DuckDB has proven to be superior to Polars when handling large datasets, particularly 1TB of data. While DuckDB effectively manages memory and execution with a robust design, Polars struggles with large data processing, leading to out-of-memory errors.

Pinterest is transitioning from its aging Hadoop-based platform to a Kubernetes-based data processing solution named Moka, designed to address scalability and performance needs. The first part of this series discusses the rationale behind this shift, the architecture of the new platform, and initial design considerations, while outlining the benefits of using Kubernetes for data processing at massive scale.