Your PostgreSQL 14 deadline may be 31 October, not February.

The dates

From the AWS release calendars for RDS for PostgreSQL and Aurora PostgreSQL, checked 2026-10-13. AWS updates these tables; check them again before you schedule anything.

What RDS does when a minor version reaches end of support

AWS's RDS upgrade documentation says that when a version reaches its end-of-support date, RDS can apply a minor version upgrade even if Auto minor version upgrade is turned off. Engine upgrades can require downtime.

Minor releases are intended to preserve compatibility, but application and extension behavior still need testing. The operational risk also includes timing: the restart may happen during a maintenance window you did not choose for this change. A before-and-after workload baseline helps distinguish an upgrade-related regression from normal variation.

For Aurora, check the Aurora upgrade documentation for your cluster rather than assuming RDS behaviour applies.

Check what you are running

-- From any session
SHOW server_version;

# RDS instances: version, auto minor upgrade setting, maintenance window
aws rds describe-db-instances \
  --query "DBInstances[?Engine=='postgres'].[DBInstanceIdentifier,EngineVersion,AutoMinorVersionUpgrade,PreferredMaintenanceWindow]" \
  --output table

# Aurora PostgreSQL clusters
aws rds describe-db-clusters \
  --query "DBClusters[?Engine=='aurora-postgresql'].[DBClusterIdentifier,EngineVersion,PreferredMaintenanceWindow]" \
  --output table

# Anything AWS has already scheduled
aws rds describe-pending-maintenance-actions

Run the AWS CLI commands once per region you use.

If you are on an affected version

1. Upgrade on your schedule, not AWS’s. Pick a time before the deadline, and move to a current 14.x minor version that the calendar supports until the major-version date.
2. Take a baseline first. Save a pg_stat_statements snapshot (or run the evidence collector) so you can compare before and after.
3. Upgrade a non-production copy first, including read replicas and extensions, and check that the application reconnects cleanly after the restart.
4. Don’t stop at the minor version. PostgreSQL 14 itself loses standard support on 28 February 2027, and Extended Support pricing starts 1 March 2027. The minor upgrade buys about four months.