Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition now supports the HypoPG extension for creating hypothetical indexes, which lets you test the performance impact of an index on query plans before you build it.

Indexes are a way to accelerate queries in PostgreSQL, however, building indexes in a production system requires additional storage and may not necessarily improve the performance of slow-running queries. The HypoPG extension lets you test the impact of adding an index without having to build it, and lets you determine if you should build an index before using CPU and storage resources. HypoPG helps to provide you insight into whether the PostgreSQL query planner will choose to use an index and any performance benefits that result from the use of the index.

The HypoPG extension is available on Aurora PostgreSQL 15.5, 14.10, 13.13, 12.17 and higher in all AWS Regions, including the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions.

Amazon Aurora is designed for unparalleled high performance and availability at a global scale with full MySQL and PostgreSQL compatibility. It provides built-in security, continuous backups, serverless compute, up to 15 read replicas, automated multi-Region replication, and integrations with other AWS services. To get started with Amazon Aurora, take a look at our getting started page.