https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog Market signals, technology-decision frameworks, architecture research, and practical lessons from Modern DataTools en-us Sat, 08 Aug 2026 08:25:05 GMT https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/modern-datatools-signal-report-july-2026 https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/modern-datatools-signal-report-july-2026 Sat, 08 Aug 2026 08:00:55 GMT Egor Burlakov A July read on developer packages, mature infrastructure scale, and the reader attention worth watching. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/caching-lessons-part1 https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/caching-lessons-part1 Fri, 31 Jul 2026 16:23:56 GMT Egor Burlakov Modern DataTools uses page caching, targeted invalidation, and shared data caches to reduce repeated work without allowing important information to remain outdated - in the article we cover our key lessons for these mechanisms. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/ai-assisted-software-development-2026 https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/ai-assisted-software-development-2026 Tue, 21 Jul 2026 19:22:12 GMT Egor Burlakov Practical lessons from using coding agents on a growing codebase: repository rules, changelogs, scripts, testing, and context. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/modern-datatools-the-data-layer-for-better-technology-decisions https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/modern-datatools-the-data-layer-for-better-technology-decisions Wed, 15 Jul 2026 19:26:30 GMT Egor Burlakov Modern DataTools turns continuously collected data about 300 data and AI tools into comparisons, market intelligence, and evidence-backed stack recommendations. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/vector-databases-when-you-need-one https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/vector-databases-when-you-need-one Fri, 10 Jul 2026 12:37:13 GMT Egor Burlakov The vector database gold rush is in full swing. But for most teams, pgvector is all you need. Here's how to decide. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/modern-datatools-signal-report-june-2026 https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/modern-datatools-signal-report-june-2026 Wed, 01 Jul 2026 07:07:47 GMT Egor Burlakov Monthly analysis of the data tools gaining adoption, community interest, and reader momentum. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/stack-recommender-redesign-2026 https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/stack-recommender-redesign-2026 Mon, 29 Jun 2026 10:19:06 GMT Egor Burlakov How Modern DataTools redesigned Stack Recommender with interactive customization, shareable URLs, evidence quality, integration visibility, and clearer methodology. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/ai-agents-data-teams-hype-vs-reality https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/ai-agents-data-teams-hype-vs-reality Wed, 24 Jun 2026 21:16:34 GMT Egor Burlakov Every vendor now has an 'AI agent.' After evaluating dozens of them, here's what actually works and what's still a demo-only fantasy. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/three-ai-agents-worth-building-once-your-data-stack-doesnt-suck https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/three-ai-agents-worth-building-once-your-data-stack-doesnt-suck Sat, 06 Jun 2026 18:52:05 GMT Egor Burlakov Three AI agents worth building on top of a modern data stack: analytics, incident triage, and internal knowledge assistants. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/from-modern-data-stack-to-ai-agents-a-practical-stack-for-2026 https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/from-modern-data-stack-to-ai-agents-a-practical-stack-for-2026 Mon, 25 May 2026 21:43:33 GMT Egor Burlakov How to add AI on top of a modern data stack: the practical layers, tools, and guardrails for building useful agents, retrieval, and internal copilots. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/modern-data-stack-2026-guide https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/modern-data-stack-2026-guide Mon, 11 May 2026 20:30:49 GMT Egor Burlakov The modern data stack promised simplicity, but in practice it often feels like IKEA furniture. Here’s how to build one that actually works, layer by layer. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/data-is-the-real-ai-moat https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/data-is-the-real-ai-moat Sun, 03 May 2026 10:40:37 GMT Egor Burlakov Everyone's obsessed with AI models. After building a 500-tool data directory, we learned the model is 10% of the work. The other 90% is data collection, validation, and quality — and that's the real moat. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/best-open-source-alternatives-snowflake-databricks-fivetran https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/best-open-source-alternatives-snowflake-databricks-fivetran Wed, 29 Apr 2026 11:20:58 GMT Egor Burlakov Save 84% on your data stack with open-source alternatives. ClickHouse instead of Snowflake, Airbyte instead of Fivetran, Metabase instead of Looker — with real cost comparisons. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/data-baselining-warehouse-lifecycle-2026 https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/data-baselining-warehouse-lifecycle-2026 Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:05:25 GMT Egor Burlakov A three-layer playbook — lifecycle policies, usage-based cleanup, and team rituals — to stop warehouse storage from compounding silently. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/real-cost-snowflake-databricks-bigquery-2026 https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/real-cost-snowflake-databricks-bigquery-2026 Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT Egor Burlakov Everybody asks 'which data warehouse is cheapest?' but that's the wrong question. Here's what actually determines your bill. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/500-data-tools-10-things-best-get-right https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/500-data-tools-10-things-best-get-right Mon, 06 Apr 2026 18:54:04 GMT Egor Burlakov After scoring 500+ data tools on a 100-point framework, clear patterns emerge. Here are the ten that separate great tools from forgettable ones. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/benchmarking-local-llms-qwen-model-comparison https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/benchmarking-local-llms-qwen-model-comparison Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:40:37 GMT Egor Burlakov Local LLMs are practical for content generation, legal document processing, and internal knowledge bases. I benchmarked five Qwen models on my MacBook Pro. Qwen 3 14B scored 91/100 avg vs 62 for Qwen 2.5 14B -- same size, dramatically better. Newer models performed worse. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/how-id-start-an-ai-assisted-development-project-in-2026 https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/how-id-start-an-ai-assisted-development-project-in-2026 Sat, 28 Mar 2026 22:38:30 GMT Egor Burlakov A practical 2026 guide to starting an AI-assisted software project — tools, agent orchestration, Git rules, baselining, documentation, and lessons learned. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/etl-vs-elt-difference-2026 https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/etl-vs-elt-difference-2026 Fri, 27 Mar 2026 20:30:49 GMT Egor Burlakov ETL transforms data before loading; ELT loads first and transforms in the warehouse. Learn when to use each approach with real examples, tool comparisons, and a decision framework. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/modern-data-stack-2026-complete-guide https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/modern-data-stack-2026-complete-guide Sat, 21 Mar 2026 21:36:49 GMT Egor Burlakov A comprehensive guide to every layer of the modern data stack — ingestion, warehousing, transformation, orchestration, BI, data quality, reverse ETL, and streaming — with real tool recommendations and pricing. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/the-hidden-bugs-in-data-pipelines-that-no-one-tests-for https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/the-hidden-bugs-in-data-pipelines-that-no-one-tests-for Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:27:44 GMT Egor Burlakov Data pipelines pass all tests but silently lose millions in revenue. Discover Automated Data Tests (ADT)—lightweight checks that catch join drops, sum errors, and aggregation glitches across billions of rows. Python and SQL solutions coming next. https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/how-specdriven-development-powers-ai-coding-in-2026 https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/how-specdriven-development-powers-ai-coding-in-2026 Wed, 04 Mar 2026 17:10:26 GMT Egor Burlakov How specs make AI coding reliable—and redefine the manager's role https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/welcome-to-the-blog https://www.modern-datatools.com/blog/welcome-to-the-blog Sat, 28 Feb 2026 20:09:08 GMT Egor Burlakov Tech front lines to AI era: real stories on leading teams, testing tools, and data engineering wins—short, human-crafted lessons for your daily grind.