Link copied to clipboard # Amazon Athena vs Amazon Aurora Comparison - What are their main differences? Share [ Export ](/compare/amazon-athena/amazon-aurora/export.csv) Amazon AthenaAmazon Aurora[+ Add Product](#) Reviews **Amazon Athena** [ 4.4/5(173) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-athena/reviews#reviews) **Amazon Aurora** [ 4.5/5(456) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-aurora/reviews#reviews) Pricing **Amazon Athena** No pricing available **Amazon Aurora** No pricing available **Pricing Insights** from reviews Time to Implement **Amazon Athena** 2 months Based on 7 responses **Amazon Aurora** 2 months Based on 40 responses Return on Investment **Amazon Athena** 16 months Based on 6 responses **Amazon Aurora** 11 months5 months sooner Based on 37 responses Perceived Cost **Amazon Athena** $$$$$ **Amazon Aurora** $$$$$ Average Discount **Amazon Athena** 10% **Amazon Aurora** 13%3% more Pros & Cons **Amazon Athena** [ Analytics (1) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-athena/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2486686&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews)[ Big Data Handling (1) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-athena/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2486676&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews)[ Function Limitations (1) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-athena/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2241438&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews)[ Limited SQL (1) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-athena/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2241424&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) **Amazon Aurora** [ Scalability (14) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-aurora/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1376095&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews)[ Availability (12) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-aurora/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1377439&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews)[ Expensive (20) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-aurora/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1378186&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews)[ AWS Dependency (7) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-aurora/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1377423&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Integrations **Amazon Athena** [ ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/large_detail/large_detail_216cb0c86043deb458f3480253d7d5e9/amazon-quick.jpg "Product Avatar Image") Amazon Quick ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-quick/reviews)[ ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/large_detail/large_detail_3a97b9f1db5fb047add69c0bdedf5939/amazon-simple-storage-service-s3.jpg "Product Avatar Image") Amazon Simple Storage... ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-simple-storage-service-s3/reviews)[ ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/large_detail/large_detail_b3390b4cc3d92e87d570895f7358c003/aws-glue.jpg "Product Avatar Image") AWS Glue ](https://www.g2.com/products/aws-glue/reviews)[ ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/large_detail/large_detail_b8b49f2b6f9cd484b0efa52a4abd8269/microsoft-microsoft-power-bi.png "Product Avatar Image") Microsoft Power BI ](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-microsoft-power-bi/reviews)[ View all ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-athena/integrations) **Amazon Aurora** [ ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/large_detail/large_detail_b3390b4cc3d92e87d570895f7358c003/amazon-cloudwatch.jpg "Product Avatar Image") Amazon CloudWatch ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-cloudwatch/reviews)[ ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/large_detail/large_detail_b3390b4cc3d92e87d570895f7358c003/aws-cloudtrail.jpg "Product Avatar Image") AWS CloudTrail ](https://www.g2.com/products/aws-cloudtrail/reviews)[ ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/large_detail/large_detail_0d3b67827912f22174857de9475977c9/microsoft-sql-server.jpg "Product Avatar Image") MS SQL ](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-sql-server/reviews)[ View all ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-aurora/integrations) Ratings Meets Requirements **Amazon Athena** 8.4 8.4127 **Amazon Aurora** 9.0 9.0408 Ease of Use **Amazon Athena** 8.9 8.9127 **Amazon Aurora** 8.7 8.7410 Ease of Setup **Amazon Athena** 9.1 9.162 **Amazon Aurora** 8.6 8.6258 Ease of Admin **Amazon Athena** 8.5 8.555 **Amazon Aurora** 8.7 8.7180 Quality of Support **Amazon Athena** 8.5 8.5109 **Amazon Aurora** 8.7 8.7394 Has the product been a good partner in doing business? **Amazon Athena** 8.7 8.755 **Amazon Aurora** 8.7 8.7177 Product Direction (% positive) **Amazon Athena** 9.2 9.2100 **Amazon Aurora** 9.5 9.5394 Features Database as a Service (DBaaS)[Hide 17 FeaturesShow 17 Features](javascript:void(0);) 8.9 56 8.7 220 Configuration Application Performance 8.9(tied score) 46 8.9(tied score) 205 Orchestration 8.5 38 8.6(won by 0.1) 191 Database Monitoring 8.7(won by 0.1) 40 8.6 203 Anomaly Detection 8.3(tied score) 36 8.3(tied score) 182 Network Security 9.0(won by 0.2) 37 8.8 198 Database Administration Provisioning 8.9(won by 0.2) 36 8.7 197 Governance 9.0(won by 0.4) 38 8.6 181 Auditing 8.9(won by 0.4) 39 8.5 181 Availability Scalability 8.9 45 9.1(won by 0.2) 197 Backup 8.9 38 9.1(won by 0.2) 195 Archiving 8.7 38 8.8(won by 0.1) 188 Indexing 8.7(tied score) 38 8.7(tied score) 188 Security Data Masking 8.8(won by 0.1) 36 8.7 133 Authentication And Single Sign-On 9.2(won by 0.6) 36 (There is a greater than 0.5 difference between this product's rating and its competitors) 8.6 133 Data Anonymization 9.0(won by 0.5) 34 (There is a greater than 0.5 difference between this product's rating and its competitors) 8.5 126 Data Management Data Replication 9.1(won by 0.2) 36 8.9 135 Advanced Data Analytics 9.1(won by 0.6) 43 (There is a greater than 0.5 difference between this product's rating and its competitors) 8.5 125 Database Management Systems (DBMS)[Hide 48 FeaturesShow 48 Features](javascript:void(0);) 8.5 33 Not enough data Management Data dictionary 8.0(won by default) 27 Not enough data Data Replication 8.7(won by default) 25 Not enough data Query Language 8.6(won by default) 31 Not enough data Data Modeling 8.5(won by default) 29 Not enough data Performance Analysis 8.5(won by default) 29 Not enough data Data Synchronization Not enough data Not enough data Real-Time Data Not enough data Not enough data Data Storage Management Not enough data Not enough data Maintenance Data Migration 8.0(won by default) 28 Not enough data Backup and Recovery 8.3(won by default) 27 Not enough data Multi-User Environment 8.1(won by default) 27 Not enough data Automatic Backup Not enough data Not enough data Database Conversion Not enough data Not enough data Security Data Encryption 9.0(won by default) 29 Not enough data User Access Control 9.1(won by default) 31 Not enough data Mobile Access Not enough data Not enough data Additional Functionality Workflow Management Not enough data Not enough data Third-Party Integrations Not enough data Not enough data Data Extraction Not enough data Not enough data Relational Database Management Not enough data Not enough data SSL Security Not enough data Not enough data API Not enough data Not enough data Data Connectors Not enough data Not enough data Search/Filter Not enough data Not enough data Reporting & Statistics Not enough data Not enough data Customizable Templates Not enough data Not enough data AI Copilot Not enough data Not enough data Full Text Search Not enough data Not enough data Data Virtualization Not enough data Not enough data Data Import/Export Not enough data Not enough data Generative AI Not enough data Not enough data Drag & Drop Not enough data Not enough data Customizable Fields Not enough data Not enough data Authentication Not enough data Not enough data Data Visualization Not enough data Not enough data Secure Data Storage Not enough data Not enough data Activity Dashboard Not enough data Not enough data Data Mapping Not enough data Not enough data Multiple Programming Languages Supported Not enough data Not enough data Data Capture and Transfer Not enough data Not enough data User Management Not enough data Not enough data NOSQL Database Management Not enough data Not enough data Access Controls/Permissions Not enough data Not enough data Calendar Management Not enough data Not enough data Real-Time Monitoring Not enough data Not enough data Document Storage Not enough data Not enough data Audit Management Not enough data Not enough data Charting Not enough data Not enough data Relational Databases[Hide 24 FeaturesShow 24 Features](javascript:void(0);) Not enough data 8.8 312 Management Data Schema Not enough data 8.7(won by default) 209 Query Language Not enough data 8.6(won by default) 210 ACID - Complaint Not enough data 8.8(won by default) 208 Data Replication Not enough data 8.9(won by default) 211 Support Text Search Not enough data 8.3(won by default) 207 Data Types Not enough data 8.6(won by default) 214 Languages Not enough data 8.4(won by default) 206 Operating Systems Not enough data 8.6(won by default) 204 Security Database Locking Not enough data 8.7(won by default) 203 Access Control Not enough data 8.7(won by default) 206 Encryption Not enough data 8.9(won by default) 207 Authentication Not enough data 8.8(won by default) 204 Performance Disaster Recovery Not enough data 8.9(won by default) 208 Data Concurrency Not enough data 8.7(won by default) 205 Workload Management Not enough data 8.8(won by default) 203 Advanced Indexing Not enough data 8.6(won by default) 202 Query Optimizer Not enough data 8.5(won by default) 202 Database Features Storage Not enough data 9.1(won by default) 295 Availability Not enough data 9.2(won by default) 294 Stability Not enough data 9.0(won by default) 291 Scalability Not enough data 9.2(won by default) 287 Security Not enough data 9.0(won by default) 287 Data Manipulation Not enough data 8.5(won by default) 283 Query Language Not enough data 8.6(won by default) 291 User Insights Reviewers' Company Size [![Amazon Athena](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/1528476462/amazon-athena.svg "Amazon Athena")](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-athena/reviews) Amazon Athena Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.) 22.2% Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.) 25.9% Enterprise(\> 1000 emp.) 51.9% [![Amazon Aurora](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/1528476463/amazon-aurora.svg "Amazon Aurora")](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-aurora/reviews) Amazon Aurora Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.) 38.4% Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.) 33.1% Enterprise(\> 1000 emp.) 28.5% Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 22.2% 38.4% Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 25.9% 33.1% Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 51.9% 28.5% Reviewers' Industry [![Amazon Athena](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/1528476462/amazon-athena.svg "Amazon Athena")](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-athena/reviews) Amazon Athena Information Technology and Services 14.9% Computer Software 12.4% Financial Services 8.1% Computer & Network Security 4.3% Retail 4.3% Other 55.9% [![Amazon Aurora](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/1528476463/amazon-aurora.svg "Amazon Aurora")](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-aurora/reviews) Amazon Aurora Information Technology and Services 22.7% Computer Software 21.3% Computer & Network Security 4.9% Financial Services 4.2% Education Management 3.7% Other 43.2% FAQs ## Amazon Athena vs Amazon Aurora FAQs Generated using AI Last updated: August 14, 2026 ### What is the difference between Amazon Athena vs Amazon Aurora? Amazon Athena is distinguished by its serverless, S3-based analytics, while Amazon Aurora is recognized for high availability and scalability in relational workloads. | [Amazon Athena](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-athena/reviews) | [Amazon Aurora](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-aurora/reviews) | | --- | --- | | 4.4/5 (173 reviews) | 4.5/5 (458 reviews) | | Enterprise | Small-Business | | 9.1 | 8.6 | | 8.5 | 8.7 | | Direct S3 analytics, serverless setup | Scalability, high availability, performance | ### How do the pricing models of Amazon Athena and Amazon Aurora compare? Amazon Athena is rated higher for value, with a stronger Price/Cost satisfaction score than Amazon Aurora. - **Amazon Athena:** Reviewers highlight cost-effectiveness, pay-per-query pricing, and value for analytics on S3 data, though costs can rise with unoptimized queries. - **Amazon Aurora:** Reviewers frequently cite high and unpredictable costs, especially at scale, with auto-scaling and storage growth leading to higher bills. - **Switching reasons:** Recent reviews mention moving to Athena for lower operational overhead and more predictable costs compared to Aurora's premium pricing. ### What are the best alternatives to Amazon Athena and Amazon Aurora? The top 3 alternatives to Amazon Athena and Amazon Aurora are Oracle Database, Snowflake, and MS SQL. | Product | G2 Rating (reviews) | Largest Segment | Pricing Insight | Top Reviewer-Cited Strength | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Amazon Athena](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-athena/reviews) | 4.4/5 (173 reviews) | Enterprise | Cost-effective for S3 analytics, pay-per-query | Direct S3 analytics, serverless setup | | [Amazon Aurora](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-aurora/reviews) | 4.5/5 (458 reviews) | Small-Business | Premium pricing, unpredictable at scale | Scalability, high availability, performance | | [Oracle Database](https://www.g2.com/products/oracle-database/reviews) | 4.3/5 (1020 reviews) | Enterprise | — | Enterprise-grade reliability and features | | [Snowflake](https://www.g2.com/products/snowflake/reviews) | 4.5/5 (763 reviews) | Mid-Market | — | Cloud-native data warehousing and analytics | | [MS SQL](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-sql-server/reviews) | 4.4/5 (2287 reviews) | Enterprise | — | Robust relational database management | ### Which Database as a Service (DBaaS) features should I prioritize when comparing Amazon Athena and Amazon Aurora? Buyers should prioritize scalability, analytics capabilities, cost structure, integrations, and ease of setup when comparing Amazon Athena and Amazon Aurora. - **Scalability:** Amazon Aurora has 14 all-time mentions for scalability, while Amazon Athena is not cited for this theme. - **Analytics capabilities:** Amazon Athena is cited for analytics (1 all-time mention), big data handling (1), and data analysis (1); Amazon Aurora is not cited for analytics. - **Cost structure:** Amazon Athena is frequently described as cost-effective in recent reviews; Amazon Aurora has 20 all-time mentions of being expensive and 5 for cost issues. - **Integrations:** Amazon Athena integrates with AWS Glue (7 all-time mentions) and Python; Amazon Aurora is cited for easy integrations (8 all-time mentions) and integrations (7). - **Ease of setup:** Amazon Athena scores 9.1, Amazon Aurora 8.6 on Ease of Setup. ### What are the pros and cons of Amazon Athena vs Amazon Aurora? Amazon Athena's headline strength is serverless analytics on S3, while Amazon Aurora excels in scalability and high availability for relational workloads. - **Amazon Athena strengths:** Direct S3 analytics, serverless setup, ease of use (1 all-time mention), cost-effectiveness, and fast onboarding. - **Amazon Athena trade-offs:** Function limitations (1 all-time mention), limited SQL support (1), and performance drops with large datasets or high concurrency. - **Amazon Aurora strengths:** Scalability (14 all-time mentions), availability (12), performance (12), high availability (10), reliability (10), speed (9), easy integrations (8), and customer support (6). - **Amazon Aurora trade-offs:** Expensive (20 all-time mentions), AWS dependency (7), feature limitations (6), cost issues (5), learning curve (5), and limited database support (5). ### Is Amazon Athena or Amazon Aurora better for small businesses? Amazon Aurora is the better fit for small businesses, as it is most popular in the Small-Business segment and receives strong sentiment from that group. - **Amazon Athena:** Largest segment is Enterprise; reviewers in this segment highlight ease of use and cost-effectiveness for analytics, but small-business sentiment is less prominent. - **Amazon Aurora:** Largest segment is Small-Business; reviewers in this segment praise its scalability, reliability, and suitability for business-critical workloads. ### Which Database as a Service (DBaaS) platform has better integrations? Amazon Aurora is favored for integrations, with more reviewer-cited integration mentions than Amazon Athena. - **Amazon Athena:** Integrates with AWS Glue (7 all-time mentions) and Python (recent reviews). - **Amazon Aurora:** Easy integrations (8 all-time mentions), integrations (7), and compatibility with MySQL/PostgreSQL cited in recent reviews. ### How do Amazon Athena and Amazon Aurora compare on customer support? Amazon Aurora and Amazon Athena are rated in near-parity on Quality of Support, with Aurora at 8.7 and Athena at 8.5. - **Amazon Athena:** Reviewers describe support as helpful and responsive, with several citing positive experiences and easy access to documentation. - **Amazon Aurora:** Reviewers highlight strong customer support, with many noting fast response times and effective assistance, especially for business-critical issues. ### Which is easier to implement, Amazon Athena or Amazon Aurora? Amazon Athena is rated higher for Ease of Setup, scoring 9.1 versus Amazon Aurora's 8.6, a difference above the materiality threshold. - **Amazon Athena:** Reviewers consistently describe setup as fast, simple, and requiring minimal configuration, with many able to start querying data within minutes. - **Amazon Aurora:** Reviewers note that setup is straightforward but can be more complex for those unfamiliar with AWS, with some mentioning a learning curve for advanced configurations. Alternatives **Amazon Athena Alternatives** ![Snowflake](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/1544409170/snowflake.svg "Snowflake") [ Snowflake ](/products/snowflake/reviews) ![Microsoft SQL Server](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/a8a99a96fda235658139f710592f8a53/microsoft-sql-server.svg "Microsoft SQL Server") [ MS SQL ](/products/microsoft-sql-server/reviews) ![DBeaver](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/c70ecec3baa906b4d9eec0752e0a20c1/dbeaver.svg "DBeaver") [ DBeaver ](/products/dbeaver/reviews) ![SAP HANA Cloud](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/b5f8f986beca96ab0027c693ee762fb9/sap-hana-cloud-2025-10-01.svg "SAP HANA Cloud") [ SAP HANA Cloud ](/products/sap-hana-cloud-2025-10-01/reviews) **Amazon Aurora Alternatives** ![Oracle Database](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/thumb_square/thumb_square_82f55e945509bff7b8009e8024cfe73c/oracle-database.jpg "Oracle Database") [ Oracle Database ](/products/oracle-database/reviews) ![Google Cloud SQL](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/a4f97d6f742e657968c8830b1a97c42e/google-cloud-sql.svg "Google Cloud SQL") [ Cloud SQL ](/products/google-cloud-sql/reviews) ![Azure SQL Database](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/thumb_square/thumb_square_f176b4154a751d10150daa67a57b7dc5/azure-sql-database.jpg "Azure SQL Database") [ Azure SQL Database ](/products/azure-sql-database/reviews) ![Google Cloud Spanner](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/thumb_square/thumb_square_6d40699dd3d72645c5cef15b5c6e92e7/google-cloud-spanner.png "Google Cloud Spanner") [ Google Cloud Spanner ](/products/google-cloud-spanner/reviews) ## Amazon Athena vs Amazon Aurora When assessing the two solutions, reviewers found Amazon Athena easier to use and set up. However, Amazon Aurora is easier to administer. Reviewers agreed that both vendors make it equally easy to do business overall. - Reviewers felt that Amazon Aurora meets the needs of their business better than Amazon Athena. - When comparing quality of ongoing product support, reviewers felt that Amazon Aurora is the preferred option. - For feature updates and roadmaps, our reviewers preferred the direction of Amazon Aurora over Amazon Athena.