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Starburst vs Trino

Starburst: Commercial Trino platform: self-managed Starburst Enterprise and the Starburst Galaxy SaaS. Trino: Fast distributed SQL query engine for federated analytics across lakes and databases.

key differences

  • Licensing: Starburst is proprietary (Proprietary (on an Apache-2.0 Trino core)); Trino is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0).
  • Only Starburst has encryption at rest.
  • Starburst has a serverless option; Trino does not.

choose starburst for

  • +Enterprise lakehouse on Iceberg
  • +Data mesh and data products
  • +Federated queries across on-prem and cloud
  • +Warehouse offload from Teradata or Netezza

best at · Lakehouse, OLAP, Warehouse

choose trino for

  • +Open lakehouse SQL on Iceberg/Delta
  • +Federated analytics across databases
  • +Interactive BI on object storage
  • +Data mesh query layer

best at · OLAP, Lakehouse, Warehouse

StarburstCommercial Trino platform: self-managed Starburst Enterprise and the Starburst Galaxy SaaS.
TrinoFast distributed SQL query engine for federated analytics across lakes and databases.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Columnar / OLAP
Columnar / OLAP
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Starburst Data
Trino Software Foundation
First release
2017
2019
Latest version
483-e (Oct 16, 2026)
484 (Oct 16, 2026)
License
ProprietaryProprietary (on an Apache-2.0 Trino core)
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
—
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
0.0
49.9
Rank
#820
#27
GitHub stars
–
13.4K
Stack Overflow questions
–
893
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
None
None
ACID
Limited
Limited
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Client server, Serverless
Distributed, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
—
Serverless
✓
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Azure, Google Cloud
–
capabilities
Transactions
—
—
Joins
✓
✓
Secondary indexes
—
—
Full-text search
—
—
Vector search
—
—
Geospatial
✓
✓
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
—
—
Triggers
—
—
Stored procedures
—
—
Materialized views
✓
✓
TTL / expiry
—
—
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
—
—
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
—
—
Compression
—
—
Encryption at rest
✓
—
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
✓
✓
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
—
—
Streaming ingest
—
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
SQL (ANSI)
SQL (ANSI)
Client languages
Java, Python, Go, JavaScript
Java, Python, Go, JavaScript, Rust, C#
Best for
Lakehouse, OLAP, Warehouse
OLAP, Lakehouse, Warehouse
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Starburst vs Trino: FAQ

What is the difference between Starburst and Trino?

Starburst: Commercial Trino platform: self-managed Starburst Enterprise and the Starburst Galaxy SaaS. Trino: Fast distributed SQL query engine for federated analytics across lakes and databases. Licensing: Starburst is proprietary (Proprietary (on an Apache-2.0 Trino core)); Trino is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0). Only Starburst has encryption at rest. Starburst has a serverless option; Trino does not.

When should I choose Starburst over Trino?

Choose Starburst for enterprise lakehouse on Iceberg; data mesh and data products; and federated queries across on-prem and cloud. Choose Trino for open lakehouse SQL on Iceberg/Delta, federated analytics across databases and interactive BI on object storage.

Is Starburst or Trino more popular?

Trino ranks #27 on the WhichDB Score (49.9/100) and Starburst ranks #820 (0.0/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Starburst and Trino open source?

No. Starburst is proprietary, closed-source software. Yes. Trino is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.