Amazon Redshift vs MotherDuck
Amazon Redshift
aws.amazon.comMotherDuck
motherduck.comSide by side
| Figure | Amazon Redshift | MotherDuck |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $0.54/mo | $250/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 3 |
| Spec score · Cloud Analytics Solutions | 8.3 (#6) | 7.9 (#13) |
| Spec score · SQL Query Tools | 8.3 (#8) | 8.0 (#14) |
| Spec score · Columnar Databases | 8.3 (#7) | 7.8 (#18) |
| Spec score · Analytical Data Store Software | 8.2 (#8) | 7.8 (#16) |
| Spec score · Analytics Databases | 8.3 (#9) | 7.9 (#17) |
| Spec score · Analytics Data | 8.3 (#9) | 7.9 (#19) |
| Security | Redshift supports encryption in transit and at rest, row- and column-level access controls, and dynamic data masking. | MotherDuck states that it has completed SOC 2 Type II attestation and is GDPR verified by GDPR Local. |
Plans
Amazon Redshift
- Provisioned$0.54 a month
- Serverless$1.50 a month
- Provisioned on-demand$0.54 a month
- Redshift Serverless on-demand$1.50 a month
In their own words
Amazon Redshift
Amazon Redshift is a cloud data warehouse for SQL analytics across data warehouses and data lakes. It offers provisioned and serverless deployments, with options AWS says can scale to petabytes and support thousands of concurrent users. Redshift runs read-only SQL queries on Apache Iceberg, Apache Hudi, and Delta Lake tables, plus open file formats in Amazon S3. Zero-ETL integrations connect with Amazon Aurora, Amazon RDS, Amazon DynamoDB, and enterprise applications. Streaming ingestion connects with Amazon Kinesis Data Streams and Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka. Listed integrations include QuickSight, Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, Alteryx, Jupyter Notebook, Informatica, dbt, MicroStrategy, and Looker. The Data API supports AWS SDK languages including Python, Go, Java, Node.js, PHP, Ruby, and C++. Security includes encryption, row- and column-level controls, and dynamic masking. It is paid, has no free plan, offers a free trial, and starts at $0.54 per month for Provisioned or $1.50 per month for Serverless.
MotherDuck
MotherDuck is a serverless cloud data warehouse built on DuckDB for data teams, app developers, and AI agents. Hypertenancy gives each user, customer, or agent an isolated DuckDB instance, called a Duckling. Teams can share databases through read-only objects that let recipients query data without exporting files or making another copy. The MotherDuck MCP Server enables AI agents to inspect catalogs, run SQL, read Guides, create Dives, and manage Flights. Flights are scheduled Python pipelines that run inside MotherDuck; Dives are interactive visualizations that users can filter, drill into, share, or embed in an app. Listed integrations include dbt, Airflow, Fivetran, Hex, Tableau, and Omni. Access is through web and API, with SQL notebooks, team query sharing, and AI query assistance. The Lite plan is free and includes up to 3 internal active users, 2 service accounts, 10 GB of storage, and 10 hours of Pulse compute per month. Business costs $250 a month per organization plus usage, with a 7-day free trial. Lite includes community support; Business includes expert support.