# Amazon Aurora, KX vs Amazon Athena Comparison

| | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Star Rating** | 4.5 out of 5 | 4.6 out of 5 | 4.4 out of 5 | 
| **Total Reviews** | 457 | 51 | 172 | 
| **Largest Market Segment** | Small-Business (38.3% of reviews) | Enterprise (58.0% of reviews) | Enterprise (51.6% of reviews) | 
| **Entry Level Price** | No pricing available | $0.00 | No pricing available | 

---
## Top Pros & Cons

### Amazon Aurora

Pros:
- Scalability (14 reviews)
- Availability (12 reviews)

Cons:
- Expensive (20 reviews)
- AWS Dependency (7 reviews)

### KX

Pros:
- Speed (11 reviews)
- Performance (9 reviews)

Cons:
- Learning Curve (12 reviews)
- Difficult Learning (7 reviews)

### Amazon Athena

Pros:
- Analytics (1 reviews)
- Big Data Handling (1 reviews)

Cons:
- Function Limitations (1 reviews)
- Limited SQL (1 reviews)

---
## Ratings Comparison
| Rating | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
  | **Meets Requirements** | 9.0 (409 reviews) | 8.9 (35 reviews) | 8.4 (126 reviews) | 
  | **Ease of Use** | 8.7 (411 reviews) | 6.7 (38 reviews) | 8.9 (126 reviews) | 
  | **Ease of Setup** | 8.6 (259 reviews) | 8.5 (24 reviews) | 9.1 (61 reviews) | 
  | **Ease of Admin** | 8.7 (180 reviews) | 8.9 (14 reviews) | 8.5 (55 reviews) | 
  | **Quality of Support** | 8.7 (395 reviews) | 8.7 (33 reviews) | 8.5 (108 reviews) | 
  | **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?** | 8.7 (177 reviews) | 9.0 (12 reviews) | 8.7 (55 reviews) | 
  | **Product Direction (% positive)** | 9.5 (395 reviews) | 8.6 (42 reviews) | 9.2 (99 reviews) | 

---
## Pricing

### Amazon Aurora

#### Entry-Level Pricing

No pricing available

#### Free Trial

No information available

### KX

#### Entry-Level Pricing

Plan: Free

Price: $0.00

Description: Rate-limited plan for quickly and easily getting started with kdb+.

Key Features:
- Fastest query speed ​
- In-memory compute engine​
- Extreme scalability ​

[Browse all 3 editions](https://www.g2.com/products/kx-kx/pricing)

#### Free Trial

Yes

### Amazon Athena

#### Entry-Level Pricing

No pricing available

#### Free Trial

No information available

---
## Features Comparison By Category

### Database Management Systems (DBMS)

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **Amazon Aurora** | N/A | N/A |
| **KX** | N/A | N/A |
| **Amazon Athena** | 8.5/10 | 33 |

#### Management

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Data dictionary** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 8.0 (27 reviews) | 
| **Data Replication** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 8.7 (25 reviews) | 
| **Query Language** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 8.6 (31 reviews) | 
| **Data Modeling** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 8.5 (29 reviews) | 
| **Performance Analysis** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 8.5 (29 reviews) | 

#### Maintenance

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Data Migration** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 8.0 (28 reviews) | 
| **Backup and Recovery** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 8.3 (27 reviews) | 
| **Multi-User Environment** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 8.1 (27 reviews) | 

#### Security

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Data Encryption** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 9.0 (29 reviews) | 
| **User Access Control** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 9.1 (31 reviews) | 

### Relational Databases

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **Amazon Aurora** | 8.8/10 | 313 |
| **KX** | N/A | N/A |
| **Amazon Athena** | N/A | N/A |

#### Management 

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Data Schema** | 8.7 (209 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Query Language** | 8.6 (210 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **ACID - Complaint** | 8.8 (208 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Data Replication** | 8.9 (212 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### Support 

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Text Search** | 8.3 (207 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Data Types** | 8.6 (214 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Languages** | 8.4 (206 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Operating Systems** | 8.6 (204 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### Security

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Database Locking** | 8.7 (203 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Access Control** | 8.7 (206 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Encryption** | 8.9 (207 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Authentication** | 8.8 (204 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### Performance 

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Disaster Recovery** | 8.9 (209 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Data Concurrency** | 8.7 (205 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Workload Management** | 8.8 (203 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Advanced Indexing** | 8.6 (202 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Query Optimizer** | 8.5 (202 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### Database Features

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Storage** | 9.1 (296 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Availability** | 9.2 (295 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Stability** | 9.0 (291 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Scalability** | 9.2 (288 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Security** | 9.0 (287 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Data Manipulation** | 8.5 (283 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Query Language** | 8.6 (291 reviews) | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

### Columnar Databases

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **Amazon Aurora** | N/A | N/A |
| **KX** | 8.4/10 | 22 |
| **Amazon Athena** | N/A | N/A |

#### Storage

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Data Model** | Not enough data | 8.8 (20 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data Types** | Not enough data | 9.5 (22 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Availability

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Auto Sharding** | Not enough data | 7.9 (14 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Auto Recovery** | Not enough data | 7.6 (16 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data Replication** | Not enough data | 9.0 (16 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Performance

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Integrated Cache** | Not enough data | 9.1 (17 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Security

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Role-Based Authorization** | Not enough data | 8.0 (15 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Authentication** | Not enough data | 7.9 (18 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Audit Logs** | Not enough data | 7.7 (14 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Encryption** | Not enough data | 8.2 (16 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Support

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Multi-Model** | Not enough data | 7.7 (11 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Operating Systems** | Not enough data | 9.1 (16 reviews) | Not enough data | 

### Vector Database

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **Amazon Aurora** | N/A | N/A |
| **KX** | 8.7/10 | 10 |
| **Amazon Athena** | N/A | N/A |

#### Data Indexing

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Semantic Search** | Not enough data | 8.0 (9 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Indexing Data** | Not enough data | 9.3 (10 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Filters

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Accurate Search** | Not enough data | 8.5 (10 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Single Stage Filtering - Vector Database** | Not enough data | 9.1 (9 reviews) | Not enough data | 

### Real-time Analytic Database

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **Amazon Aurora** | N/A | N/A |
| **KX** | 8.3/10 | 10 |
| **Amazon Athena** | N/A | N/A |

#### Query latency

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Lower query latency** | Not enough data | 8.8 (10 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Continuous queries** | Not enough data | 8.3 (9 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Data latency

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Lower data latency** | Not enough data | 8.9 (9 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data pipeline performance** | Not enough data | 8.0 (9 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Connectors

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Faster ingestion** | Not enough data | 8.0 (9 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Built-in connectors** | Not enough data | 7.0 (9 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Scale

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Linearly scalable database** | Not enough data | 8.9 (9 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Storage management** | Not enough data | 8.3 (10 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Architecture

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Data security** | Not enough data | 8.1 (9 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Lockless architecture** | Not enough data | 8.3 (9 reviews) | Not enough data | 

### Database as a Service (DBaaS)

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **Amazon Aurora** | 8.7/10 | 220 |
| **KX** | N/A | N/A |
| **Amazon Athena** | 8.9/10 | 55 |

#### Configuration

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Application Performance** | 8.9 (205 reviews) | Not enough data | 8.9 (46 reviews) | 
| **Orchestration** | 8.6 (191 reviews) | Not enough data | 8.5 (38 reviews) | 
| **Database Monitoring** | 8.6 (203 reviews) | Not enough data | 8.7 (40 reviews) | 
| **Anomaly Detection** | 8.3 (182 reviews) | Not enough data | 8.3 (36 reviews) | 
| **Network Security** | 8.8 (198 reviews) | Not enough data | 9.0 (37 reviews) | 

#### Database Administration

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Provisioning** | 8.7 (197 reviews) | Not enough data | 8.9 (36 reviews) | 
| **Governance** | 8.6 (181 reviews) | Not enough data | 9.0 (38 reviews) | 
| **Auditing** | 8.5 (181 reviews) | Not enough data | 8.9 (39 reviews) | 

#### Availability

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Scalability** | 9.1 (197 reviews) | Not enough data | 8.8 (44 reviews) | 
| **Backup** | 9.1 (195 reviews) | Not enough data | 8.9 (38 reviews) | 
| **Archiving** | 8.8 (188 reviews) | Not enough data | 8.7 (38 reviews) | 
| **Indexing** | 8.7 (188 reviews) | Not enough data | 8.7 (38 reviews) | 

#### Security

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Data Masking** | 8.7 (133 reviews) | Not enough data | 8.8 (36 reviews) | 
| **Authentication And Single Sign-On** | 8.6 (133 reviews) | Not enough data | 9.2 (36 reviews) | 
| **Data Anonymization** | 8.5 (126 reviews) | Not enough data | 9.0 (34 reviews) | 

#### Data Management

| Feature | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Data Replication** | 8.9 (135 reviews) | Not enough data | 9.1 (36 reviews) | 
| **Advanced Data Analytics** | 8.5 (125 reviews) | Not enough data | 9.1 (43 reviews) | 

---
## Categories

**Unique to Amazon Aurora (2):** [Database as a Service (DBaaS) Providers](https://www.g2.com/categories/database-as-a-service-dbaas), [Relational Databases](https://www.g2.com/categories/relational-databases)

**Unique to KX (6):** [Columnar Databases](https://www.g2.com/categories/columnar-databases), [Time Series Intelligence Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/time-series-intelligence), [Time Series Databases](https://www.g2.com/categories/time-series-databases), [Stream Analytics Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/stream-analytics), [Real-time Analytic Database Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/real-time-analytic-database), [Vector Database Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/vector-database)

**Unique to Amazon Athena (2):** [Database as a Service (DBaaS) Providers](https://www.g2.com/categories/database-as-a-service-dbaas), [Database Management Systems (DBMS)](https://www.g2.com/categories/database-management-systems-dbms)


---
## Reviewer Demographics

### By Company Size

| Segment | Amazon Aurora | KX | Amazon Athena | 
|---|---|---|---|
| **Small-Business** | 38.3% | 24.0% | 22.4% | 
| **Mid-Market** | 33.3% | 18.0% | 26.1% | 
| **Enterprise** | 28.4% | 58.0% | 51.6% | 

### By Industry

#### Amazon Aurora

- **Information Technology and Services:** 22.9%
- **Computer Software:** 21.3%
- **Computer & Network Security:** 4.9%
- **Financial Services:** 4.2%
- **Education Management:** 3.7%
- **Retail:** 3.5%
- **Banking:** 3.0%
- **Hospital & Health Care:** 2.3%
- **Consulting:** 2.1%
- **Telecommunications:** 2.1%
- **Other:** 30.1%

#### KX

- **Financial Services:** 46.0%
- **Banking:** 12.0%
- **Capital Markets:** 10.0%
- **Investment Banking:** 6.0%
- **Investment Management:** 4.0%
- **Computer Software:** 4.0%
- **Professional Training & Coaching:** 2.0%
- **Online Media:** 2.0%
- **Management Consulting:** 2.0%
- **Information Technology and Services:** 2.0%
- **Other:** 10.0%

#### Amazon Athena

- **Information Technology and Services:** 15.0%
- **Computer Software:** 11.9%
- **Financial Services:** 8.1%
- **Computer & Network Security:** 4.4%
- **Retail:** 4.4%
- **Marketing and Advertising:** 4.4%
- **Pharmaceuticals:** 4.4%
- **Hospital & Health Care:** 3.8%
- **Banking:** 3.1%
- **Media Production:** 2.5%
- **Other:** 38.1%

---
## Alternatives

### Alternatives to Amazon Aurora

- [Oracle Database](https://www.g2.com/products/oracle-database/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (1010 reviews)
- [Google Cloud SQL](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-sql/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (366 reviews)
- [Azure SQL Database](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-sql-database/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (241 reviews)
- [Google Cloud Spanner](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-spanner/reviews) — 4.2/5 stars (36 reviews)
- [Microsoft SQL Server](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-sql-server/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (2274 reviews)
- [MongoDB Atlas](https://www.g2.com/products/mongodb-atlas/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (370 reviews)
- [IBM Db2](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-db2/reviews) — 4.1/5 stars (682 reviews)
- [MariaDB](https://www.g2.com/products/mariadb/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (226 reviews)
- [SAP HANA Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/sap-hana-cloud-2025-10-01/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (621 reviews)
- [MySQL](https://www.g2.com/products/mysql/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (1675 reviews)

### Alternatives to KX

- [Snowflake](https://www.g2.com/products/snowflake/reviews) — 4.6/5 stars (741 reviews)
- [SAP HANA Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/sap-hana-cloud-2025-10-01/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (621 reviews)
- [InfluxDB](https://www.g2.com/products/influxdata-influxdb/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (101 reviews)
- [Amazon Redshift](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-redshift/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (401 reviews)
- [Google Cloud BigQuery](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-bigquery/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (1235 reviews)
- [HubSpot Data Hub](https://www.g2.com/products/hubspot-data-hub/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (576 reviews)
- [Spotfire Analytics](https://www.g2.com/products/spotfire-analytics/reviews) — 4.2/5 stars (362 reviews)
- [Tealium Customer Data Hub](https://www.g2.com/products/tealium-customer-data-hub/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (474 reviews)
- [Elasticsearch](https://www.g2.com/products/elastic-elasticsearch/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (292 reviews)
- [Epsilon3](https://www.g2.com/products/epsilon3/reviews) — 4.2/5 stars (260 reviews)

### Alternatives to Amazon Athena

- [Snowflake](https://www.g2.com/products/snowflake/reviews) — 4.6/5 stars (741 reviews)
- [Microsoft SQL Server](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-sql-server/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (2274 reviews)
- [DBeaver](https://www.g2.com/products/dbeaver/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (168 reviews)
- [SAP HANA Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/sap-hana-cloud-2025-10-01/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (621 reviews)
- [Toad For Oracle](https://www.g2.com/products/quest-software-toad-for-oracle/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (286 reviews)
- [Azure SQL Database](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-sql-database/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (241 reviews)
- [Google Cloud SQL](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-sql/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (366 reviews)
- [IBM Db2](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-db2/reviews) — 4.1/5 stars (682 reviews)
- [Databricks](https://www.g2.com/products/databricks/reviews) — 4.6/5 stars (769 reviews)
- [DbVisualizer](https://www.g2.com/products/dbvisualizer/reviews) — 4.7/5 stars (269 reviews)

---
## Top Discussions

### Amazon Aurora

- Title: [What is Amazon Aurora used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-amazon-aurora-used-for) — 2 comments, 1 upvote
  > **Top comment:** "Amazon Aurora is a fully managed relational database engine designed for the cloud, compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL. It's used for providing high..."
- Title: [What is Amazon Aurora vs RDS?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-amazon-aurora-vs-rds) — 2 comments
  > **Top comment:** "AWS (Amazon Web Services) offers both Amazon Aurora and Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) as database services, however, they have slightly different..."

### KX

No discussions available for this product.

### Amazon Athena

- Title: [Is AWS Athena free?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-aws-athena-free) — 1 comment
  > **Top comment:** "No"
- Title: [How do I use AWS Athena?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-do-i-use-aws-athena) — 1 comment
  > **Top comment:** "AWS Management Console
Command Line Interface (CLI)
JDBC/ODBC Drivers
WS Serverless Application Repository"

---
**Source:** [G2.com](https://www.g2.com) | [Comparison Page](https://www.g2.com/compare/amazon-aurora-vs-kx-kx-vs-amazon-athena)