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Comparison

MariaDB Cloud vs. Amazon RDS: Failover, Scaling, Cost

Compare MariaDB Cloud and Amazon RDS for MySQL and MariaDB. Get MariaDB Enterprise with sub-second failover, compute autoscaling and a 99.995% SLA.

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MariaDB Cloud vs. Amazon RDS

Capabilities

How MariaDB Cloud and Amazon RDS compare

Failover

DNS-based failover takes 60 to 120 seconds with RDS Multi-AZ instances, versus sub-second failover with MaxScale

In-flight transactions

Dropped, so the app must reconnect and retry, versus replayed automatically, so the app sees no error

SLA

99.95% SLA for Multi-AZ means up to 22 minutes of downtime a month, versus about 2 minutes at 99.995% with MariaDB Cloud

Scaling

Storage autoscales, but CPU and RAM need an instance resize, versus compute that scales with demand or down to zero with MariaDB serverless

Database build

Community MySQL or MariaDB versus MariaDB Enterprise Server, hardened and supported for up to 8 years per release

Stay on AWS and get a database that uses every node you pay for

Failover your app does not notice

RDS Multi-AZ fails over through DNS and drops open transactions. MariaDB Cloud keeps every replica serving traffic, and MaxScale replays in-flight work.

Pay for use, not for peak

RDS bills a full-size primary and an idle standby around the clock. MariaDB Cloud scales CPU and RAM with traffic, and Serverless scales to zero, so you stop paying for headroom.

Enterprise builds RDS cannot offer

RDS only offers community builds of MySQL and MariaDB. MariaDB Cloud gives you MariaDB Enterprise Server, hardened, security-tested and supported for up to 8 years per release.

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Migrate to MariaDB

Contact us to migrate from RDS to MariaDB today.

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Frequently asked questions

Yes. MariaDB Cloud deploys into your AWS account, keeping data stays inside your perimeter while letting you use your committed spend and negotiated AWS rates.

RDS Multi-AZ instance failover typically takes 60 to 120 seconds and drops open transactions. MariaDB Cloud fails over in under a second and replays them.

AWS moves it to RDS Extended Support and bills per vCPU-hour, as with MySQL 8.0 from August 2026. MariaDB Enterprise releases are supported for up to 8 years.

Usually not, once you count the idle Multi-AZ standby, compute sized for peak demand and Extended Support fees. Book a strategy session to model your current RDS spend.

Replicate from RDS for MySQL or MariaDB into MariaDB Cloud, test your setup, then cut over with minimal downtime. Our migration team and assessment tool help you plan each step.

Yes. MariaDB Cloud offers MariaDB Enterprise Server, which RDS does not. A Foundation tier on MariaDB Community Server is also available for smaller workloads.