Amazon Web Services said on September 30, 2026 that Amazon Aurora serverless now scales in larger steps, adding up to 16 Aurora Capacity Units (ACUs) to its current capacity within a second and continuing to scale up to 256 ACUs as a workload grows.
What changed
According to AWS, the database service can now add as much as 16 ACUs per second rather than scaling in smaller increments, and keeps scaling up to 256 ACUs as demand rises.
The company said that with the change, a workload will scale faster and reach the capacity it requires. When the workload finishes, AWS said, Aurora serverless automatically scales down to zero, so customers only pay for what they use.
Why AWS points to agentic AI
AWS said the faster scaling makes Aurora serverless "especially well-suited for agentic AI applications," which it described as typically having bursts of activity, long idle windows and unpredictable traffic patterns.
The framing positions the database service for application patterns in which demand arrives suddenly and then disappears for extended periods, a profile the company says fits the new scale-up and scale-to-zero behavior. The claims are Amazon's own; the company did not publish benchmark data in the announcement.
Who gets it and how to check
The enhancement is enabled by default on all Aurora serverless clusters running on platform version 3 or 4, with no configuration changes required, AWS said.
Existing clusters on platform versions 1 and 2 can upgrade directly to the latest platform version 4 to benefit from the improvements, according to the company. Customers can verify a cluster's platform version in the AWS Management Console under the instance configuration section, or via the RDS API's ServerlessV2PlatformVersion parameter.
AWS pointed customers to the Amazon Aurora Pricing page for pricing details and Region availability, and to the Aurora serverless scaling documentation for more information.
What to do
- Check your Aurora serverless cluster's platform version in the AWS Management Console under the instance configuration section, or through the RDS API's ServerlessV2PlatformVersion parameter.
- If your cluster runs platform version 1 or 2, AWS says you can upgrade directly to platform version 4 to get the faster scaling.
- Clusters already on platform version 3 or 4 need no configuration changes, according to AWS.
- Consult the Amazon Aurora Pricing page for pricing and Region availability, and the Aurora serverless scaling documentation for details.
Key facts and where they come from
- Aurora serverless can now add up to 16 ACUs within a second and scale up to 256 ACUs.
adding up to 16 ACUs to its current capacity within a second and continuing to scale up to 256 ACUs as your workload grows
- The service scales down to zero when the workload finishes, with pay-per-use billing.
When the workload finishes, Aurora serverless automatically scales down to zero, so you only pay for what you use.
- AWS positions the change for agentic AI workloads.
This makes it especially well-suited for agentic AI applications, which typically have bursts of activity, long idle windows, and unpredictable traffic patterns.
- It is on by default for platform versions 3 and 4, with no configuration changes.
This enhancement is enabled by default on all Aurora serverless clusters running on platform version 3 or 4, with no configuration changes required.
- Older clusters can upgrade directly to platform version 4.
Existing clusters on platform versions 1 and 2 can upgrade directly to the latest platform version 4 to benefit from these improvements.