Freedom251
For vendors
AdvertiseTop spots, featured rows, home sponsor Get listedAdd a product we don't cover yet Claim a listingFree: verify the domain, then correct your page Vendor dashboardNumbers, orders and placements
Vendor dashboard
No. 5 of 25 ·Query Engine Software

Starburst Galaxy

Web · Linux · API

Visit site Alternatives

Freedom report

Two barsScore 6.5

  • Free tierA free tier is on its own pricing page
  • Open codeNo open-source code on record
  • Runs widely2 of 6 device platforms
  • DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

Starburst Galaxy is a managed, cloud-hosted analytics platform built on Trino. It lets organizations query data across sources in one SQL query without copying it, and is available on AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. Starburst lists more than 50 data sources, including Amazon S3, Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery, and Azure Blob. Galaxy can stream data from Kafka or batch ingest CSV, JSON, and AVRO into Iceberg. LakeOps automates Iceberg table compaction, snapshot expiry, and orphan-file removal on a dedicated serverless engine. AIDA turns natural-language questions into governed insights through a customizable interface or MCP. Security features include fine-grained RBAC and ABAC, encryption, data classification, and private connectivity; Starburst describes Galaxy as SOC 2 Type II certified and HIPAA-ready. The free tier includes up to three clusters and standard execution mode for ad hoc queries. A 30-day trial includes Enterprise features and $500 in compute resources. Usage charges vary by plan and include compute, ingestion, and private-link data transfer.

Who it is for

Galaxy suits organizations that want to query across data sources without moving data. Starburst recommends it for organizations that do not yet have the resources to manage complex data clusters.

What is good

  • Federates queries across data lakes and warehouses.
  • Lists more than 50 data sources and connectors.
  • Supports Kafka streaming and batch ingestion into Iceberg.
  • Free tier includes up to three clusters.
  • 30-day trial includes Enterprise features and $500 in compute resources.

What to know first

  • Usage billing varies by plan.
  • Free tier uses standard execution mode for ad hoc queries.
  • API authentication tokens expire after 10 minutes.

Verdict

Galaxy brings federated SQL queries, ingestion, and Iceberg maintenance together in a managed cloud service. The free tier has a three-cluster limit, and usage is billed according to plan and billable activity.

Starburst Galaxy plans and pricing

All plans
Free Free Free forever Up to 3 clusters · standard execution mode for ad hoc queries starburst.io · 30 Sept 2026
Pro $0.50 Starting at $0.50/credit Flexible cluster execution modes · streaming ingest · advanced cluster management starburst.io · 30 Sept 2026
Enterprise $0.75 Starting at $0.75/credit Advanced autoscaling · ABAC and SCIM · AWS PrivateLink for data sources · AIDA token usage billed separately starburst.io · 30 Sept 2026
Mission-Critical $1 Starting at $1.00/credit Elite support · advanced governance integrations · highest uptime guarantees · AIDA token usage billed separately starburst.io · 30 Sept 2026

Compared on query engine software

Free plan
Yes

Best Starburst Galaxy alternatives

See all 12
Two bars Comunica Free tier No. 1Free6.7 Two bars Apache Drill Free tier No. 2Free6.5 Two bars Denodo Platform Free tier No. 3Free6.5 Two bars PrestoDB Free tier No. 4Free6.5 One bar Apache Arrow DataFusion Free tier No. 6Free6.4 One bar Apache Impala Free tier No. 7Free6.4