Softwr

Business Intelligence · head to head

Amazon QuickSight vs DuckDB

Amazon QuickSight logo

Amazon QuickSight

Business Intelligence

Scalable, serverless BI by AWS

From
$3/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
DuckDB logo

DuckDB

Databases

MIT-licensed analytical SQL database that runs inside your process, with no server, no dependencies and one writer at a time.

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only DuckDB has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Amazon QuickSight reader and Reader Pro roles charged separately at $3 and $20/month; DuckDB a database file accepts one read-write process at a time; other processes must open it read-only and will not see subsequent writes, so DuckDB cannot be the shared database behind several services.
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon QuickSight covers SPICE In-memory Engine, DuckDB covers In-process execution.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon QuickSight and DuckDB actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon QuickSight and DuckDB differ
AttributeAmazon QuickSightDuckDB
Starting price$3/monthFree
Pricing modelper-useropen-source
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsAWSLinux, macOS, Windows, WebAssembly
CategoryBusiness IntelligenceDatabases
Founded20062019

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Amazon QuickSight

  • SPICE In-memory Engine
  • ML Insights
  • Natural Language Queries
  • Embedded Analytics
  • Pay-per-session
  • Redshift
  • S3
  • Athena

Only in DuckDB

  • In-process execution
  • Vectorised columnar engine
  • Direct file querying
  • Zero dependencies
  • Larger-than-memory queries
  • MIT licence
  • Postgres-flavoured SQL
  • Extension ecosystem

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Amazon QuickSight

  • Business intelligencenot DuckDB
  • Dashboard creationnot DuckDB
  • Data visualizationnot DuckDB

DuckDB

  • Transformation steps in a data pipeline that would otherwise need Spark, replaced by SQL over Parquet in a single processnot Amazon QuickSight
  • Analytical queries embedded in an application or a dashboard where shipping a database server alongside it is not acceptablenot Amazon QuickSight
  • Local exploration of files that are too large for a pandas dataframe but far too small to justify a warehousenot Amazon QuickSight
  • Continuous integration and testing of analytical SQL, where a real engine can run in the test process without provisioning anythingnot Amazon QuickSight

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Amazon QuickSight

  • Reader and Reader Pro roles charged separately at $3 and $20/month
  • Author and Author Pro roles charged at $24 and $40/month
  • $250/month infrastructure fee required if Pro users or Q&A enabled
  • SPICE storage charged at $0.38/GB monthly (10 GB included)
  • Pixel-perfect reports start at $500/month for 500 monthly units
  • Alerts charged at $0.05-$0.50 per 1,000 metrics evaluated

DuckDB

  • A database file accepts one read-write process at a time; other processes must open it read-only and will not see subsequent writes, so DuckDB cannot be the shared database behind several services.
  • There is no network protocol, authentication or user management, so exposing it to remote clients means writing and securing your own service around it.
  • It is built for scans and aggregations, not for many small transactions, so a workload of high-frequency single-row inserts and updates performs badly compared with SQLite or Postgres.
  • Storage files are backwards compatible but not forwards compatible, so a file written by a newer version cannot be read by an older one and every consumer of a shared file must be upgraded together.
  • Query memory settings matter: some operations still need to hold significant state, so an under-configured memory limit turns a large join or a high-cardinality aggregation into a spill-heavy query or an out-of-memory failure rather than a slow success.

Pricing, plan by plan

Amazon QuickSight

$3/month
  • Reader$3/month
    • Dashboard viewing only
  • Reader Pro$20/month
    • Enhanced reader capabilities
  • Author$24/month
    • Dashboard creation and editing
  • Author Pro$40/month
    • Advanced authoring features

DuckDB

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the DuckDB review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Amazon QuickSight if

  • You need spice in-memory engine.
  • You work on AWS.
  • You also want ml insights.
Amazon QuickSight review

Choose DuckDB if

  • You need in-process execution.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, WebAssembly.
  • You also want vectorised columnar engine.
DuckDB review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon QuickSight or DuckDB better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon QuickSight starts at $3/month and DuckDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon QuickSight or DuckDB?
DuckDB has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $3/month for Amazon QuickSight and Free for DuckDB.
Does Amazon QuickSight or DuckDB run on more platforms?
Amazon QuickSight runs on AWS. DuckDB runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, WebAssembly.
Can I use DuckDB for free?
Yes. DuckDB has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Amazon QuickSight starts at $3/month.
What is Amazon QuickSight best used for?
Amazon QuickSight is most often used for business intelligence, dashboard creation, data visualization. Of those, business intelligence and dashboard creation are not what DuckDB is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon QuickSight do that DuckDB cannot?
Amazon QuickSight covers SPICE In-memory Engine, ML Insights, Natural Language Queries, Embedded Analytics. DuckDB covers In-process execution, Vectorised columnar engine, Direct file querying, Zero dependencies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Amazon QuickSight: What does Amazon QuickSight cost per user?

QuickSight pricing varies by user role. Readers start at $3/month, Reader Pro at $20/month, Authors at $24/month, and Author Pro at $40/month. All prices are per user per month.

Source
DuckDB: Can multiple applications share one DuckDB database?

Not for writing. One process holds the database read-write; others may attach read-only and will not see later writes. Shared multi-writer access needs a different database or a table format with a catalogue.

Amazon QuickSight: Does QuickSight charge an infrastructure fee?

Yes, QuickSight charges an infrastructure fee of $250/month per account if the account has at least one Pro user, has Q&A enabled via topics, or has dashboard Q&A enabled.

Source
DuckDB: Is it a replacement for a data warehouse?

For single-node analytical workloads up to a few hundred gigabytes it very often is. It is not a replacement when many concurrent users need a shared, governed, always-on service.

Amazon QuickSight: What are QuickSight's session capacity pricing options?

Session capacity pricing starts at $250/month for 500 sessions. Annual plans range from $20,000/year for 50,000 sessions to $258,000/year for 1,600,000 sessions, with volume discounts reducing unit costs from $0.50 to $0.16 per additional session.

Source
DuckDB: Do I have to load data into it?

No. It queries Parquet, CSV, JSON and Arrow in place, including on object storage. Its own storage format is optional and mainly useful when you want indexes, constraints and faster repeated access.

Amazon QuickSight: How much does additional SPICE storage cost?

Additional SPICE storage beyond the included 10 GB costs $0.38 per GB per month. Authors receive 10 GB included, but Readers do not.

Source
DuckDB: What is MotherDuck's relationship to it?

MotherDuck is a separate company offering a managed and hybrid service built on the DuckDB engine. DuckDB itself remains MIT-licensed and independent of it, with the IP held by the DuckDB Foundation.

DuckDB: Is it suitable for OLTP?

No. It is designed for analytical scans. For transactional workloads with frequent small writes, SQLite or Postgres is the right tool.

Share

Related pages

More on Amazon QuickSight

More on DuckDB

Keep looking

Other head to heads