AWS Agrees to Buy DuckLabs for DuckDB, Keeping MIT-Licensed Database Open Source
Updated
Updated · AWS Blog · Aug 31
AWS Agrees to Buy DuckLabs for DuckDB, Keeping MIT-Licensed Database Open Source
3 articles · Updated · AWS Blog · Aug 31
Summary
AWS signed a definitive agreement to acquire Amsterdam-based DuckLabs, the company behind DuckDB, an in-process analytical database that runs SQL directly on Parquet, CSV and JSON files.
DuckDB will remain open source under its independent foundation and MIT license, while AWS plans to pair its speed on everyday analytics queries—typically 1 terabyte or less—with services including S3, Redshift and Athena.
Hannes Mühleisen and Mark Raasveldt, DuckDB’s co-founders, will continue leading the project’s technical direction as AWS works to integrate the database with EMR, Glue and SageMaker.
AWS framed the deal as a bet on changing analytics workloads, arguing DuckDB’s local and S3-based performance also fits AI agents that iteratively explore data.
Could AWS's acquisition of DuckDB secretly be a defensive move to protect its lucrative cloud revenue from the rise of local analytics?
How will DuckLake transform everyday AI workflows now that AWS controls the ultimate graduation path for modern data engineering?
Will the independent DuckDB Foundation truly survive Amazon's influence, or is this the beginning of the end for the open-source database?
AWS Acquires DuckLabs: How Amazon’s 2026 Deal for DuckDB’s Core Team Reshapes Cloud Analytics and Threatens Snowflake, Databricks
Overview
In late 2026, AWS acquired DuckLabs, the core team behind the fast-growing DuckDB database, to address DuckLabs’ scaling challenges and integrate high-performance analytics directly into AWS storage services like S3 and SageMaker Lakehouse. While AWS now controls DuckLabs and its key creators, the open-source DuckDB codebase remains under the independent DuckDB Foundation with an MIT license, ensuring third-party platforms like MotherDuck retain full access. This move puts pressure on data warehouse giants such as Snowflake and Databricks, as AWS enables cost-effective, in-place analytics and opens DuckDB’s extension system to third-party developers, all while new governance protocols aim to safeguard community neutrality.