CockroachDB vs Amazon Aurora

Distributed SQL or distributed storage? Learn the differences and decide with confidence.

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Why CockroachDB over Amazon Aurora?

Unlimited write scale

CockroachDB offers native scale with a single binary, ensuring that running and upgrading CockroachDB is as simple as possible.

Global data

CockroachDB provides a simple DDL that allows you to define where data lives across multiple regions.

Multi-region scale

CockroachDB was architected for complex, high performant distributed transactions with serializable isolation as the default.

Side-by-side comparison

Features

Availability

All public clouds, on-prem, and local

AWS only

Architecture

Architected to span globally distributed data centers, yet still valuable in single data center

Harnesses a journal and adjudicator for distributed writes

Single write node in one data center, then sync data across regions for distributed reads

Replication

Intelligent replication uses Raft to place data and efficiently utilize storage and compute

Replication of data at storage layer; replication across regions is synchronous

Replication of data at storage layer; replication across regions is asynchronous

Writes

Every node is a gateway to the entirety of the database for unlimited reads and writes in any region

Each node is capable of writing to any piece of data using OCC with snapshot isolation

Single node writes causes bottlenecks (multimaster limited)

Multi-region Writes

Native, all nodes can accept reads and writes even across regions

All nodes can accept reads and writes, even across regions

Not possible

Data Residency

Tie data to a node to optimize performance or comply with data regulations

No ability to tie data to a location

PostgreSQL Compatibility

PostgreSQL compatible

Unsupported objects, constraints, operations, extensions, expressions

PostgreSQL compatible with shard key considerations

Transactional Consistency

Serializable, guaranteed consistent

Snapshot isolation with OCC which limits access patterns

Configurable within single region

Ideal Use Case

Single-region or multiple-region applications that may need to scale and want the freedom to run in any cloud or self-hosted environment

OCC specific greenfield, AWS-centric architecture where a multi-tenant serverless database is appropriate

Single-region applications that will not scale and are tied to AWS

Pricing

Simple, straightforward pricing, plus the ability to tie data to a location to avoid egress costs

Unknown, in Private Preview

A-la-carte pricing for IOPS/storage, backups are additional costs & cross-region replication incurs egress cost

^{*Comparison data as of April 2025}

Databases and platform freedom

CockroachDB is architected to give you the freedom to deploy your database anywhere, on any cloud. Use the best solution for your workloads and still gain value from any cloud provider.

Freedom from lock-in

Make smart use of your existing resources with CockroachDB’s hybrid-cloud capabilities. AWS Aurora won’t let you deploy in a hybrid environment

Freedom of choice

Pick any (or multiple) providers and run self-deployed or as-a-service. Because no one should have to be locked into a single provider

Freedom to grow

Effortlessly scale and take control of your workloads. Avoid the significant egress costs often seen when moving data with AWS Aurora

Related resources

CASE STUDY

Telecom Provider replaces Amazon Aurora

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DSQL is in Preview -  A first comparison with CockroachDB