Skip to content
SPECIFICTION
Get listed

Apache Hive

hive.apache.org

Free plan Open source WindowsmacOSLinuxAPISelf-hosted
Visit hive.apache.org
Spec score 9.0 #1 of 28 in Query Engine Software

What it is

Apache Hive is a distributed data warehouse system for reading, writing, and managing large datasets with SQL. Its Metastore keeps shared metadata for tables and partitions and serves clients including Hive, Impala, and Spark; HiveServer2 supports concurrent clients through JDBC and ODBC. Hive provides full ACID transactions for ORC tables and insert-only transactions for other formats. Documented storage options include S3, Azure Data Lake, and Google Cloud Storage, and Hive supports Apache Iceberg tables through a StorageHandler. Named integrations include Spark, Presto, and Impala, with Apache Ranger for authorization and Apache Atlas for lineage and governance. Security options described by the project include Kerberos, fine-grained access control, and audit logging; HiveServer2 also lists LDAP, PAM, and custom authentication. The quickstart includes Docker instructions for the server and Metastore. Hive is free open-source software. The installation manual lists Java 8, Maven 3.6.3, Protobuf 2.5, Hadoop 3.3.6, and Tez among current prerequisites; Hive 4.2.x instead requires JDK 21 minimum and works with Hadoop 3.4.1 and Tez 0.10.5.

Spec sheet

What it does
Apache Hive is distributed data-warehouse software for reading, writing and managing very large datasets in distributed storage through SQL.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Purpose
Apache Hive is a distributed, fault-tolerant data warehouse system for reading, writing, and managing large datasets with SQL.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Deployment
The official quickstart provides Docker instructions for running HiveServer2 and the Metastore in a container.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Integrations
The project site names Spark, Presto, and Impala as integrations; it also describes Apache Ranger for authorization and Apache Atlas for lineage and governance.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Security
The site describes Kerberos authentication, fine-grained access control, and audit logging; HiveServer2 documentation also lists LDAP, PAM, and custom authentication options.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Authentication
HiveServer2 supports unauthenticated modes plus Kerberos, LDAP, PAM and pluggable custom authentication.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Cloud storage
The homepage lists native support for Amazon S3, Azure Data Lake Storage and Google Cloud Storage.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Developer connectivity
SourceForge states that Hive provides a command-line tool and JDBC driver for connecting to the system.Read 15 Oct 2026 · sourceforge.net
Documentation depth
The documentation site provides tutorials, administration guides, configuration references and versioned Javadocs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Ecosystem integrations
The project homepage names Spark, Presto and Impala among integrations and says it connects with hundreds of other data-stack tools.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Execution engines
Queries can execute through Apache Tez or MapReduce.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Extensibility
Hive SQL supports user-defined functions for custom analysis.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
File formats
Supported formats include text, SequenceFile, RCFile, Avro, ORC, Parquet and custom input/output formats.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
HBase integration
HiveQL can read and write HBase tables and combine HBase tables with native Hive tables in joins and unions.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Iceberg
Hive supports Apache Iceberg tables through its StorageHandler.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Iceberg integration
Hive Iceberg tables support Parquet, ORC and Avro file formats and both Iceberg table format versions 1 and 2.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Installation requirements
The current manual installation guide lists Java 8, Maven 3.6.3, Protobuf 2.5, Hadoop 3.3.6 and Tez as prerequisites.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Latest release news
Hive 4.2.1 was announced on August 24, 2026, fixing three security vulnerabilities involving Metastore partition paths, HiveServer2 SAML bearer authentication and Avro schema URLs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Licence
The source repository is distributed under the Apache License 2.0.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Limit: deployment and maintenance
TrustRadius reviewers report that deployment, maintenance and support require substantial effort after infrastructure is established.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Limit: latency and workload fit
TrustRadius reviewers mention slow complex joins, dependence on external storage and memory, poor fit for small datasets and limited OLTP suitability.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Limit: query latency
G2 reviewers repeatedly identify high latency, especially for complex or real-time queries.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Limit: transactional features
G2 reviewers report that Hive is not suitable for OLTP and lacks or limits row-level update and delete operations.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Low-latency capability
Hive LLAP is documented as providing sub-second query retrieval with persistent query infrastructure and caching.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Maker founding and headquarters
LinkedIn lists the Apache Software Foundation as founded in 1999 and headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.Read 15 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
Maker identity
The Apache Software Foundation is a nonprofit open-source software organization with 5,001–10,000 employees listed on LinkedIn.Read 15 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
Metadata service
Hive Metastore provides a central metadata repository used in data-lake architectures.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Metastore
Hive Metastore provides a central repository of metadata for tables and partitions and serves clients including Hive, Impala, and Spark.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Notable limit
The Apache Hive community declared the 3.x release line end of life in October 2024, with no further updates or releases planned for that series.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Official limitation
The Hive tutorial says Hive is not designed for online transaction processing and is intended for traditional data warehousing.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Organization
The website identifies Apache Hive as an Apache Software Foundation project and says it graduated from an Apache Hadoop subproject to a top-level project.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Platforms and prerequisites
The installation manual says Hive is commonly used in production on Linux, while Mac is commonly used for development; its current prerequisites list Java 8, Maven 3.6.3, Protobuf 2.5, Hadoop 3.3.6, and Tez.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Praise: SQL and scale
TrustRadius reviewers repeatedly praise SQL-style querying, scalability, parallel processing and the ability to analyze large Hadoop datasets.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Praise: SQL familiarity
G2 reviewers describe HiveQL as close to SQL, making it easier for SQL-trained users to build reports and analyze large data.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Procedural language
Hive includes HPL-SQL for procedural database programming.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Project governance
SourceForge identifies Hive as an open-source project run by Apache Software Foundation volunteers and notes that it is now a top-level Apache project.Read 15 Oct 2026 · sourceforge.net
Public API
HiveServer2 exposes a Thrift-based server interface for remote queries and is designed for JDBC and ODBC clients.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Rating on SourceForge
5.0 out of 5 from 1 review.Read 15 Oct 2026 · sourceforge.net
Rating on TrustRadius
8 out of 10 from 35 reviews.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Release compatibility
The downloads page says Hive 4.2.x requires JDK 21 as its minimum supported Java version and works with Hadoop 3.4.1 and Tez 0.10.5.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Scale and resilience
The project describes Hive as distributed and fault tolerant, intended for analytics over petabytes of data.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Security handling
The project maintains a private security mailing list for reporting potential vulnerabilities before public disclosure.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Self-hosting
Users can install Hive from a binary tarball or clone the Git repository and build a distribution with Maven.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
SQL analytics
Hive supplies SQL access for data warehousing, ETL, reporting and analysis.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
SQL connectivity
HiveServer2 supports multi-client concurrency and JDBC and ODBC clients.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Storage
The project site describes support for S3, Azure Data Lake, and Google Cloud Storage.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Storage systems
Hive can access data in HDFS and HBase as well as other distributed storage systems.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Support and community
Apache Hive is an open-source project run by Apache Software Foundation volunteers, with mailing lists and community channels for participation.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Thrift interface
The HiveServer2 Thrift IDL is published in the Apache Hive GitHub source tree.Read 15 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org
Transactions
Hive supports full ACID transactions for ORC tables and insert-only transactions for other formats.Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org

Plans and prices

Apache Hive Free Open-source data warehouse software Read 4 Oct 2026 · hive.apache.org

Every Apache Hive plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Free, open-source data warehouse software
  • Supports JDBC and ODBC clients
  • Supports ACID transactions for ORC tables
  • Works with multiple cloud storage services
  • Includes Docker quickstart instructions

Limits

  • Hive 4.2.x requires JDK 21 minimum
  • Hive 3.x reached end of life in October 2024
  • Production use is commonly on Linux

Who it suits

Hive suits teams managing large datasets with SQL across cloud storage, or connecting metadata and query clients such as Spark and Impala. It is aimed at technical teams able to work with its deployment and Java-related prerequisites.

Verdict

Hive offers SQL-based data warehousing with metadata services, transaction support, cloud storage options, and security integrations. Check the release-specific Java and Hadoop requirements, and avoid relying on the 3.x line for future updates.

Where Specifiction places it

Alternatives to Apache HiveAll alternatives →