Hypertenancy: a different warehouse architecture

If you’re new to MotherDuck, here’s what you need to know: MotherDuck is fundamentally different from traditional data warehouses. Most data warehouses were built a decade ago when compute resources were much smaller. The systems were architected to distribute workloads over many compute nodes, processing much larger datasets than previously possible. We got “Big Data” as a paradigm, plus a promise that no matter how large your data set, you could (eventually) query it.

Plot twist: most people don’t actually query Big Data! Only 1 in 600 Redshift users ever scan more than 10TB in a query. However, even the users who aren’t running massive queries are still paying the Big Data Tax: high costs and latency for large, distributed systems.

MotherDuck flips this pattern on its head with a hypertenancy architecture. In MotherDuck, each user gets their own fully-isolated compute instance that stays connected to the central warehouse. The instances, called Ducklings, can be scaled up or down to fit each compute use case. You can use Standard instances for normal BI workloads while allocating a Jumbo to query a massive historical dataset–each workload runs fully-isolated, avoiding the “noisy neighbor” problem where multi-tenant systems become bottlenecked.

Through hypertenancy, MotherDuck runs faster, more efficient queries. Because each Duckling runs on a single, powerful compute instance rather than coordinating across multiple nodes, you eliminate the network overhead and coordination complexity that slows down distributed systems.

Same-day delivery that flies: migrating to MotherDuck at Trunkrs

Trunkrs is a perfect example of how MotherDuck shines. A Netherlands-based same-day delivery company, Trunkrs operates more like a software company than a traditional logistics provider. They orchestrate a network of existing vehicles—assets that would otherwise sit idle in the evenings—to create an efficient delivery system specializing in frozen and perishable goods, making them the market leader in frozen meat delivery.

Trunkrs migrated from Redshift to MotherDuck to power their real-time operational decisions. Their Redshift setup required constant optimization and couldn't handle the parallel requests from users monitoring fast-changing operations. Slow queries during daily meetings meant teams would stop drilling into problems after waiting too long for results.

"With MotherDuck, we're seeing that response is just a lot snappier," explains Hidde Stokvis, COO and data leader at Trunkrs. "We can see that we're just going deeper because we have more time to spend on the data."

The faster queries unlocked deeper analysis, better problem identification, and fewer repeated operational mistakes—exactly what you need when coordinating perishable goods delivery across the Netherlands.

Ducks in a row: flying with trusted European partners

We're thrilled to have a network of official launch partners with long histories of helping European companies build data solutions that transform their businesses.

Artefact is a global data and AI consulting company with 1,700+ experts across 26 countries, partnering with clients including Samsung, L'Oréal, and Orange. Founded in 2014, Artefact sits at the intersection of consulting, data science, AI technologies, and marketing, helping organizations transform into consumer-centric leaders. Read more about Artefact’s partnership with MotherDuck here.

Codecentric AG is Germany's leader in agile software development and innovative technologies. The B Corp-certified company has 550+ employees, specializing in custom software solutions, cloud-native development, and digital transformation.

Corail Analytics is a data agency partnering with French-speaking businesses that want to harness data for more impactful decision-making.

Tasman helps companies across Europe sharpen their analytics, data science and business intelligence. Tasman builds what matters for each specific organisation, delivering insights and enabling client teams—not just more data or technical headaches.

Xebia is a global AI and digital transformation consultancy with over 5,500 experts across 16 countries. Founded in 2001 in the Netherlands, Xebia helps organizations become AI-first and future-ready through consulting, software engineering, and training services that combine deep technical expertise with proven methodologies.

On the technology side, we’re excited to be growing our partnerships with the Modern Duck Stack partners that European businesses trust:

Omni is a business intelligence and embedded analytics platform that helps customers improve self-service, accelerate AI adoption, and build customer-facing data products. Whether users prefer SQL, spreadsheets, AI, or a point-and-click interface, Omni makes it easy for anyone to explore data — all from the same platform. At Omni’s core is a built-in semantic layer that ensures answers are trustworthy and provides AI the business context it needs.

dltHub is building Python tools for working with data, including their popular library dlt (data load tool). Based in Berlin and New York City, dltHub blends software and services for data platform teams building in Python.

We’re grateful to our partners for the opportunity to serve European customers together—they're teams with deep understandings of how European businesses think about data, compliance, and analytics architecture.

General availability landing soon

The European region is currently in private preview, with general availability arriving later this fall.

Interested in being among the first to experience MotherDuck in Europe? Join our waitlist to get notified when the region becomes generally available.