Best Query Engine Software in 2026
Updated
In short: Comunica is ranked #1 of 25 as of 4 October 2026, ahead of Teiid and Apache Arrow DataFusion. The best-ranked option with a free plan is Teiid. The lowest first paid tier on this page is Alibaba Cloud MaxCompute at $0.05/mo.
Query engine software supports querying data across sources, and the entries can be weighed by both their technical criteria and ranked order. Compare federated queries, heterogeneous sources and source connectors, along with SQL support and streaming sources, to focus on the data and query patterns relevant to you. Deployment and result caching add further points of comparison. Free-plan availability and paid starting prices offer cost context. Comunica, Apache Arrow DataFusion and Apache Drill head the ranking, with Databricks Notebooks and Denodo Platform also among the first entries.
25 query engine software ranked on what their makers publish — plans and prices, free tiers, platforms and the facts on their own pages.
Recognised 40% · Phone app 26% · Documented 20% · Free plan 14% of the score
- 1 Comunica No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.4Free Federated queries: YesHeterogeneous sources: YesDeployment: self_hosted
- 2 Teiid No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.4Free
- 3 Apache Arrow DataFusion No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free Federated queries: YesHeterogeneous sources: YesDeployment: self_hosted
- 4 Apache Drill No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free
- 5 Databricks Notebooks No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free
- 6 Denodo Platform No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free
- 7 Starburst Enterprise Context Layer No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free
- 8 Starburst Galaxy No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.3Free
- 9 Apache Impala No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.2Free Deployment: self_hosted
- 10 Firebolt No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.2Free
- 11 PrestoDB No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.2Free
- 12 Trino No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 6.2Free
- 13 BigQuery Data Clean Rooms No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.8
- 14 Cloudera Data Lake Service No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.7
- 15 Alibaba Cloud MaxCompute No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.5$0.05/mo
- 16 Amazon Athena No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.5$0.30/mo Deployment: cloud
- 17 e6 Query Engine No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.5 Federated queries: YesHeterogeneous sources: YesDeployment: hybrid
- 18 Dremio No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.4
- 19 Tencent Cloud CDN No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.4CNY 21/mo
- 20 Query No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Federated queries: YesHeterogeneous sources: YesDeployment: cloud
- 21 Spotfire Data Virtualization No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.3 Federated queries: YesHeterogeneous sources: YesDeployment: hybrid
- 22 Apache Kylin No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.1 Deployment: self_hosted
- 23 Tencent Cloud Data Lake Compute (DLC) No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 5.1
- 24 Ontop No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 4.9
- 25 Apache Hive No phone app RecognisedPhone appDocumentedFree plan 4.7Free
Is your app on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored. They are labelled, and the editorial order and scores never change for payment.
Questions about this list
Which query engine software is ranked first on Samsung Mobile US Press?
Comunica is ranked #1 of 25 with a score of 6.4. Teiid is second and Apache Arrow DataFusion third.
How many of these have a free plan?
13 of the 25 on this page publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
Which is the cheapest paid option?
On this page, Alibaba Cloud MaxCompute has the lowest first paid tier we found: $0.05/mo.
How is this list ranked?
Ranked mobile-first: a phone app alongside the web or desktop product, a free tier and the depth of its documentation. Paid placements never change a rank.