With Serverless v2, the hourly cost is somewhere like 12-20 cents per ACU per hour, depending on the AWS Region. You can check the price for each combination of AWS Region and Aurora database engine here: https://aws.amazon.com/rds/aurora/pricing/ Let's consider us-east-1, which (as of January 2024) is 12 cents per ACU per hour. The minimum for Serverless v2 is 0.5 ACUs, so 6 cents / hour. A typical month has 720 hours (30 days) or 744 (31 days). So if you set minimum capacity to 0.5 ACUs, leave the cluster idle, and nothing unexpected happens, best case is roughly $43-45 per month for instance charges. Plus whatever usage-based charges for storage, I/O, and there are some other optional features that could result in charges. (That's why you would go through the exercise with the pricing calculator.) What could interfere with the best case? Turning on memory-consuming or CPU-consuming features could prevent the idle cluster from scaling down to 0.5 ACUs. Something like Performance Insights (minimum 2 ACUs) or global database (minimum 8 ACUs). Cleanup operations like PostgreSQL vacuum could run and cause scaling up when you think the database should be idle. What actions could you take to make the best case even better? Do "stop cluster" overnight or other long periods when you don't need to use the database. If you need to add reader instances to the cluster to test out multi-AZ usage (read/write splitting etc.), delete the reader instances when they're not needed. Have cron jobs to run stop-db-cluster, modify-db-cluster, etc. to put things into a cheaper state during overnight periods if you forget to do it at the end of the day. Answer from rePost-User-6113899 on repost.aws
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AWS
aws.amazon.com › amazon rds › amazon aurora › pricing
Amazon Aurora Pricing
3 days ago - The effective hourly price shows the amortized hourly instance cost. This takes the total cost of the Reserved Instance over the entire term, including any upfront payment, and spreads it out over each hour of the Reserved Instance term. Select to see details about PostgreSQL-Compatible pricing options ... Amazon Aurora Serverless is an on-demand, auto scaling configuration that automatically adjusts database capacity based on application needs.
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With Serverless v2, the hourly cost is somewhere like 12-20 cents per ACU per hour, depending on the AWS Region. You can check the price for each combination of AWS Region and Aurora database engine here: https://aws.amazon.com/rds/aurora/pricing/ Let's consider us-east-1, which (as of January 2024) is 12 cents per ACU per hour. The minimum for Serverless v2 is 0.5 ACUs, so 6 cents / hour. A typical month has 720 hours (30 days) or 744 (31 days). So if you set minimum capacity to 0.5 ACUs, leave the cluster idle, and nothing unexpected happens, best case is roughly $43-45 per month for instance charges. Plus whatever usage-based charges for storage, I/O, and there are some other optional features that could result in charges. (That's why you would go through the exercise with the pricing calculator.) What could interfere with the best case? Turning on memory-consuming or CPU-consuming features could prevent the idle cluster from scaling down to 0.5 ACUs. Something like Performance Insights (minimum 2 ACUs) or global database (minimum 8 ACUs). Cleanup operations like PostgreSQL vacuum could run and cause scaling up when you think the database should be idle. What actions could you take to make the best case even better? Do "stop cluster" overnight or other long periods when you don't need to use the database. If you need to add reader instances to the cluster to test out multi-AZ usage (read/write splitting etc.), delete the reader instances when they're not needed. Have cron jobs to run stop-db-cluster, modify-db-cluster, etc. to put things into a cheaper state during overnight periods if you forget to do it at the end of the day.
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Your best bet is to use AWS Calculator # https://calculator.aws/#/ in order to estimate the operating cost with the services that you plan to use. Secondly using the Graviton2 instances would save a lot compared with other instances. I have listed some common instance types that you may start using and then change later based on your project workload. t4g : For dev/test workload m6g : For general purpose workload r6g : For memory optimized workload Go with small storage initially and then you can scale it based on the need to optimize the cost.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › need some guidance on reducing the cost of my aurora serverless database.
r/aws on Reddit: Need some guidance on reducing the cost of my Aurora serverless database.
October 31, 2022 -

Hey there,

Sorry if I lack any technical jargon for this question, I'm still pretty novice to AWS.Right now I have a desktop application that has a leaderboard function. For this I decided with would be best to go down the RDS path. I know pretty little about connecting and running databases, so I opted to go with the serverless route, and wanted to access the database using the Aurora API/ lambda.

I saw AWS deprecated mySQL for serverless 1.0, and since serverless 2.0 does not support the aurora API, I went with the postgres option, as I could still use the API.

I think this is the first mistake, as it seems the minimum ACUs for the postgres option is double of the mySQL. But either way my database has a min and max of 2 ACUs which is probably far more than my application needs. I would estimate max, my user pool will be about 50k and its just storing simple leaderboard numbers.

After one month of running the database, my monthly bill came out to ~230 dollars, which is just a lot especially since I have not even launched this product yet.My main cost was in just running the database :

$0.08 per Aurora Capacity Unit hour running Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL Serverless

2,840.991 ACU-Hr

$227.28

So does anyone have any advice on where to start in reducing the cost ? Should I move off postgres?Would running the EC2 and manually managing the database be cheaper? Would no longer using the API be cheaper ? Any help appreciated

Edit : Wow I just realized while posting this my ACU numbers did not add up and it turns out I was running a second database all month with nothing in it. So thats half the cost atleast lol. But still my questions apply

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Holori
holori.com › accueil › blog › mastering aws aurora pricing: tips for cost optimization
Holori - Mastering AWS Aurora Pricing: Tips for Cost Optimization
October 25, 2024 - Aurora Capacity Unit (ACU): Serverless pricing is based on the number of ACUs used per second. An ACU is a unit of database capacity that combines both memory and processing power.
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CloudZero
cloudzero.com › home › blog › aws aurora pricing: how to save costs in 2025
AWS Aurora Pricing: How To Save Costs In 2025
March 25, 2025 - The cost for Aurora Serverless v2 is $0.12 per ACU-hour, which is double that of v1 at $0.06 per ACU-hour. Now that we’ve covered AWS Aurora pricing, let’s talk about optimizing your Aurora costs.
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AWS
aws.amazon.com › amazon rds › amazon aurora › serverless
Serverless Database - Amazon Aurora Serverless - AWS
3 days ago - Amazon Aurora Serverless v2 and Data API enable us to avoid managing complex VPC’s and network access controls which significantly reduces our operational complexity and security burden. This means being able to focus on hiring more software engineers and less operations folks. We think of this as living the “Serverless lifestyle” where we rely on AWS for ensuring our uptime and availability which allows us to move faster with less headcount costs.
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Lumigo
lumigo.io › guides › aws serverless ecosystem › aurora serverless v2: why you need it, new features and pricing
Aurora Serverless v2: Why You Need It, New Features and Pricing
December 19, 2022 - The cost of Aurora Serverless v2 appears expensive, and while it is possible to save costs on your database for peak loads, it is not a cost-effective option for everyone. ... The price of Aurora capacity units (ACUs) in v2 ($0.12/hr) is twice ...
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Medium
medium.com › trackit › aurora-or-aurora-serverless-v2-which-is-more-cost-effective-bcd12e172dcf
Aurora or Aurora Serverless v2, Which Is More Cost-Effective? | by Joffrey escobar | TrackIt | Medium
May 25, 2021 - Despite being cheaper at max capacity ($0.368 vs. $0.56 for 8 ACUs), Aurora would require the company to pay for 8 ACUs all throughout the day even when the database base usage is minimal.
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Fauna
fauna.com › blog › compare-aws-aurora-serverless-v2-architecture-features-pricing-vs-fauna
AWS Aurora Serverless v2: Architecture, Features, Pricing, and Comparison with Fauna
April 16, 2024 - Amazon recently announced the preview release of AWS Aurora Serverless v2. Aurora and Fauna are both serverless databases. Let's spend some time comparing Aurora's architecture, features and pricing with the current version of Fauna.
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Bytebase
bytebase.com › blog › understanding-aws-aurora-pricing
Understanding AWS Aurora Pricing (2025)
Leverage Serverless: For highly variable or intermittent workloads, Aurora Serverless can prevent over-provisioning. For stable workloads on Provisioned instances, RIs offer significant savings (up to 72%): Analyze Stability: Ensure the workload is predictable enough for a 1- or 3-year commitment. Choose Term/Payment: Select the commitment term and payment option (All, Partial, No Upfront) that balances savings and budget. Example RI Savings (US East - N. Virginia, db.r6g.xlarge, Standard Config): (Note: Prices are illustrative and subject to change.)
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Jeremydaly
jeremydaly.com › aurora-serverless-the-good-the-bad-and-the-scalable
Aurora Serverless: The Good, the Bad and the Scalable - Jeremy Daly
However, according to the announcement, Aurora Serverless "creates an Aurora storage volume replicated across multiple AZs." It also seems to indicate that it relies on multiple nodes to handle requests, which suggests that the service automatically provides high-availability and failover via multiple AZs. If you follow AWS's recommendation to place "at least one Replica in a different Availability Zone from the Primary instance" to maximize availability, then the cost in the above chart would double for on-demand instances.
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AWS
aws.amazon.com › amazon aurora › amazon aurora dsql › pricing
Amazon Aurora DSQL Pricing
3 days ago - Amazon Aurora DSQL is the fastest serverless distributed SQL database with virtually unlimited scale, the highest availability, and zero infrastructure management. It automatically scales compute and storage to match your workload demands, so you only pay for what you use with no upfront costs. Your monthly bill is based on two primary components: database activity, measured in Distributed Processing Units (DPUs) and storage, measured in GB-month. With the AWS Free Tier, you can get started on Aurora DSQL for free.
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AWS
aws.amazon.com › blogs › database › evaluating-the-right-fit-for-your-amazon-aurora-workloads-provisioned-or-serverless-v2
Evaluating the right fit for your Amazon Aurora workloads: provisioned or Serverless v2 | AWS Database Blog
October 23, 2024 - This includes data storage, I/O and compute. Since Aurora Serverless v2 is an instance construct, only the instance pricing changes when using Aurora Serverless v2. With provisioned instances, the price depends on the type and size of instance and is billed per hour.
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Pump
pump.co › home › blog › aws aurora pricing - cost breakdown & savings guide
AWS Aurora Pricing - Cost Breakdown & Savings Guide
Faster Deployment: They completed the re architecturing and deploying of Aurora in two months simply because it was serverless. AWS Cost Explorer: View and determine spending trends.
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TrustRadius
trustradius.com › home › database-as-a-service (dbaas) › amazon aurora › pricing
Amazon Aurora Pricing 2025: Compare Plans and Costs
These prices were taken from the default US East (Ohio). Amazon also has separate pricing for On-Demand and Reserved pertaining to your chosen edition of MySQL and PostgreSQL. On-Demand pricing is offered for Amazon Aurora Serverless, where your database capacity regulates itself.
Rating: 8.7/10 ​ - ​ 161 votes
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Vantage
vantage.sh › blog › neon-vs-aws-aurora-serverless-postgres-cost-scale-to-zero
Amazon Aurora vs Neon: A Serverless Postgres Pricing Comparison | Vantage
Amazon states that this is a use case for Aurora Serverless but because of the inability to scale to zero, you will have a minimum monthly charge of $43.80 per instance ($0.12 x 0.5 ACUs x 730 hours in a month).
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TigerData
tigerdata.com › blog › estimate-amazon-aurora-costs
Estimating Amazon Aurora Costs
January 17, 2024 - AWS Aurora adds even more complexity by adding questions such as “Are you using serverless or traditional on-demand instances?” and “Do you want a normal cluster or an I/O optimized cluster for improved performance?”
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Jeremydaly
jeremydaly.com › aurora-serverless-v2-preview
Aurora Serverless v2: The Good, the Better, and the Possibly Amazing - Jeremy Daly
There's no way to sugar coat this. The cost of Aurora Serverless v2 seems very high. In fact, v2 ACUs are twice the price of the original v1 ACUs ($0.12 per ACU Hour versus $0.06 per ACU Hour).
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Cloudexmachina
cloudexmachina.io › blog › aws-aurora-pricing
AWS Aurora Pricing Explained: What You Really Pay for and Why
September 2, 2025 - Aurora is AWS's homegrown, cloud-native RDS engine with a distributed, fault-tolerant storage layer and 5x performance claims over vanilla MySQL. Compute (Instances) Provisioned instances are billed per second (5-minute minimum), based on type (e.g., db.r6g.large). Serverless v2 uses Aurora Capacity Units (ACUs), combining CPU and memory with fine-grained scaling, but no Reserved Instance discounts. Graviton2 (r6g) offers ~20% better price...