# MotherDuck

> Serverless DuckDB warehouse with dual local-cloud execution

MotherDuck is a serverless cloud data warehouse built on DuckDB, whose dual execution engine splits a single SQL query between the developer's laptop and the cloud depending on where the data lives.

Website: https://motherduck.com

## Use it when

- Your data measures in tens or hundreds of gigabytes and a single fast node beats paying for idle distributed capacity.
- Local development should be production: the same DuckDB SQL, extensions, and clients run on the laptop and in the cloud, with Dual Execution splitting queries between them.
- You want a shared, always-available warehouse on top of a DuckDB workflow the team already likes.
- Cost at small scale is the deciding factor against Snowflake or BigQuery.

## Think twice when

- Data or concurrency genuinely outgrows a single node per query; ducklings scale up and replicate for reads, not out across a cluster.
- Streaming ingest is required; there is no Kafka sink, so events stage through object storage or a partner connector.
- The stack is not AWS; the service runs in four AWS regions (though it queries GCS and Azure data).

## How it runs

Fully managed: each query runs on a single-node DuckDB "duckling" that starts in about 100 ms, billed per second by instance size, over managed storage or DuckLake, with Iceberg read/write and Delta read. A read-scaling replica pool serves concurrent readers. The free tier is single-user; paid tiers add hybrid execution and teams.

## Details

### General

| Attribute | Value |
| --- | --- |
| License | Commercial |
| Deployment | Managed, Serverless |
| Operational complexity | Low |
| Pricing | Free, Subscription |
| Language | C++ |
| Documentation | https://motherduck.com/docs/ |

### Data Warehouses

| Attribute | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Where it runs | AWS only, four regions; queries data in S3, GCS or Azure |
| Compute and storage | Single-node DuckDB per duckling, ~100 ms start; storage on object storage |
| Storage format | Managed storage or DuckLake; Iceberg read and write via REST catalog, Delta read |
| SQL dialect | DuckDB SQL |
| Streaming ingest | Batch only: no Kafka sink; stage through object storage or a partner connector |
| Concurrent users | Read-scaling replica pool, 16 by default and raisable; a duckling per user or token |
| Acceleration | Vectorized single-node DuckDB with local caching; dual execution splits work between client and cloud |
| Billing unit | Duckling-hour by size, metered per second (Pulse per query); storage per GB-month |
| Time travel | Snapshot retention, 1 or 7 days by plan, up to 90 |
| Access control | Database-level grants and read-only shares with ACLs; per-service-account and read-scaling tokens |

## Capabilities

- [Data Warehouses](https://matca.io/capabilities/data-warehouse)

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Source: https://matca.io/motherduck
Last updated: 2026-08-31T11:40:48.400Z