Databases · pricing
DuckDB pricing
No tier breakdown is published on the record we hold for DuckDB. Below is what is on record, and how it compares with the databases tools listed alongside it.
As of 30 August 2026, DuckDB pricing is free. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Open-source
- Tiers
- -
- Free tier
- Yes
What is on record
The DuckDB catalogue entry carries no price and a open-source pricing model, but no tier breakdown. The category comparison below is still useful, and the DuckDB review carries the full feature record.
What the product covers
The full DuckDB feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- In-process execution
- Vectorised columnar engine
- Direct file querying
- Zero dependencies
- Larger-than-memory queries
- MIT licence
- Postgres-flavoured SQL
- Extension ecosystem
- Stable storage format
- Language bindings
People bring DuckDB in for transformation steps in a data pipeline that would otherwise need spark, replaced by sql over parquet in a single process, analytical queries embedded in an application or a dashboard where shipping a database server alongside it is not acceptable, local exploration of files that are too large for a pandas dataframe but far too small to justify a warehouse, continuous integration and testing of analytical sql, where a real engine can run in the test process without provisioning anything. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to DuckDB are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in Databases
Too few databases tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DuckDB (this page) | Free | open-source | - | |
| Canary Labs | $3000/year | Per tag band per year | - | vs DuckDB |
| Presto | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs DuckDB |
| Privacera | On request | quote | - | vs DuckDB |
| Dremio | Free, then $0.2/hour | Per Dremio Compute Unit consumed | - | vs DuckDB |
| Solace PubSub+ | Free | quote | - | vs DuckDB |
| StarRocks | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs DuckDB |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the DuckDB badges page.
Before you pay for DuckDB
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: not published on the record we hold. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
DuckDB runs on linux, macos, windows, webassembly, and is published by DuckDB Labs of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The full record is on the DuckDB review, and the rest of the category is under best databases tools.
DuckDB pricing questions
- How much does DuckDB cost?
- No price is published on the record we hold for DuckDB, which is listed as open-source. The vendor's own site is the only reliable source for the current figure.
- Does DuckDB have a free plan?
- Yes, DuckDB is recorded as open-source, so it can be used without paying.
- Which databases tools can I use without paying?
- 5 of the 8 databases tools listed alongside DuckDB have a free tier: Presto, Dremio, Solace PubSub+, StarRocks, EMQX.
- What am I actually paying for with DuckDB?
- The record lists 10 features across 1 area: other. In practice it is brought in for transformation steps in a data pipeline that would otherwise need spark, replaced by sql over parquet in a single process, analytical queries embedded in an application or a dashboard where shipping a database server alongside it is not acceptable, local exploration of files that are too large for a pandas dataframe but far too small to justify a warehouse.
- Does DuckDB charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these DuckDB prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare DuckDB against before paying?
- The closest databases tools in this directory are Canary Labs, Presto, Privacera, Dremio. Each has a side-by-side comparison with DuckDB covering price, platforms and features.