Compatibility: IBM Db2 (Community Edition, Standard Edition, Advanced Edition)
Serverless: No (fixed instance types)
Scale to zero: No
VPC required: Yes
Multi-region: Cross-region read replicas using HADR (active-passive DR)
Free Tier: None
Min cost: ~$25/month (Community Edition License Included, db.t3.small)
Time to first query: 15-20 min (VPC + instance + Db2 configuration)
Key features: IBM Db2 compatibility, automated backups, Multi-AZ, Db2-native tools support
Limitations: IBM licensing cost, no serverless, smaller community than PostgreSQL/MySQL
Best for: Lift-and-shift Db2 migrations, mainframe modernization first step, teams with Db2 expertise and existing licenses (BYOL)
Not for: New applications (use Aurora PostgreSQL or DSQL), cost-sensitive workloads, teams looking to move off commercial licensing (that’s a refactor)