Choose DuckDB rather than SQLite

DuckDB significantly outperforms SQLite as an embedded database for observability data, achieving 4-15x faster write speeds and enabling queries across 100x more rows with similar latency on identical hardware. A benchmark on a $16/month server showed DuckDB can handle a billion metric points in 10.8 GB while maintaining dashboard performance, compared to SQLite's much lower capacity limits. The columnar architecture of DuckDB makes it a superior choice for self-hosted telemetry stacks without requiring a separate client-server database.