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Comparison · Analytics
MotherDuck vs Apache Storm
A side-by-side editorial comparison of MotherDuck and Apache Storm — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
MotherDuck vs Apache Storm: at a glance
What is MotherDuck?
MotherDuck turns Dives from read-only dashboards into apps that write back through Flights.
MotherDuck ships a weekly changelog, and October's entries fill out two layers. Governance: row-level security, column-level security and masking on Shares, table-level security for managed DuckLake, and run grants that let teammates trigger a Flight without seeing its code or credentials. Interaction: Dives gained write-back buttons and forms that run Flights, Agent Chat can create and edit Dives, and AI functions got 50 to 60% cheaper on OpenAI models while prompt_jev() started billing.
What is Apache Storm?
Storm 3.1 adds an Iceberg sink and closes a long list of security gaps in Nimbus and the UI.
Storm runs a 3.x line, started in July with 3.0.0's removal of all Clojure and a Java 21 baseline, alongside 2.8.x maintenance. 3.1.0 on September 12 adds a storm-iceberg module with an Apache Iceberg sink bolt and a setting to control JSONP wrapping, and spends most of its notes on hardening: log listings filtered by user permission, jar locations restricted to the Nimbus inbox, blobstore names confined to topology directories, TLS peer verification for worker connections and required Kryo class registration.
MotherDuck vs Apache Storm: editorial side-by-side
MotherDuck
5.0ANALYTICS
MotherDuck turns Dives from read-only dashboards into apps that write back through Flights.
◆ Current state
MotherDuck ships a weekly changelog, and October's entries fill out two layers. Governance: row-level security, column-level security and masking on Shares, table-level security for managed DuckLake, and run grants that let teammates trigger a Flight without seeing its code or credentials. Interaction: Dives gained write-back buttons and forms that run Flights, Agent Chat can create and edit Dives, and AI functions got 50 to 60% cheaper on OpenAI models while prompt_jev() started billing.
◆ Where it's heading
The pieces are converging. Flights (the serverless job layer) now power actions inside Dives, Agent Chat builds the Dives, and fine-grained sharing controls decide who sees which rows. MotherDuck is moving from a cloud DuckDB warehouse toward a place where data apps are built and governed, with SQL-native AI functions as the hook.
◆ Prediction
Expect write-back and run grants to spread to more surfaces, such as agents running Flights directly, and further prompt_jev() region and modality expansion after images and Europe.
Apache Storm
0.0ANALYTICS
Storm 3.1 adds an Iceberg sink and closes a long list of security gaps in Nimbus and the UI.
◆ Current state
Storm runs a 3.x line, started in July with 3.0.0's removal of all Clojure and a Java 21 baseline, alongside 2.8.x maintenance. 3.1.0 on September 12 adds a storm-iceberg module with an Apache Iceberg sink bolt and a setting to control JSONP wrapping, and spends most of its notes on hardening: log listings filtered by user permission, jar locations restricted to the Nimbus inbox, blobstore names confined to topology directories, TLS peer verification for worker connections and required Kryo class registration.
◆ Where it's heading
After the 2.8.6 and 2.8.7 CVE releases, the 3.x line is closing access-control gaps across Nimbus, the logviewer and worker transport. The Iceberg sink adds a direct path into lakehouse storage.
◆ Prediction
Expect 3.1.x follow-ups, possibly with security advisories for the hardened paths, and continued 2.8.x maintenance; whether more lakehouse connectors follow is unclear.
Alternatives to MotherDuck and Apache Storm
Other Analytics products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either MotherDuck or Apache Storm.
Deepnote
Deepnote's agent now runs from first prompt to finished notebook without handoffs.
Apache HertzBeat
HertzBeat's 1.9.0 is on its second release candidate, and the feed still skips 1.8.0.
OpenPanel
OpenPanel moves from 3.18 to 3.20 in two days, still without a word of release notes.
Apache TsFile
TsFile 2.5 adds Go to its Java, C++ and Python implementations.
Glances
After a year of CVE fixes, Glances 4.5.7 turns to making its alerts tell the truth.
See all MotherDuck alternatives → · See all Apache Storm alternatives →
Recent activity from MotherDuck and Apache Storm
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 10d agoMotherDuckRow-level security, Dive write-back and Flight run grants
- 17d agoMotherDuckImage inputs for prompt_jev() and Agent Chat that builds Dives
- 25d agoMotherDuckAdmin API user listing, connection timeouts, prompt_jev() in EU
- 1mo agoMotherDuckAI functions 50-60% cheaper; prompt_jev() billing begins
- 1mo agoMotherDuckCross-region DuckLake paths and leaner LIMIT queries
- 1mo agoMotherDuckprompt_jev() classifies text in SQL with a small model
- 1mo agoApache StormStorm 3.1.0 adds an Iceberg sink and security hardening
- 3mo agoApache StormStorm 3.0 drops Clojure entirely and moves to Java 21 ⚡
- 3mo agoApache Storm2.8.9 is a dependency sweep with one Flux viewer guard
- 3mo agoApache Storm2.8.8 backports a Kafka topology-lag fix
- 6mo agoApache StormTwo TLS CVEs fixed: JVM-wide downgrade and auth bypass
- 6mo agoApache StormDeserialization RCE and stored XSS in the UI are fixed
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between MotherDuck and Apache Storm?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. MotherDuck is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is MotherDuck better than Apache Storm?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. MotherDuck is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to MotherDuck?
Top MotherDuck alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "MotherDuck alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/motherduck for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Apache Storm?
Top Apache Storm alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Apache Storm alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/storm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.