Apache Drill vs Apache Hive
Apache Drill
drill.apache.org
Apache Hive
hive.apache.orgSide by side
| Figure | Apache Drill | Apache Hive |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Query Engine Software | 8.9 (#2) | 9.0 (#1) |
| Authentication | Documented authentication options include Kerberos, username and password through Plain or a custom authenticator, and Digest. | HiveServer2 supports unauthenticated modes plus Kerberos, LDAP, PAM and pluggable custom authentication. |
| Deployment | Drill can run embedded on a laptop or in distributed mode on a cluster of servers. | The official quickstart provides Docker instructions for running HiveServer2 and the Metastore in a container. |
| Notable limit | Official support for Hadoop 2 and Java 8 was dropped with Drill 1.22.0. | 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. |
| Purpose | Apache Drill is a schema-free SQL query engine for Hadoop, NoSQL and cloud storage. | Apache Hive is a distributed, fault-tolerant data warehouse system for reading, writing, and managing large datasets with SQL. |
| Release compatibility | The download page says official support for Hadoop 2 and Java 8 was dropped with Drill 1.22.0. | 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. |
| Security | Documented security features include Kerberos, username and password authentication, Digest authentication, authorization and user impersonation. | The site describes Kerberos authentication, fine-grained access control, and audit logging; HiveServer2 documentation also lists LDAP, PAM, and custom authentication options. |
| What it does | Apache Drill is a schema-free SQL query engine for Hadoop, NoSQL databases, and cloud storage. | Apache Hive is distributed data-warehouse software for reading, writing and managing very large datasets in distributed storage through SQL. |
Plans
In their own words
Apache Drill
Apache Drill is a schema-free SQL query engine for Hadoop, NoSQL databases, and cloud storage. It can query raw data where it resides without first loading it, defining schemas, or transforming it. Its JSON data model supports complex and nested structures, and a single query can join data across multiple datastores. Listed sources include HBase, MongoDB, HDFS, Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage, Swift, NAS, and local files. JDBC and ODBC drivers connect Drill to tools including Tableau, Qlik, MicroStrategy, Spotfire, SAS, and Excel; developers can also use its REST API in custom applications. Drill can run embedded on a laptop or in distributed mode on a server cluster, and the homepage lists Mac, Windows, and Linux. Documented security options include Kerberos, username and password authentication, Digest, authorization, and impersonation. The software is free under Apache License 2.0. A compatibility limit: official support for Hadoop 2 and Java 8 was dropped with Drill 1.22.0.
Apache Hive
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.