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Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL VS AWS Fargate

Compare Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL VS AWS Fargate and see what are their differences

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL logo Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL as a Service

AWS Fargate logo AWS Fargate

AWS Fargate is a compute engine for Amazon ECS and EKS that allows you to run containers without having to manage servers or clusters.
  • Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-29
  • AWS Fargate Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-29

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL features and specs

  • Managed Service
    Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL is a fully managed service, meaning that AWS handles routine database tasks such as backups, patch management, and failover, reducing the operational burden on users.
  • Scalability
    The service allows for easy vertically scaling of database instances as application demands grow, without requiring downtime. This helps businesses to adapt to changing workloads efficiently.
  • High Availability
    With Multi-AZ deployments, Amazon RDS provides enhanced reliability and availability. It automatically creates a primary database instance and synchronously replicates data to a standby instance in a different Availability Zone.
  • Security Features
    Amazon RDS integrates with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) for access control and offers encryption at rest and in transit capabilities, bolstering data security.
  • Backup and Recovery
    Automatic backups, snapshots, and point-in-time recovery simplify data recovery and help ensure that data can be restored to any given second during the retention period.

Possible disadvantages of Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

  • Cost
    The cost of running a managed service like Amazon RDS can be higher than managing a database in-house, especially for smaller organizations or when optimal configurations are not utilized.
  • Limited Customization
    Since Amazon RDS is a managed service, there are certain limitations on access to the underlying operating system and database configurations, which may hinder some advanced customizations and optimizations.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Using RDS for PostgreSQL can lead to vendor lock-in, making it difficult for businesses to move away from AWS without incurring data transfer costs or requiring significant re-engineering efforts.
  • Maintenance Windows
    Updates and patches are applied during scheduled maintenance windows, which might cause disruptions if the timing is not properly managed or if unexpected performance issues occur during these periods.
  • Limited Extension Support
    While RDS for PostgreSQL supports a wide range of extensions, not all PostgreSQL extensions are available, potentially limiting additional functionality that might be needed for specialized use cases.

AWS Fargate features and specs

  • Simplified Management
    AWS Fargate eliminates the need to provision, configure, and scale clusters of virtual machines, simplifying container management and reducing operational overhead.
  • Scalability
    Fargate automatically scales compute capacity to match the resource requirements of your application, ensuring performance and cost-efficiency.
  • Isolation
    Each Fargate task runs in its own environment, providing better security through enhanced isolation between tasks compared to shared environments.
  • Cost Efficiency
    Fargate allows you to pay only for the resources you actually use, such as vCPU and memory, which can be more cost-effective for unpredictable workloads.
  • Integration
    Fargate integrates seamlessly with other AWS services like Amazon ECS, ECR, IAM, and CloudWatch, providing a cohesive ecosystem for building and deploying applications.

Possible disadvantages of AWS Fargate

  • Higher Cost for Persistent Workloads
    While Fargate can be cost-efficient for variable workloads, it may become more expensive compared to EC2 for long-running, persistent workloads due to its pricing model.
  • Configuration Limitations
    Fargate may have limitations on the customization and configuration options available, which can be restrictive for certain use cases requiring highly specialized setups.
  • Cold Start Latency
    Fargate can experience cold start latency, where newly instantiated containers take a few seconds or longer to become operational, which can be a drawback for latency-sensitive applications.
  • Limited to AWS Ecosystem
    Fargate is tied to AWS's ecosystem, potentially causing vendor lock-in and limiting flexibility if you need to transition to a multi-cloud or hybrid environment.
  • Learning Curve
    For teams not familiar with the AWS ecosystem, there can be a learning curve associated with leveraging Fargate and its integrations effectively.

Analysis of AWS Fargate

Overall verdict

  • AWS Fargate is generally considered an excellent solution for organizations and developers looking to deploy containerized applications without the complexity of managing the underlying infrastructure. It is particularly well-suited for workloads that require dynamic scaling and benefit from a cloud-native, serverless environment.

Why this product is good

  • AWS Fargate is a serverless compute engine for containers that eliminates the need to provision and manage servers, allowing developers to focus on building and running applications rather than managing infrastructure. It offers scalability, flexibility, and reliability, integrating seamlessly with Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS to run containerized applications with ease. Key benefits include automatic scaling, a pay-as-you-go pricing model, and reduced operational overhead.

Recommended for

    AWS Fargate is recommended for teams and businesses of all sizes seeking to adopt a microservices architecture or run containerized applications in the cloud. It's especially beneficial for those who need to rapidly deploy applications without the overhead of infrastructure management, as well as for projects where workload demands are variable and scalability is a priority.

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL videos

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL/Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL Operational Best Practices | AWS Events

AWS Fargate videos

Deep Dive into AWS Fargate

More videos:

  • Tutorial - AWS Fargate Tutorial | AWS Tutorial For Beginners | AWS Certification Training | Edureka
  • Review - AWS Fargate - Running Dockerized Apps

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and AWS Fargate)
Databases
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Cloud Hosting
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Computing
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and AWS Fargate

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL Reviews

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AWS Fargate Reviews

Top 12 Kubernetes Alternatives to Choose From in 2023
For Container-as-a-Service (CaaS) Kubernetes alternatives, AWS Fargate is a great option. It is well-known for simplifying container management and deployment on AWS.
Source: humalect.com
Top 10 Best Container Software in 2022
Using AWS Fargate, you now donโ€™t need to provision, configure, and scale cluster virtual machines to execute containers. This, in turn, eliminates the requirement to select server types, determine at what time to scale your clusters or optimize cluster packing.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, AWS Fargate should be more popular than Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL. It has been mentiond 53 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL mentions (16)

  • Kubernetes and Container Portability: Navigating Multi-Cloud Flexibility
    Amazon RDS for MySQL (for managed MySQL) or Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL (for managed PostgreSQL). - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Top 8 Managed Postgres Providers
    Amazon RDS is a managed service for relational databases that makes PostgreSQL setup, scaling, and management automatic. This lets developers concentrate on creating applications instead of handling database tasks. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Deploying Django Application on AWS with Terraform - Part 1
    Yay! We have now deployed our Django web application with ECS Service + Fargate on AWS. But now it works with SQLite file database. This file will be recreated on every service restart. So, our app cannot persist any data for now. In the next article weโ€™ll connect Django to AWS RDS PostgreSQL. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • gactive: Active-active Replication Extension for PostgreSQL on Amazon RDS
    Today, AWS announces the general availability of pgactive: Active-active Replication Extension for PostgreSQL, available for Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) for PostgreSQL. Pgactive lets you use asynchronous active-active replication for streaming data between database instances to provide additional resiliency and flexibility in moving data between database instances, including writers located in... Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Hosting my Software
    Best practice would definitely be setting up a separately hosted database (I swear I'm not an AWS shill) for production as this ensures much better data integrity. Plus it manages backups etc. For you. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

AWS Fargate mentions (53)

  • Beyond the Hype: Rediscovering Why Containers Won
    The future is getting weird in a good way. New technologies like AWS Firecracker and serverless containers (AWS Fargate, Google Cloud Run) are basically giving you VM-level security with container-level performance. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • MCP Security: Tr-tr-tr-tricky, tricky, tricky
    The centerpiece of the authentication and authorization is an MCP Auth Service, which runs in a secure virtual private cloud (VPC) on AWS Fargate. MCP Auth Service works with DynamoDB and Cognito to send tokens to the MCP client, routing through the AWS Application Load Balancer and CloudFront. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • AWS Serverless Compute Offerings: A Comprehensive Developerโ€™s Guide (2025)
    Security: Tasks run in dedicated runtime environments, ensuring workload isolation (AWS Fargate). - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Large-scale Data Processing with Step Functionsย : AWSย Project
    The workers in this example are containers, running in Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) with an Amazon Fargate Capacity Provider . Though the workers could potentially run almost anywhere so long as they had access to poll the Step Functions Activity and report SUCCESS/FAILURE back to Step Functions. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Ephemeral Jobs Longer than the Lambda Timeout
    One option is to use ECS run-task with a Fargate launch type. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and AWS Fargate, you can also consider the following products

Amazon Aurora - MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud. Performance and availability of commercial-grade databases at 1/10th the cost.

Amazon ECS - Amazon EC2 Container Service is a highly scalable, high-performanceโ€‹ container management service that supports Docker containers.

Application Load Balance - Automatically distribute incoming traffic across multiple targets using an Application Load Balancer.

Google Kubernetes Engine - Google Kubernetes Engine is a powerful cluster manager and orchestration system for running your Docker containers. Set up a cluster in minutes.

Aiven - Leverage the complete open source ecosystem of extensions and tools to create highly-performant data pipelines for event-driven applications on all major clouds.

AWS Lambda - Automatic, event-driven compute service