# Compute and performance

Workers execute SQL independently of object storage. Choose query compute for the workload, then use query plans and measured performance to decide whether to change compute or table layout.

- [Workers](/docs/lakehouse/compute/workers.md): Workers are the DuckDB-based compute units that execute queries, cache data, and connect Altertable to your sources.
- [Choose compute for a query](/docs/lakehouse/compute/sizing.md): Choose automatic or fixed compute sizing for lakehouse queries, understand available Worker tiers, and account for session reuse constraints.
- [Performance](/docs/lakehouse/compute/performance.md): Performance characteristics for Workers, cache behavior, and how we benchmark query latency and cost on the Altertable lakehouse.