Yes, MotherDuck has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans. The free plan includes up to 3 internal active users and 2 service accounts, 10 GB free storage, and 10 hours of Pulse compute per month included. FreeTier.co estimates the free tier at about $25/mo, and no credit card is required to sign up.
About
MotherDuck is a cloud data warehouse built on DuckDB. It provides serverless analytics for SQL and natural-language queries, with shared cloud storage and per-user compute instances called Ducklings.
The pricing page lists a Lite plan with up to 3 internal active users, 2 service accounts, 10 GB of free storage, and 10 hours of Pulse compute per month. It also includes Pulse instances only, community support, and a 7-day free trial of the Business plan with full access to all features.
- DuckDB-based cloud data warehouse
- Serverless SQL analytics
- Natural-language query support
- 10 GB free storage
- 10 hours Pulse compute monthly
- Up to 3 internal active users
- 2 service accounts included
- 7-day Business plan trial
Free Tier Value
This free tier is a capped Lite plan, not an unlimited forever offer, and the page says a credit card is not required. Compared with the $250/month Business plan, it gives a small team allowance plus 10 GB of storage and 10 hours of Pulse compute each month, so it feels like roughly 10% of the paid plan’s value; a fair buyer-facing estimate is about $25/month.
What's included in the free tier
Verified
- Up to 3 internal active users and 2 service accounts.
- 10 GB free storage.
- 10 hours of Pulse compute per month included.
- Pulse instances only.
- Community support.
See MotherDuck pricing for current limits.
Paid plans
Business
- internal active users
- 10
- service accounts
- unlimited
- snapshot retention
- 90 days
- availability SLA
- 99.9%
- instance types
- 5
- Up to 10 internal active users and unlimited service accounts
- 5 instance types and read-scaling replicas
- Flights: agent-native data pipelines
- Guides: shared context for better AI agent performance
- 90-day snapshot retention
- Query history
- Role-based access control (preset roles)
- Support from MotherDuck experts
Enterprise
- internal active users
- unlimited
- service accounts
- unlimited
- Unlimited internal active users and service accounts
- Fixed-cost capacity pricing
- AWS PrivateLink connectivity
- IP allowlisting
- Role-based access control (custom roles)
- HIPAA BAA
Pricing extracted from MotherDuck's pricing page. Always verify current pricing before committing.
Common questions
Is MotherDuck free forever?
Yes. MotherDuck has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans, though the allowance typically resets each month.
Does MotherDuck require a credit card?
No. You can start on MotherDuck's free tier without entering card details.
What happens when you exceed MotherDuck's free tier?
You move to a paid plan. MotherDuck's cheapest paid plan is Business at $250 / month.
What is MotherDuck's free tier worth?
MotherDuck's free tier is worth about $25 per month. That maps to an FTV score of 64/100. The FTV score is explained at freetier.co/ftv.
