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Business Intelligence · head to head

Baremetrics vs DuckDB

Baremetrics logo

Baremetrics

Business Intelligence

Subscription analytics for SaaS

From
$75/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: Baremetrics priced on the revenue it measures, so the bill rises with your ARR rather than with usage: $75 a month up to $360K ARR, $255 to $3.6M and $1,152 above that; 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: Baremetrics covers Revenue Metrics, DuckDB covers In-process execution.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Baremetrics and DuckDB actually diverge.

Attributes where Baremetrics and DuckDB differ
AttributeBaremetricsDuckDB
Starting price$75/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionopen-source
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, ApiLinux, macOS, Windows, WebAssembly
CategoryBusiness IntelligenceDatabases
Founded20132019

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 Baremetrics

  • Revenue Metrics
  • Forecasting
  • Benchmarking
  • Cancellation Insights
  • Email Reports
  • Stripe
  • Braintree
  • Recurly

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.

Baremetrics

  • Subscription metrics and MRR reporting from Stripe and similar billing systemsnot DuckDB
  • Churn and retention analysisnot DuckDB
  • Failed payment recovery through the add-onnot DuckDB
  • Cancellation surveys to understand why customers leavenot DuckDB

DuckDB

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

Where each one falls short

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

Baremetrics

  • Priced on the revenue it measures, so the bill rises with your ARR rather than with usage: $75 a month up to $360K ARR, $255 to $3.6M and $1,152 above that
  • Payment Recovery and Cancellation Insights are separate add-ons at $129 a month each
  • The advertised prices assume annual billing with a discount of up to 35 percent
  • There is no free tier, only a trial

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

Baremetrics

$75/month
  • Launch$75/month
    • Target $0-360K ARR
    • Single integration
    • Core analytics features
  • Growth$255/month
    • Target $360K-$3.6M ARR
    • Two integrations
    • Advanced features
  • Scale$1152/month
    • Target $3.6M+ ARR
    • Unlimited integrations
    • Enterprise features

DuckDB

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the DuckDB review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Baremetrics if

  • You need revenue metrics.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want forecasting.
Baremetrics 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 Baremetrics or DuckDB better?
Neither clearly leads. Baremetrics starts at $75/month and DuckDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Baremetrics or DuckDB?
DuckDB has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $75/month for Baremetrics and Free for DuckDB.
Does Baremetrics or DuckDB run on more platforms?
Baremetrics runs on Web, Api. 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. Baremetrics starts at $75/month.
What is Baremetrics best used for?
Baremetrics is most often used for subscription metrics and mrr reporting from stripe and similar billing systems, churn and retention analysis, failed payment recovery through the add-on, cancellation surveys to understand why customers leave. Of those, subscription metrics and mrr reporting from stripe and similar billing systems and churn and retention analysis are not what DuckDB is typically brought in for.
What can Baremetrics do that DuckDB cannot?
Baremetrics covers Revenue Metrics, Forecasting, Benchmarking, Cancellation Insights. DuckDB covers In-process execution, Vectorised columnar engine, Direct file querying, Zero dependencies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Baremetrics: How much does Baremetrics' Launch plan cost per month?

Baremetrics' Launch plan starts at $75 per month with annual billing, or $49 per month with annual prepayment (35% discount when paying yearly).

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.

Baremetrics: What is the difference between Baremetrics plans?

Launch includes one integration and core analytics; Growth ($255/month) adds a second integration and advanced dashboards; Scale ($1,152/month) includes unlimited integrations and enterprise features.

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.

Baremetrics: What add-ons are available in Baremetrics?

Payment Recovery and Cancellation Insights are available as add-ons at $129 per month each to automate failed payment recovery and churn reduction.

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.

Baremetrics: Is there a free trial for Baremetrics?

Yes, Baremetrics offers a free trial available for new users to test the platform before committing to a paid plan.

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.

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