diff --git a/.changeset/hot-readers-relate.md b/.changeset/hot-readers-relate.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..56d25fc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/hot-readers-relate.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@common-fate/terraform-aws-common-fate-deployment": patch
+---
+
+add variable to set custom rds database instance class type
diff --git a/main.tf b/main.tf
index b0cbb47c..5c093761 100644
--- a/main.tf
+++ b/main.tf
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ module "control_plane_db" {
   apply_immediately              = var.rds_apply_immediately
   snapshot_identifier            = var.rds_snapshot_identifier
   rds_instance_identifier_suffix = var.rds_instance_identifier_suffix
+  rds_instance_type = var.rds_instance_type
 }
 
 
diff --git a/modules/database/main.tf b/modules/database/main.tf
index ffc76d45..59a1c7c2 100644
--- a/modules/database/main.tf
+++ b/modules/database/main.tf
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ resource "aws_db_instance" "pg_db" {
   allocated_storage            = 20
   engine                       = "postgres"
   engine_version               = "15"
-  instance_class               = "db.t3.micro"
+  instance_class               = var.rds_instance_type
   db_name                      = "postgres"
   username                     = "postgres"
   manage_master_user_password  = true
diff --git a/modules/database/variables.tf b/modules/database/variables.tf
index 6513167c..f50ea6ac 100644
--- a/modules/database/variables.tf
+++ b/modules/database/variables.tf
@@ -74,3 +74,9 @@ variable "rds_instance_identifier_suffix" {
   type        = string
   default     = null
 }
+
+variable "rds_instance_type" {
+  description = "(Optional) specify the instance type of the RDS instance. defaults to db.t3.micro,"
+  type        = string
+  default     = "db.t3.micro"
+}
diff --git a/variables.tf b/variables.tf
index 2bbb6b08..23e397f1 100644
--- a/variables.tf
+++ b/variables.tf
@@ -509,3 +509,9 @@ variable "saml_allow_idp_initiated_sign_in" {
   default     = false
   type        = bool
 }
+
+variable "rds_instance_type" {
+  description = "(Optional) specify the instance type of the RDS instance. defaults to db.t3.micro,"
+  type        = string
+  default     = "db.t3.micro"
+}