diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_instance.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_instance.go
index 37662b201..e941a359f 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_instance.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_instance.go
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ func resourceAwsDbInstance() *schema.Resource {
 
 			"engine_version": &schema.Schema{
 				Type:     schema.TypeString,
-				Required: true,
+				Optional: true,
+				Computed: true,
 			},
 
 			"storage_encrypted": &schema.Schema{
diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_instance_test.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_instance_test.go
index e63be73a8..a2c2f69ca 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_instance_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_instance_test.go
@@ -31,8 +31,6 @@ func TestAccAWSDBInstance_basic(t *testing.T) {
 						"aws_db_instance.bar", "allocated_storage", "10"),
 					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
 						"aws_db_instance.bar", "engine", "mysql"),
-					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
-						"aws_db_instance.bar", "engine_version", "5.6.21"),
 					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
 						"aws_db_instance.bar", "license_model", "general-public-license"),
 					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
@@ -111,7 +109,7 @@ func testAccCheckAWSDBInstanceAttributes(v *rds.DBInstance) resource.TestCheckFu
 			return fmt.Errorf("bad engine: %#v", *v.Engine)
 		}
 
-		if *v.EngineVersion != "5.6.21" {
+		if *v.EngineVersion == "" {
 			return fmt.Errorf("bad engine_version: %#v", *v.EngineVersion)
 		}
 
diff --git a/website/source/docs/providers/aws/r/db_instance.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/providers/aws/r/db_instance.html.markdown
index 499e13ba4..a5544c486 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/providers/aws/r/db_instance.html.markdown
+++ b/website/source/docs/providers/aws/r/db_instance.html.markdown
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ The following arguments are supported:
 
 * `allocated_storage` - (Required) The allocated storage in gigabytes.
 * `engine` - (Required) The database engine to use.
-* `engine_version` - (Required) The engine version to use.
+* `engine_version` - (Optional) The engine version to use.
 * `identifier` - (Required) The name of the RDS instance
 * `instance_class` - (Required) The instance type of the RDS instance.
 * `storage_type` - (Optional) One of "standard" (magnetic), "gp2" (general