← Back to home
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

FeatureMotherDuckApache Storm
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score6.32.5
Sparks · 30d10
Top themesduckdb-cloud, agentic-analytics, data-apps, access-controlstream-processing, security, observability, jvm
Last editorial update1d ago2d ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is MotherDuck?

MotherDuck adds who-can-open controls to Dives and a SQL view of compute usage.

MotherDuck ships a weekly changelog. The November 12 release lets owners keep a Dive private or share it with roles, users or the whole organization, with matching GRANT READ ON DIVE commands; new Dives start private. Flight run access can now be managed in the UI, and Business plans can query hourly Duckling usage per user from MD_INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COMPUTE_USAGE. It lands a week after the redesign that put Agent Chat on the home screen.

Read the full MotherDuck trajectory →

What is Apache Storm?

Storm 3.2 fixes three access-control CVEs and ends the 2.x line.

Apache Storm 3.2.0 arrived on 11 November with fixes for three CVEs: the supervisor page revealing other users' topologies, the Logviewer following symlinks past ACLs, and DRPC impersonation bypassing the authorizer. It declares Storm 2.x end of life, removes several deprecated configs and serializers, and adds pluggable tuple tracing with OpenTelemetry, a Prometheus reporter for V2 metrics and opt-in virtual threads on Java 25.

Read the full Apache Storm trajectory →

MotherDuck vs Apache Storm: editorial side-by-side

M
MotherDuck
ANALYTICS
6.3

MotherDuck adds who-can-open controls to Dives and a SQL view of compute usage.

◆ Current state

MotherDuck ships a weekly changelog. The November 12 release lets owners keep a Dive private or share it with roles, users or the whole organization, with matching GRANT READ ON DIVE commands; new Dives start private. Flight run access can now be managed in the UI, and Business plans can query hourly Duckling usage per user from MD_INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COMPUTE_USAGE. It lands a week after the redesign that put Agent Chat on the home screen.

◆ Where it's heading

The agent-first redesign made Dives and Flights the things people create; the releases since are about controlling who sees and runs them and what they cost. Governance that began with row- and column-level security in October now covers the agent-built objects too.

◆ Prediction

Next likely are finer controls on what Agent Chat can do on a user's behalf, or usage limits built on the new compute usage view, since both follow from the permissions and cost work in the last two releases.

A
Apache Storm
ANALYTICS
2.5

Storm 3.2 fixes three access-control CVEs and ends the 2.x line.

◆ Current state

Apache Storm 3.2.0 arrived on 11 November with fixes for three CVEs: the supervisor page revealing other users' topologies, the Logviewer following symlinks past ACLs, and DRPC impersonation bypassing the authorizer. It declares Storm 2.x end of life, removes several deprecated configs and serializers, and adds pluggable tuple tracing with OpenTelemetry, a Prometheus reporter for V2 metrics and opt-in virtual threads on Java 25.

◆ Where it's heading

The 3.x line keeps pairing security hardening with removal of legacy code, following 3.0's Clojure removal and 3.1's long hardening list. With 2.x now unsupported and deprecated APIs classified for removal, Storm is narrowing to a modern-JVM codebase with standard observability hooks.

◆ Prediction

Further removals flagged in 3.2, such as the Pacemaker subsystem, are likely in the next minor, alongside more security fixes from outside reporters.

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.

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.

  1. 1d agoMotherDuckDive sharing controls, Flight access UI and compute usage in SQL
  2. 3d agoApache StormStorm 3.2.0: three CVE fixes, OpenTelemetry tracing, 2.x EOL
  3. 10d agoMotherDuckRedesigned UI puts Agent Chat on the home screen ⚡
  4. 21d agoMotherDuckRow-level security, Dive write-back and Flight run grants
  5. 28d agoMotherDuckImage inputs for prompt_jev() and Agent Chat that builds Dives
  6. 1mo agoMotherDuckAdmin API user listing, connection timeouts, prompt_jev() in EU
  7. 1mo agoMotherDuckAI functions 50-60% cheaper; prompt_jev() billing begins
  8. 2mo agoApache StormStorm 3.1.0 adds an Iceberg sink and security hardening
  9. 3mo agoApache StormStorm 3.0 drops Clojure entirely and moves to Java 21 ⚡
  10. 3mo agoApache Storm2.8.9 is a dependency sweep with one Flux viewer guard
  11. 3mo agoApache Storm2.8.8 backports a Kafka topology-lag fix
  12. 6mo agoApache StormTwo TLS CVEs fixed: JVM-wide downgrade and auth bypass

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 6.3 vs 2.5), with 1 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 6.3 vs 2.5), with 1 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.