Aurora / RDS version release timeline has been published, so I looked into the current situation as of May 2026.
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Introduction
On May 21, 2026, the following article was published on the AWS Database Blog.
This article explicitly states the estimated timeframe from community release to AWS availability for open-source engines on Aurora / RDS, broken down by engine and release type. In this article, we refer to these as "commitments," though they are targets rather than SLAs or guarantees.
The Aurora MySQL 8.4 GA blog published on the same day also reprints the same timeline table. Aurora MySQL 8.4 itself will be covered in a separate article, but we mention it here as a related announcement.
Here is a summary of the differences between before and after this announcement.
| Item | Before | Going Forward |
|---|---|---|
| Timing of new version availability | Unknown (no estimate) | Timelines committed per engine and release type |
| Planability | Waiting for AWS announcements | Upgrade plans can be made in advance based on commitments |
Timeline Targets Presented by AWS
Below is the list of timelines published in the blog. MariaDB is included in the list, but the verification of actual results in this article is limited to PostgreSQL and MySQL.
| Engine | Release Type | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| RDS for PostgreSQL | Minor | Within 7 days |
| RDS for PostgreSQL | Major | Within 30 days |
| RDS for MySQL | Minor | Within 30 days |
| RDS for MySQL | Major | Within 6 months |
| RDS for MariaDB | Minor | Within 30 days |
| RDS for MariaDB | Major | Within 3 months |
| Aurora PostgreSQL | Minor | Within 3 months |
| Aurora PostgreSQL | Major | Within 8 months |
| Aurora PostgreSQL | Aurora LTS per major | Within 12 months of Aurora major GA |
| Aurora MySQL | Minor | Within 3 months |
| Aurora MySQL | Major | Within 12 months |
| Aurora MySQL | Aurora LTS per major | Within 12 months of Aurora major GA |
PostgreSQL: Community vs RDS vs Aurora (as of May 22, 2026)
The latest community minor releases were on May 14, 2026 (17.10, 16.14, 15.18, 14.23). RDS made these available on the same day, May 14, resulting in same-day availability (0 days) against the commitment of within 7 days. The latest Aurora versions are from April 6 (17.9, 16.13, 15.17, 14.22), and the May 14 versions have not yet been made available. Given the commitment of within 3 months, availability is expected around August. PG 18 is listed here not as a minor update but as a reference for the major version support status.
| Major | Community | Release Date | RDS | Available Date | Days Difference | Aurora | Available Date | Version Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | 18.4 | 5/14 | 18.4 | 5/14 | 0 days | Preview | — | — |
| 17 | 17.10 | 5/14 | 17.10 | 5/14 | 0 days | 17.9 | 4/6 | 1 minor behind |
| 16 | 16.14 | 5/14 | 16.14 | 5/14 | 0 days | 16.13 | 4/6 | 1 minor behind |
| 15 | 15.18 | 5/14 | 15.18 | 5/14 | 0 days | 15.17 | 4/6 | 1 minor behind |
| 14 | 14.23 | 5/14 | 14.23 | 5/14 | 0 days | 14.22 | 4/6 | 1 minor behind |
For RDS, the days difference (number of days elapsed since the community release) is shown; for Aurora, the version difference (gap from the latest community version) is shown.
Note that this article uses the availability start date as recorded in official AWS documentation / release notes as the reference point. Actual availability may vary by region and engine configuration.
MySQL: Community vs RDS vs Aurora (as of May 22, 2026)
The latest community releases were on April 21, 2026 (8.4.9, 8.0.46, 9.7.0). RDS made 8.4.9 and 8.0.46 available on May 8, which is 17 days after the community release. This was approximately half the committed timeline of within 30 days.
Aurora MySQL made a version compatible with MySQL 8.4.7 available on May 21. While Aurora MySQL previously used its own numbering scheme (3.x = MySQL 8.0 compatible), starting with 8.4 it has switched to numbering that directly corresponds to community versions. The table below contains both numbering schemes.
| Series | Community | Release Date | RDS | Available Date | Difference | Aurora | Compatible Version | Available Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.7 | 9.7.0 | 4/21 | Preview | — | — | Not available | — | — |
| 8.4 | 8.4.9 | 4/21 | 8.4.9 | 5/8 | 17 days | 8.4.7 | MySQL 8.4.7 compatible | 5/21 |
| 8.0 | 8.0.46 (final release) | 4/21 | 8.0.46 | 5/8 | 17 days | 3.12 (≈8.0.44 compatible) | MySQL 8.0.44 compatible | 2/17 |
MySQL 9.7 has emerged as Oracle MySQL's new LTS major version. Only a Preview is available on RDS, but based on the commitment of within 6 months, the GA target is estimated to be around October 2026.
MySQL 8.0.46 is the final release of the community 8.0 series. Oracle's Premier Support ended in April 2025 and Extended Support ended in April 2026 (MySQL Product Support EOL Announcements), and no further minor releases are planned. The successor LTS is the 9.7 series.
Discussion of Background and Mechanisms Behind the Results
Regarding why RDS for PostgreSQL can be made available on the same day, the official blog explains: "PostgreSQL and MariaDB communities develop in the open, which lets us start validation early."
Regarding why Aurora tends to lag behind RDS, the blog explains: "Aurora adds a distributed storage layer, Global Database, and serverless capabilities... Every new version goes through additional validation."
The most impactful aspect of this timeline is the explicit documentation of "Aurora LTS per major: Within 12 months of Aurora major GA." While the Aurora LTS mechanism itself has existed since 2019, the timing of when it would be released was previously unknown. In the past, Aurora MySQL 3 (GA in April 2022) took approximately 18 months to designate LTS 3.04 in October 2023 (source: What's New 2023/10/25). Now that a target of within 12 months has been provided, it becomes possible to "estimate when an LTS will appear once an Aurora major reaches GA." This is a significant change, as it allows teams to plan timelines in advance for production deployment decisions and upgrade planning that depend on waiting for an LTS.
The "Aurora LTS" referred to here means Aurora's own Long-Term Support release designation (e.g., Aurora MySQL 3.04 LTS). Please note that this is distinct from Aurora's support timeline for Oracle MySQL LTS majors (e.g., MySQL 8.4 LTS), which is separately defined in the "Major" row of the table above. Also note that if you are using an Aurora LTS, minor versions are pinned, so the benefit of this timeline will be realized at the timing of the next LTS release.
Notes and Tips
Methods for Detecting Releases
The following methods can be used to track new version releases.
| Method | URL / Settings | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| PostgreSQL News RSS | https://www.postgresql.org/news.rss |
Catch community new version releases on the day they are published |
| AWS What's New RSS | https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/recent/feed/ |
Catch new version availability on RDS/Aurora (can be filtered by category tags such as general:products/amazon-aurora) |
| RDS Event Subscriptions (SNS) | Subscribe to the maintenance category | Receive notifications when a "minor version upgrade is available" for your own DB instance (RDS-EVENT-0155 / RDS-EVENT-0156) |
Since an official RSS feed for MySQL could not be confirmed, the recommended approach is to periodically check the AWS What's New RSS or the release notes page on dev.mysql.com.
For details on RDS Event Subscriptions, please refer to the following.
Summary
Comparing the commitments against actual results, RDS has been delivering versions in less time than committed, while Aurora takes longer due to the additional work required on AWS's side. However, the targets of 3 months, 8 months, and 12 months presented this time make it practical to plan upgrades in advance. The most practically useful aspect of these commitments is the explicit documentation of the target "Aurora LTS per major: Within 12 months of Aurora major GA." For cases where you want to wait for an Aurora LTS before deploying to production, please use this announcement as a basis for your upgrade planning.
Reference Links
- https://aws.amazon.com/jp/blogs/database/knowing-when-new-open-source-database-engine-versions-release-on-amazon-aurora-and-amazon-rds/
- https://aws.amazon.com/jp/blogs/database/amazon-aurora-mysql-8-4-is-now-generally-available/
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/PostgreSQLReleaseNotes/postgresql-release-calendar.html
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraPostgreSQLReleaseNotes/aurorapostgresql-release-calendar.html
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/MySQL.Concepts.VersionMgmt.html
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraMySQLReleaseNotes/AuroraMySQL.release-calendars.html
- https://www.postgresql.org/support/versioning/
- https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_Events.Messages.html
