Quick answer
Amazon DynamoDB is cheaper than Azure Cosmos DB at all three usage levels Playxoft priced. For 100 million reads, 20 million writes and 50 GB stored a month in US East, it costs $31.25 a month against $65.00, and it is cheaper in all 12 regions covered. Playxoft's comparison uses official list prices checked October 14, 2026, with the always-free allowances applied.
- Official list prices
- 3 usage levels
- 12 regions
- Feature comparison
- Free calculator
How to compare Amazon DynamoDB and Azure Cosmos DB costs
- 1Pick a usage level (10M reads, 100M reads, 1B reads), then change the numbers or add more items with the + buttons.
- 2Choose the Region where your users are. Prices differ by region.
- 3Adjust the numbers in each card. Every field has an i tip explaining it.
- 4Compare the two monthly totals, then open Cost breakdown to see exactly how Amazon DynamoDB and Azure Cosmos DB bill each line.
Which is cheaper, Amazon DynamoDB or Azure Cosmos DB?
Monthly list prices in US East with the always-free allowances applied:
| Usage per month | Amazon DynamoDB | Azure Cosmos DB | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10M reads: 1M writes, 5 GB stored | $1.88 | $5.13 | Amazon DynamoDB by $3.25 |
| 100M reads: 20M writes, 50 GB stored | $31.25 | $65.00 | Amazon DynamoDB by $33.75 |
| 1B reads: 200M writes, 500 GB stored | $368.75 | $650.00 | Amazon DynamoDB by $281.25 |
Amazon DynamoDB is cheaper for 100M reads a month in all 12 regions the calculator covers. Cosmos DB costs assume 1 KB items with indexing off; default indexing raises write costs further.
What are the DynamoDB and Cosmos DB unit prices?
List prices in AWS us-east-1 (N. Virginia) and Azure eastus (East US), read on October 14, 2026:
| Price (US East, on-demand) | AWS | Azure |
|---|---|---|
| NoSQL, per million reads | $0.125 | $0.25 (1 RU each) |
| NoSQL, per million writes | $0.625 | $1.38 (5.5 RU each) |
Is Amazon DynamoDB or Azure Cosmos DB cheaper in your region?
100 million reads, 20 million writes and 50 GB stored a month, priced in each of the 12 regions the calculator covers:
| Region | Amazon DynamoDB | Azure Cosmos DB | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| US East | $31.25 | $65.00 | DynamoDB |
| US West | $31.25 | $65.00 | DynamoDB |
| Canada | $34.38 | $71.50 | DynamoDB |
| Brazil (São Paulo) | $46.88 | $97.50 | DynamoDB |
| Ireland | $35.33 | $71.93 | DynamoDB |
| UK (London) | $37.14 | $74.87 | DynamoDB |
| Germany (Frankfurt) | $38.15 | $76.55 | DynamoDB |
| India | $35.58 | $74.10 | DynamoDB |
| Singapore | $35.58 | $72.35 | DynamoDB |
| Japan (Tokyo) | $35.68 | $73.98 | DynamoDB |
| South Korea (Seoul) | $33.92 | $69.41 | DynamoDB |
| Australia (Sydney) | $35.58 | $74.23 | DynamoDB |
How do Amazon DynamoDB and Azure Cosmos DB compare on features?
| Amazon DynamoDB | Azure Cosmos DB | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per read and write request unit | Per request unit (RU) consumed |
| Largest item | 400 KB | 2 MB |
| Consistency | Eventual by default, strong optional | Five levels, strong to eventual |
| Queries | Key lookups, Query and Scan, secondary indexes | SQL-like queries over JSON |
| SLA | 99.99% (99.999% global tables) | Same as a single region with zones |
| Free allowance | 25 GB storage (on-demand requests are not free) | None for serverless |
Facts from each provider's own documentation, checked October 14, 2026.
What are the key differences between Amazon DynamoDB and Azure Cosmos DB?
- Request units. A 1 KB write is one DynamoDB write request unit; in Cosmos DB it costs about 5.5 request units, and more with indexing.
- Consistency. Cosmos DB offers five consistency levels; DynamoDB eventual or strong reads.
- Queries. Cosmos DB supports SQL-like queries over JSON documents; DynamoDB queries by key and secondary indexes.
- Regions. Cosmos DB serverless accounts run in a single region; DynamoDB global tables replicate across regions with a 99.999% SLA.
Should you choose Amazon DynamoDB or Azure Cosmos DB?
Choose Amazon DynamoDB if
- your workload is write-heavy
- you need multi-region replication with global tables
- your app runs on AWS
Choose Azure Cosmos DB if
- you need rich SQL-like queries over JSON
- you want to tune consistency between strong and eventual
- your app runs on Azure
More comparisons: AWS vs Azure · Amazon EC2 vs Azure Virtual Machines · AWS Lambda vs Azure Functions · Amazon S3 vs Azure Blob Storage · Amazon RDS vs Azure Database for PostgreSQL · Amazon DynamoDB vs Firestore.
Where do these prices come from?
Both sides use the provider's own published price list, read on October 14, 2026, for the same region, with the always-free allowances applied.
Prices are in US dollars, on-demand, for Linux, with no commitments. Every figure on this page is generated from the same price snapshot as the calculator, and automated tests check each claim whenever the prices change. A month is 730 hours and 1 TB is 1,024 GB. Providers change prices from time to time, so for a purchase decision confirm the final figure in the provider's console.
Moving between Amazon DynamoDB and Azure Cosmos DB?
Playxoft builds and runs production backends on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure and Cloudflare, and plans migrations between them with no surprise downtime, including white-label work for agencies. Send us your architecture or last month's invoice and we will tell you, free, which side is cheaper for your real usage. Get a free cloud cost review.
Frequently asked questions
Last updated by the Playxoft engineering team.