MotherDuck
Serverless cloud data warehouse built on DuckDB, with per-user compute and a free starter plan.
Updated · AppBreakup editorial · Web
Is MotherDuck free?
Free plan, plus paid plans
- Starting price:
- $250 per org/month + usage
- Free plan:
- 10 GB storage, 10 compute hrs/month
Checked on MotherDuck's site Nov 8, 2026
Full MotherDuck pricing and plansSwitch from MotherDuck to
All 6
Google BigQueryStarting price: $6.25 per TiB scanned (on-demand)
ClickHouseFree trial: 30 days with $300 credits
DuckDBOpen source
- Verified facts
- 5 of 5
- Alternatives ranked
- 6
- Approved reviews
- 0
- Visits sent from here
- 0
About MotherDuck
MotherDuck is a hosted analytics database built on DuckDB, the in-process SQL engine many analysts already run on their laptops. It adds what DuckDB lacks on its own: shared cloud storage, team access, sharing of databases between users, and managed compute. Each user, dashboard or AI agent session gets its own small isolated DuckDB instance, so one heavy query doesn't slow everyone else down, and queries can run partly on your machine and partly in the cloud. It reads Parquet and Apache Iceberg, offers a managed DuckLake, a scheduled Python runtime for pipelines, an MCP server for asking questions in plain language, and connects to dbt, Fivetran, Airflow and BI tools. A free Lite plan includes storage and some compute each month; the Business plan adds a flat monthly fee plus usage billed by the second, with a seven-day trial. It is cloud-only on AWS and suits small and mid-size teams whose data fits a single-node engine.
Best for: DuckDB users and small data teams who want a cheap, fast cloud warehouse without cluster tuning.
MotherDuck pricing (checked Nov 8, 2026)
Each line is quoted from MotherDuck's own site, with the page it came from.
| Plan or term | What it says | Checked | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 10 GB storage, 10 compute hrs/month | Nov 8, 2026 | motherduck.com |
| Starting price | $250 per org/month + usage | Nov 8, 2026 | motherduck.com |
| Free trial | 7 days (Business plan) | Nov 8, 2026 | motherduck.com |
Pros and cons
What works
- Free plan with storage and compute included each month
- Isolated compute per user avoids noisy-neighbour slowdowns
- Same SQL as local DuckDB, with queries that can run partly on your laptop
- Per-second billing on larger instances
Why people leave
- Cloud-only, with no on-premises version
- Runs only in AWS regions, and each organisation is tied to one region
- Single-node design is not aimed at the very largest datasets
MotherDuck vs Google BigQuery, ClickHouse and DuckDB
From each app's listing and the prices verified on its own site. A dash means we haven't verified it yet.
| Attribute | MotherDuck | Google BigQuery | ClickHouse | DuckDB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan + paid | Free plan + paid | Open source | Open source |
| Verified price | $250 per org/month + usage | $6.25 per TiB scanned (on-demand) | 30 days with $300 credits | — |
| Free plan | 10 GB storage, 10 compute hrs/month | Yes | Free app | Free app |
| Open source | No | No | No | Yes |
| Self-hostable | No | No | No | Yes |
| Platforms | Web | Web | Web, Linux, macOS, Self-hosted | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web |
Top MotherDuck alternatives
See all 6- 1Google BigQuery76.8
Serverless and pay-per-query on Google Cloud, with no instances to size at all.
- 2ClickHouse74.4
Open-source and very fast for real-time analytics, available self-hosted or as a cloud service.
- 3DuckDB68.8
The free open-source engine MotherDuck runs on, enough if one machine and local files cover your needs.
- 4
Snowflake64.8A fully managed warehouse for larger, multi-team data that outgrows a single-node engine.
- 5
Amazon Redshift57.5AWS's managed warehouse with a serverless option, for teams already on AWS that need more scale.
Why people left MotherDuck
In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.
No switching stories yet. If you moved away from MotherDuck, review the app you switched to and tell us why.
Reviews
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MotherDuck: common questions
What is MotherDuck?
MotherDuck: Serverless cloud data warehouse built on DuckDB, with per-user compute and a free starter plan. Best for duckDB users and small data teams who want a cheap, fast cloud warehouse without cluster tuning. Available for Web.
Is MotherDuck free?
MotherDuck has a free plan and paid plans. Free plan: 10 GB storage, 10 compute hrs/month (checked on MotherDuck's own site).
How much does MotherDuck cost?
MotherDuck is free with paid plans. Free plan: 10 GB storage, 10 compute hrs/month; Starting price: $250 per org/month + usage; Free trial: 7 days (Business plan). Checked on MotherDuck's own site, November 2026.
Does MotherDuck have a free trial or refund?
Free trial: 7 days (Business plan). Source: MotherDuck's own site.
Is MotherDuck open source?
No, MotherDuck is not open source. Open-source alternatives include DuckDB.
What platforms does MotherDuck run on?
MotherDuck is available for Web.
What are the best alternatives to MotherDuck?
The highest-ranked MotherDuck alternatives right now are Google BigQuery, ClickHouse and DuckDB. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.
MotherDuck vs Google BigQuery: what's the difference?
Both MotherDuck and Google BigQuery are free with paid plans. Verified prices: MotherDuck $250 per org/month + usage, Google BigQuery $6.25 per TiB scanned (on-demand). Both run on Web.