Amazon DynamoDB
Amazon DynamoDB
Amazon DynamoDB is a managed NoSQL key-value database from AWS — high-performance, auto-scaling, zero-ops.
Single-digit ms latency with auto multi-AZ replication
Schema must be designed around the partition key — migrating from SQL takes mindset shift
Use the AWS SDK to call DynamoDB.createTable / putItem / query. In practice everyone uses the high-level DocumentClient (JS) or equivalent, which removes the verbose type descriptors. Local dev: run amazon/dynamodb-local in Docker — works offline.
Uptime · 30-day window
GitHub activity
About this API
DynamoDB is AWS's home-grown distributed NoSQL database. Its core difference from a traditional RDBMS is that everything is designed around the partition key — it determines physical sharding and what queries are efficient. You can query by partition key cheaply; cross-partition queries become full table scans (avoid in production). In exchange, you get near-unlimited horizontal scaling and consistent single-digit ms latency.
Two pricing modes. On-demand bills per request — no capacity planning needed but unit cost is high. Provisioned reserves RCU/WCU capacity at a much lower unit cost but you manage capacity and auto-scaling. Use on-demand for spiky or unpredictable workloads; provisioned for steady high-volume workloads.
Global Tables provide multi-region multi-master replication — critical for globally distributed apps. DynamoDB Streams emit change events you can pipe to Lambda for trivial change-data-capture. There are no joins or group-by; complex analytics requires exporting to S3 and querying with Athena, or maintaining secondary indexes in Elasticsearch or Redshift. The classic schema advice is single-table design — store multiple entity types in one table, distinguished by composite keys. It feels counterintuitive coming from SQL, but it matches DynamoDB's performance model.
What you can build
- 1Primary data store for serverless apps (with Lambda)
- 2Session and auth token storage
- 3High-QPS event, log, and counter writes
- 4Game leaderboards and player state
- 5IoT device state aggregation
Strengths & limitations
Strengths
- Single-digit ms latency with auto multi-AZ replication
- On-demand mode bills per request — no capacity planning
- Streams + Lambda makes change-data-capture trivial
- Native IAM integration
Limitations
- Schema must be designed around the partition key — migrating from SQL takes mindset shift
- No joins, no group by — complex analytics needs Athena or export
- On-demand can cost several times more than provisioned at high QPS
Example request
curl https://github.com/mermade/aws2openapi/<endpoint> \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY"
# Some providers use X-Api-Key instead — verify in the docs.Getting started
Use the AWS SDK to call DynamoDB.createTable / putItem / query. In practice everyone uses the high-level DocumentClient (JS) or equivalent, which removes the verbose type descriptors. Local dev: run amazon/dynamodb-local in Docker — works offline.
FAQ
How big is the free tier?+
Always-free: 25 GB storage, 25 RCUs, and 25 WCUs — enough to run a small project year-round.
On-demand or Provisioned?+
On-demand for spiky, prototype, or low-QPS workloads. Provisioned saves money on steady high traffic. You can switch at any time.
Can I join tables like SQL?+
No. You denormalize — embed related data into one item or duplicate writes. This is the core NoSQL tradeoff.
Can I develop locally?+
Yes — run docker pull amazon/dynamodb-local on port 8000. Fully offline.
Technical details
- Auth type
- api_key
- Pricing
- paid
- Protocols
- REST
- SDKs
- python, javascript, typescript, java, go, ruby, csharp
- Response time
- 13 ms
- Last health check
- 5/12/2026, 7:36:33 AM
Endpoints
Parsed from the OpenAPI spec. Showing 12 of 53 non-deprecated endpoints.
/#X-Amz-Target=DynamoDB_20120810.BatchExecuteStatement/#X-Amz-Target=DynamoDB_20120810.BatchGetItem/#X-Amz-Target=DynamoDB_20120810.BatchWriteItem/#X-Amz-Target=DynamoDB_20120810.CreateBackup/#X-Amz-Target=DynamoDB_20120810.CreateGlobalTable/#X-Amz-Target=DynamoDB_20120810.CreateTable/#X-Amz-Target=DynamoDB_20120810.DeleteBackup/#X-Amz-Target=DynamoDB_20120810.DeleteItem/#X-Amz-Target=DynamoDB_20120810.DeleteTable/#X-Amz-Target=DynamoDB_20120810.DescribeBackup/#X-Amz-Target=DynamoDB_20120810.DescribeContinuousBackups/#X-Amz-Target=DynamoDB_20120810.DescribeContributorInsights41 more endpoints not shown. See the OpenAPI spec for the full list.
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