Transitioning from RDS Performance Insights to CloudWatch Database Insights

Understanding the Transition

AWS RDS Performance Insights dashboard and flexible retention periods will be deprecated on November 30, 2025. The service is transitioning to CloudWatch Database Insights (DBI), which will offer two service tiers: 1/Standard mode: Provides 7 days of data retention at no additional cost, 2/Advanced mode: Offers extended 15-month retention with enhanced capabilities for an additional fee.

CloudWatch Database Insights builds upon Performance Insights' foundation while extending its capabilities with improved monitoring, analysis, and optimization features. It provides features that make it easy to pinpoint bottlenecks, understand query behavior, and optimize resource utilization. The Advanced mode adds significant functionality including: Fleet-wide monitoring views for managing hundreds of databases, SQL performance analysis features, Per-query statistics visualization, SQL execution plans, etc.. For a complete comparison of features between Standard and Advanced modes, please refer to the CloudWatch Database Insights documentation.

Current PI costs (identified in your AWS bill under usage types like <Region-Code>:PI_LTR_<FMR|AMR>:<Provisioned|Serverless>) will transition to CloudWatch billing (<Region-Code>-CW:DatabaseInsights-<vCPU|ACU>-Hours) after the deprecation date. Understanding your current costs is essential for planning purposes.

Cost Implications

How to Identify Current PI Costs

To identify your Performance Insights costs in Cost Explorer:

1. Select "RDS" under the service section
2. Under Usage Type, select either:

• <RegionCode>:PI_LTR_<FMR|AMR>:Provisioned for provisioned clusters
• <RegionCode>:PI_LTR_<FMR|AMR>:Serverless for serverless clusters

Note: Provisioned and Serverless usage types should be selected separately to get the usage of each type. FMR refers to First Month Retention, while AMR indicates Additional Month Retention.

How to Identify CloudWatch DBI Advanced Costs

To identify your Performance Insights costs in Cost Explorer:

1. Select "CloudWatch" under the service section
2. Under Usage Type, select either:

• <Region-Code>-CW:DatabaseInsights-vCPU-Hours for provisioned clusters
• <Region-Code>-CW:DatabaseInsights-ACU-Hours for serverless clusters

Estimating Potential Future DBI Costs

The pricing model for DBI Advanced differs from PI, which may result in cost changes. For provisioned instances, the pricing is approximately $9 per vCPU per month, while serverless instances are charged around $2.5 per ACU per month. These rates may vary slightly depending on the month length

Component	Description
Total PI Cost ($)	<Region-Code>:PI_LTR_FMR:Provisioned|Serverless costs + <Region-Code>:PI_LTR_AMR:Provisioned|Serverless costs
FMR Usage Quantity (vCPU|ACU-month)	<Region-Code>:PI_LTR_FMR:Provisioned|Serverless usage
DBI Cost per vCPU|ACU per month ($)	0.0125 * days in month * 24 for Provisioned and 0.003125 * days in month * 24 for Serverless
Estimated DBI Advanced cost ($)	(= DBI Cost per vCPU|ACU per month ($)* FMR Usage Quantity (vCPU|ACU-month))
Estimation Cost Increase ($)	(= Estimated DBI Advanced cost ($) - Total PI Cost ($))

CUR Query

For organizations managing multiple accounts or large database fleets, we've developed a comprehensive Cost and Usage Report (CUR) query to assist with cost analysis. This query:

• Analyzes PI usage and costs (demonstrated with May 2025 data)
• Compares current costs with potential future DBI costs (The example calculation uses 31 days in the month of May)
• Breaks down results by account and instance type (provisioned/serverless)
• Calculates potential cost increases

WITH base_data AS (
    SELECT
        line_item_usage_account_id,
        line_item_usage_type,
        line_item_line_item_type,
        SUM(line_item_usage_amount) AS usage_amount,
        SUM(line_item_blended_cost) AS blended_cost
    FROM
        cur_data
    WHERE
        year = '2025'
        AND month = '05'
        AND (
            line_item_usage_type LIKE '%PI_LTR_FMR%' 
            OR line_item_usage_type LIKE '%PI_LTR_AMR%'
        )
        AND line_item_usage_amount > 0
        AND line_item_blended_cost > 0
    GROUP BY
        1, 2, 3
),
calculations AS (
    SELECT
        line_item_usage_account_id,
        -- Provisioned Details (vCPU)
        SUM(CASE 
            WHEN line_item_usage_type LIKE '%PI_LTR_FMR:Provisioned%' 
            THEN blended_cost 
            ELSE 0 
        END) AS fmr_provisioned_cost,
        SUM(CASE 
            WHEN line_item_usage_type LIKE '%PI_LTR_FMR:Provisioned%' 
            THEN usage_amount 
            ELSE 0 
        END) AS fmr_provisioned_usage,
        SUM(CASE 
            WHEN line_item_usage_type LIKE '%PI_LTR_AMR:Provisioned%' 
            THEN blended_cost 
            ELSE 0 
        END) AS amr_provisioned_cost,
        
        -- Serverless Details (ACU)
        SUM(CASE 
            WHEN line_item_usage_type LIKE '%PI_LTR_FMR:Serverless%' 
            THEN blended_cost 
            ELSE 0 
        END) AS fmr_serverless_cost,
        SUM(CASE 
            WHEN line_item_usage_type LIKE '%PI_LTR_FMR:Serverless%' 
            THEN usage_amount 
            ELSE 0 
        END) AS fmr_serverless_usage,
        SUM(CASE 
            WHEN line_item_usage_type LIKE '%PI_LTR_AMR:Serverless%' 
            THEN blended_cost 
            ELSE 0 
        END) AS amr_serverless_cost
    FROM
        base_data
    GROUP BY
        1
    HAVING
        SUM(blended_cost) > 0
        AND SUM(usage_amount) > 0
)

SELECT *
FROM (
    SELECT
        line_item_usage_account_id AS "Account ID",
        'Provisioned (vCPU)' AS "Type",
        fmr_provisioned_cost + amr_provisioned_cost AS "Total PI Cost ($)",
        fmr_provisioned_usage AS "FMR Usage (vCPU/ACU-month)",
        -- CONFIGURABLE VALUES for Provisionned (vCPU) -- Days: 31 (days in month of May)
        0.0125 * 31 * 24 AS "DBI Cost per Unit per month ($)",
        (0.0125 * 31 * 24) * fmr_provisioned_usage AS "Estimated DBI Advanced cost ($)",
        ((0.0125 * 31 * 24) * fmr_provisioned_usage) - 
        (fmr_provisioned_cost + amr_provisioned_cost) AS "Estimation Cost Increase ($)"
    FROM
        calculations c
    WHERE 
        c.fmr_provisioned_cost + c.amr_provisioned_cost > 0
        AND c.fmr_provisioned_usage > 0

    UNION ALL

    SELECT
        line_item_usage_account_id AS "Account ID",
        'Serverless (ACU)' AS "Type",
        fmr_serverless_cost + amr_serverless_cost AS "Total PI Cost ($)",
        fmr_serverless_usage AS "FMR Usage (vCPU/ACU-month)",
        -- CONFIGURABLE VALUES for Serverless (ACU) -- Days: 31 (days in month of May)
        0.003125 * 31 * 24 AS "DBI Cost per Unit per month ($)", 
        (0.003125 * 31 * 24) * fmr_serverless_usage AS "Estimated DBI Advanced cost ($)",
           ((0.003125 * 31 * 24) * fmr_serverless_usage) - 
        (fmr_serverless_cost + amr_serverless_cost) AS "Estimation Cost Increase ($)"
    FROM
        calculations c
    WHERE 
        c.fmr_serverless_cost + c.amr_serverless_cost > 0
        AND c.fmr_serverless_usage > 0
) filtered_results
ORDER BY 
    "Account ID",
    "Type"

References:

• https://aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/pricing/
• https://aws.amazon.com/rds/performance-insights/pricing/
• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_PerfInsights.UsingDashboard.Opening.html
• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/USER_DatabaseInsights.TurningOnAdvanced.html