Amazon RDS vs Heroku Postgres
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and integrations.
Quick Verdict
Amazon RDS offers more features (39 vs 20) and more integrations (13 vs 2). Starting price: Amazon RDS at Free vs Heroku Postgres at Contact Sales. Amazon RDS has 39 unique features while Heroku Postgres has 20 unique features, with 0 features in common.
| Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Database | Database |
| Total Features | 39 | 20 |
| AI-Powered Features | 4 | 1 |
| Starting Price | Free | Contact Sales |
| Pricing Tiers | 5 | 0 |
| Integrations | 13 | 2 |
| Shared Features | 0 | |
| Shared Integrations | 0 | |
| Data Quality | 85% | 40% |
Feature Comparison by Category
AI & ML (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Aurora PostgreSQL with pgvector_hnsw |
AI/ML (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| pgvector Extension |
Backup & Migration (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| PGBackups Service |
Backup & Recovery (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Automated Backups with Point-in-Time Recovery | ||
| Database Snapshots |
Compliance (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Heroku Shield Postgres |
Compliance & Security (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Config Integration |
Data Protection (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous Protection |
Data Recovery (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Rollback Feature |
Database Management (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Database Forks |
Database Support (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Database Engines |
Deployment (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Blue/Green Deployments |
Deployment Options (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| RDS Custom | ||
| RDS on AWS Outposts |
Development Tools (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Database Cloning |
Disaster Recovery (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-Region Automated Backups | ||
| Cross-Region Replication |
Extensibility (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| PostgreSQL Extensions Support |
High Availability (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-AZ Deployments | ||
| Multi-AZ with Two Readable Standbys |
Infrastructure (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Graviton3-Based Instances |
Infrastructure as Code (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| AWS CloudFormation Integration |
Integration (0 vs 3)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Heroku Connect Integration | ||
| Mutual TLS Connection | ||
| PrivateLink Support |
Integration & Analytics (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Zero-ETL Integrations |
Maintenance (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Automated Major Version Upgrades |
Management (5 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Organizations Upgrade Rollout Policies | ||
| Automated Database Management | ||
| DB Parameter Groups | ||
| Easy Setup and Deployment | ||
| Flexible Patch Control |
Monitoring (4 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon RDS Performance Insights | ||
| Automated Health Checks | ||
| CloudWatch Database Insights | ||
| CloudWatch Integration | ||
| Enhanced Monitoring |
Monitoring & Diagnostics (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| DevOps Guru for RDS |
Notifications (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Event Notifications with SNS |
Performance (3 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| 4X Performance Boost | ||
| Amazon RDS Optimized Reads | ||
| Amazon RDS Optimized Writes | ||
| ElastiCache Integration |
Performance & Cost (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Aurora I/O-Optimized |
Performance & Security (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon RDS Proxy |
Pricing (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Database Savings Plans |
Recommendations (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Best Practice Recommendations |
Reliability (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| High Availability (HA) |
Reporting (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Dataclips |
Scalability (1 vs 3)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| 200TB+ Storage Capacity | ||
| Aurora Serverless | ||
| Follower Instances | ||
| Scale on Demand |
Security (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Data Encryption at Rest |
Storage (3 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon EBS io2 Block Express Storage Support | ||
| General Purpose SSD Storage | ||
| Provisioned IOPS SSD Storage |
Support (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| 24/7/365 Support |
Support & Maintenance (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Amazon RDS | Heroku Postgres |
|---|---|---|
| RDS Extended Support |
Unique Features
Only in Amazon RDS (39)
Aurora PostgreSQL with pgvector_hnsw
Automated Backups with Point-in-Time Recovery
Database Snapshots
AWS Config Integration
Multiple Database Engines
Blue/Green Deployments
RDS Custom
RDS on AWS Outposts
Database Cloning
Cross-Region Automated Backups
Cross-Region Replication
Multi-AZ Deployments
Multi-AZ with Two Readable Standbys
AWS Graviton3-Based Instances
AWS CloudFormation Integration
Zero-ETL Integrations
Automated Database Management
AWS Organizations Upgrade Rollout Policies
DB Parameter Groups
Easy Setup and Deployment
+ 19 more unique features
Only in Heroku Postgres (20)
pgvector Extension
PGBackups Service
Heroku Shield Postgres
Continuous Protection
Rollback Feature
Database Forks
PostgreSQL Extensions Support
Heroku Connect Integration
Mutual TLS Connection
PrivateLink Support
Automated Major Version Upgrades
Automated Health Checks
4X Performance Boost
High Availability (HA)
Dataclips
200TB+ Storage Capacity
Follower Instances
Scale on Demand
Data Encryption at Rest
24/7/365 Support
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