Side by side
Amazon Timestream vs MotherDuck
Both stand on columnar databases. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Paid APILinuxMac+2
Amazon Timestream combines managed time-series engines with flexible scaling, storage tiers, and backup options. Review the listed usage minimums and separate LiveAnalytics charges when assessing fit.
Visit Amazon Timestream Free plan APIWeb
Choose MotherDuck if you need a serverless DuckDB warehouse with queryable data sharing, isolated compute, or integrated pipelines and visualizations. The free Lite plan has limits on users, storage, service accounts, and compute; Business starts at $250 a month per organization plus usage.
Visit MotherDuckThe facts
| Amazon Timestream | MotherDuck | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Open source | No | Not published |
| Runs on | API, Linux, Mac, Web, Windows | API, Web |
| Lowest paid plan | Timestream for InfluxDB single-AZ example: $737.88 a month | See the plans |
| Plans published | 5 | 3 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | aws.amazon.com | motherduck.com |
| On columnar databases | #20 of 27 | #16 of 27 |
Amazon Timestream: what it does well
- LiveAnalytics scales ingestion, storage, and query capacity independently.
- Memory and magnetic tiers support retention policies.
- InfluxDB 3 Enterprise clusters support up to 15 nodes.
- Scheduled and on-demand backup options are available.
- Supports SQL, Flux, and InfluxQL.
What to know first
- There is no free plan.
- Magnetic-store pricing has a 100 GB per-account regional minimum.
- On-demand TCU usage has a 30-second minimum.
- Provisioned TCUs have a 1-hour minimum.
MotherDuck: what it does well
- Read-only database shares let recipients query data without file exports or duplicate copies.
- Ducklings isolate compute for each user, customer, or AI agent.
- Flights run scheduled Python data pipelines inside MotherDuck.
- Dives can be filtered, shared, or embedded in an app.
- Integrations include dbt, Airflow, Fivetran, Hex, Tableau, and Omni.
What to know first
- Lite is limited to 3 internal active users and 2 service accounts.
- Lite includes 10 GB storage and 10 hours of monthly Pulse compute.
- Lite supports Pulse instances only.
- Business costs $250 a month per organization, plus usage.
Alternatives to Amazon Timestream Alternatives to MotherDuck The whole list