DuckDB
In-process columnar analytics engine, SQLite's shape, a warehouse's execution model.
Overall in database engines
5of 5 · score 37.7
Data coverage
92%
24 of 26 fields sourced
Best for
- •Aggregation and scans over columns rather than fetching rows by key
- •Querying Parquet, CSV or object storage without an ingestion pipeline
- •The reporting half of a system whose rows live in Postgres or SQLite
Strong on
- +Ops burden 1 1/5
- +Type strictness Static, strict 1/5
- +Connection model In-process (no connections) 1/5
- +GitHub stars 33,000 1/5
- +Extension ecosystem 4 2/5
- +Governance Foundation 2/5
Weak on
- −Replication None 5/5Better: PostgreSQL: Built-in async + synchronous
- −PITR No 5/5Better: PostgreSQL: Yes
- −Online schema change No 4/5Better: MySQL: Yes
- −Migration tooling 2 5/5Better: PostgreSQL: 5
vs SQLite
- •Ahead on Type strictness: Static, strict vs Dynamic (per-value)
- •Ahead on GitHub stars: 33,000 vs 8,000
- •Behind on Client libraries: 3 vs 5
- •Behind on PITR: No vs Partial
How DuckDB scores among 5 database engines24 of 26 fields known
Engine & SQL10
Embedded or server
Embedded (in-process)
4/5
Leader: PostgreSQL · Server (client/server)
duckdb.org · 2026-11-06
Concurrency model
MVCC (single process)
4/5
Leader: PostgreSQL · MVCC (heap row versions)
duckdb.org · 2026-11-06
Write concurrency
Single writer
4/5
Leader: PostgreSQL · Concurrent writers (row-level)
duckdb.org · 2026-11-06
Isolation levels
Snapshot
4/5
Leader: MySQL · Read uncommitted, Read committed, Repeatable read, Serializable
duckdb.org · 2026-07-01
JSON support3rd
Text functions only
3/5
Leader: PostgreSQL · Binary JSONB + indexes
duckdb.org · 2026-07-01
Type strictness1st
Static, strict
1/5
· 2026-07-01
Operations7
PITR
No
5/5
Leader: PostgreSQL · Yes
· 2026-07-01
Online schema change
No
4/5
Leader: MySQL · Yes
· 2026-07-01
Managed options
MotherDuck
5/5
Leader: PostgreSQL · Neon, Supabase, Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, Google Cloud SQL, Azure Database, PlanetScale
· 2026-07-01
Ops burden1st
1
1/5
· 2026-07-01
Ecosystem5
Client libraries
3
5/5
Leader: SQLite · 5
· 2026-07-01
Migration tooling
2
5/5
Leader: PostgreSQL · 5
· 2026-07-01
Licence & governance3
History1
Alternatives4
MariaDB
MySQL
PostgreSQL
SQLiteCompare
Sources13
- duckdb.org/why_duckdb4 fields
- duckdb.org/docs/stable/connect/concurrency3 fields
- duckdb.org/docs/2.0/connect/concurrency.html2 fields
- duckdb.org/docs/stable/data/json/overview1 field
- duckdb.org/docs/stable/extensions/full_text_search1 field
- duckdb.org/docs/stable/extensions/vss1 field
- duckdb.org/docs/stable/sql/statements/alter_table1 field
- duckdb.org/docs/2.0/operations_manual/limits.html1 field
- duckdb.org/docs/stable/extensions/overview1 field
- github.com/duckdb/duckdb1 field
- duckdb.org/1 field
- github.com/duckdb/duckdb/blob/main/LICENSE1 field
- duckdb.org/foundation/1 field
