each one wins.
The Four Major Options
1. Amazon RDS (Provisioned)
RDS abstracts away OS patching, backups, failover (via Multi-AZ), and basic operational overhead. It’s the “default” relational choice for many AWS users.
Pros
- Very low operational burden
- Mature, predictable, well-documented
- Supports many engines & versions
- Good for steady and moderately variable workloads
Cons
- Scaling up/down is manual
- Replica lag can appear under higher load
- Limited tuning/control vs self-managed databases
- Higher cost compared to EC2 for steady workloads
Ideal For
Predictable workloads that need reliability but don’t demand extreme performance or custom configurations.
2. Aurora (Provisioned)
Aurora replaces the traditional storage engine with a distributed, auto-scaling, multi-AZ storage layer. It’s built for high throughput and high availability.
Pros
- Strong performance per vCPU
- Storage automatically scales
- Read replicas are nearly lag-free
- Excellent availability characteristics out-of-the-box
Cons
- Higher baseline cost (compute + storage I/O)
- Overkill for smaller, fault-tolerant workloads
- Still requires instance sizing for writers/readers
- Only supports MySQL and PostgreSQL
Ideal For
High-traffic applications needing high throughput, fast read scaling, and fault-tolerant storage without operational friction.
3. Aurora Serverless v2
Aurora Serverless auto-scales ACUs (Aurora Capacity Units) up and down based on real usage.
Pros
- “Pay for what you use” compute billing
- Ideal for spiky or unpredictable workloads
- Removes capacity planning entirely
- Still benefits from Aurora’s high availability
Cons
- Can become more expensive than provisioned if usage stays consistently high
- Scaling events (while much improved) can introduce minor latency
- Limited engine/version options compared to RDS
Ideal For
Apps with heavy variability - SaaS apps with seasonal customer demand, analytics workloads, dev/test environments, or new products where sizing is unknown.
4. EC2 Self-Managed Databases
EC2 databases used to be dismissed as “too much maintenance,” but for the right workload, they’re a first-class option - especially for cost-optimized, steady, predictable systems.
Pros
- Lowest cost per vCPU (compute is significantly cheaper than RDS/Aurora)
- Full engine control: custom builds, plugins, configuration
- You choose replication method, backup strategy, tuning parameters
- For higher RTO/RPO environments, maintenance overhead is modest
- Ideal for large instances, large memory footprints, or CPU-heavy workloads
Cons
- You must manage OS/engine patching, backups, monitoring, failover
- Requires expertise to maintain
- HA requires designing your own Multi-AZ or cluster approach (e.g., Percona XtraDB, Patroni, or native replication)
Ideal For
- Large relational databases with steady loads
- Workloads that need custom tuning or extensions
- Cost-sensitive production systems where availability needs are real but not extreme
- Organizations needing engines that aren't supported in RDS/Aurora
Let's Game It Out
These are just broad generalizations to start the conversation. There are many factors, like I/O profiles, storage requirements, access to expertise, application stability, and more, that play into an informed choice of platform.
Scenario A: Predictable, steady workload with 24-hour RPO and 1-hour RTO
Best choice: EC2 or RDS (depending on expertise available)
- If you have access to experts to maintain and recover: EC2 is 30–50% cheaper than RDS for the same CPU/memory.
- If not: RDS delivers 80% of the value with very little operational overhead.
Scenario B: Read-heavy SaaS workload with strong uptime requirements
Best choice: Aurora Provisioned
- Nearly zero replica lag
- Auto-scaling storage
- Highest availability without custom engineering
Scenario C: Highly variable traffic (seasonal, geographic, batchy, or unpredictable)
Best choice: Aurora Serverless
- You avoid paying for idle capacity
- Automatic scaling saves engineering time
- Ideal for new applications with unknown usage
Scenario D: Large, CPU-heavy database or custom engine plugins
Best choice: EC2 Self-Managed
- When you need large instances (32–64 vCPU), RDS/Aurora pricing jumps drastically
- EC2 gives you full control and best price/performance
- Perfect for large ETL, analytics, and mixed OLTP/OLAP workloads
- Use care though: that large database will require true expertise to maintain
So… Should You Move Away from RDS?
You should consider alternatives if:
- Your workload is steady and predictable → EC2 may save you 30–60%
- Your workload is spiky → Aurora Serverless will likely cost less than RDS
- You need high read scalability or global HA → Aurora wins
- You need engine customizations → EC2 is your only realistic option
- You’re paying for larger RDS instances → Aurora or EC2 may be more cost-efficient
You should probably stay on RDS if:
- You want lowest operational burden
- Your workload is modest and predictable
- You don’t need Aurora’s scaling or EC2’s tuning
- Your team lacks in-house SRE/DBA capability
Absolute Ops Recommendation
Our rule of thumb when advising clients:
- RDS for small/medium predictable workloads
- Aurora for high-scale OLTP systems
- Aurora Serverless for variable/seasonal workloads
- EC2 for cost-efficient steady workloads, large configurations, or custom DB engines
If you'd like, we can run a cost/performance comparison using your real RDS metrics (CPU, IOPS, storage, replicas, connection counts) and show exactly where your break-even points lie.
Just say the word — we’re happy to model it.
