MotherDuck: Pricing, Features & Alternatives
MotherDuck runs DuckDB in the cloud, so the same SQL works on your laptop and in the shared warehouse. Lite is free for up to 3 users, with 10 GB of storage and 10 hours of Pulse compute a month. Business costs $250 per organization a month plus usage, for up to 10 users, larger instance types, read replicas and a 99.9% SLA. Pulse compute is $0.60 per CU-hour, dedicated instances run from $2.40 an hour, and storage is $0.04 per GB-month. There is a 7-day Business trial with no card.
Who it’s for: Startups and small data teams whose data fits comfortably on DuckDB and who want a cheap shared warehouse.
Category
Cloud Data Warehouses
Pricing
Free tier available
Free tier
Yes
Best for
Cloud Data Warehouses: DuckDB, startups, free plan
MotherDuck at a Glance
- What it is
- Serverless DuckDB warehouse
- How you pay
- Plan fee plus compute and storage usage
- Free access
- Free Lite plan, 10 GB storage
- Clouds
- AWS (six regions)
- How compute scales
- Per-query Pulse compute or dedicated instances
Checked November 2026 against MotherDuck pricing.
MotherDuck Pricing Plans (2026)
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Lite | $0 |
| BusinessPopular | $250 / org / month + usage |
| Enterprise | Custom |
Pricing summary: Free · paid from $250/mo. Always confirm current pricing on the official site.
Key MotherDuck Features
- Lite: free for up to 3 users, 10 GB storage and 10 hours of Pulse compute a month, no card
- Business: $250 per organization a month plus usage; up to 10 users, read replicas, 99.9% SLA
- Pulse compute $0.60 per CU-hour; dedicated instances from $2.40 to $24.00 an hour, billed per second
- Storage $0.04 per GB-month on Lite and Business
- 7-day Business trial with no card
Pros
- +Free plan with real storage
- +Same DuckDB SQL locally and in the cloud
- +Per-query Pulse billing for small workloads
- +Published rates
Cons
- −Built for small to mid-size data, not petabytes
- −AWS regions only
- −Younger ecosystem than the big warehouses
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MotherDuck FAQ
What is MotherDuck used for?⌄
MotherDuck is a cloud data warehouses tool. Serverless warehouse built on DuckDB. Free Lite plan with 10 GB storage; Business from $250 a month plus usage.
Is MotherDuck free?⌄
Yes. MotherDuck has a free tier you can start with, and paid plans for more usage and features.
How much does MotherDuck cost?⌄
MotherDuck offers a free tier, with paid plans starting at $250/month. Some plans are usage-based (pay-as-you-go).
What are the best MotherDuck alternatives?⌄
Popular MotherDuck alternatives include Google BigQuery, Snowflake, Amazon Redshift. Compare pricing and features on our MotherDuck alternatives page.
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