AWS has acquired DuckLabs, the company behind DuckDB, the open-source in-process analytics database that has become a favorite of developers and data engineers. The Register reported the deal on August 26, with DuckLabs chief executive Hannes Muehleisen confirming the two teams had worked together for about two years.
DuckDB embeds inside a host process rather than running as a server, which lets analysts run SQL directly over data in Python libraries like Pandas without copying it. Born at Amsterdam’s Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica and public since 2022, it built a cult following for speed and simplicity, and AWS had already integrated first-class support for it in S3 Tables, announced in December 2024.
The database itself stays fully open source under the MIT license, and Muehleisen sees a bigger role for the independent DuckDB Foundation, including a technical advisory board, so stakeholders building on the project keep a neutral channel as AWS steers strategic direction.
For AWS the move locks in a popular tool that increasingly sits at the heart of analytics and AI data pipelines. The teams said development continues under the foundation’s stewardship, with community governance details still being worked out.
