Apache Drill vs PrestoDB
Apache Drill
drill.apache.orgPrestoDB
prestodb.ioSide by side
| Figure | Apache Drill | PrestoDB |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Query Engine Software | 8.9 (#2) | 8.4 (#6) |
| Spec score · Data Virtualization Software | 9.0 (#2) | 8.8 (#3) |
| Deployment | Drill can run embedded on a laptop or in distributed mode on a cluster of servers. | The project provides a server tarball, command line interface, JDBC driver, and Docker container for getting started. |
| License | The Apache Drill site identifies the project as licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. | The Presto repository identifies the project license as Apache License 2.0. |
| Purpose | Apache Drill is a schema-free SQL query engine for Hadoop, NoSQL and cloud storage. | Presto is a distributed SQL query engine designed to query large data sets across heterogeneous data sources. |
| Security | Documented security features include Kerberos, username and password authentication, Digest authentication, authorization and user impersonation. | Presto documents Kerberos, LDAP, password-file and OAuth 2.0 authentication, along with access control and secure internal communication. |
| Support | The project directs questions to its drill-dev mailing list and welcomes contributions. | The project directs users to its Slack community to connect with Presto engineers and users. |
| What it does | Apache Drill is a schema-free SQL query engine for Hadoop, NoSQL databases, and cloud storage. | Presto is a distributed SQL query engine for interactive analytics over very large datasets and multiple data sources. |
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.
PrestoDB
PrestoDB is a free, open-source distributed SQL query engine for querying large data sets across different kinds of data systems. Connectors access sources through a standard API, with documented options including Hive, Iceberg, Kafka, Cassandra, MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, BigQuery, Redshift, and SQL Server. Queries run across a coordinator and worker nodes. The project provides a server tarball, command line interface, JDBC driver, and Docker container, with deployment guidance for Docker, Helm, and Homebrew. Presto documents Kerberos, LDAP, password-file, and OAuth 2.0 authentication, plus access control and secure internal communication; SSL/TLS can protect communication between cluster nodes. It is self-hosted and governed as an independent open-source project under the Linux Foundation. The documentation cautions that SQL familiarity does not mean Presto includes the features of a standard database. The project directs users to its Slack community to connect with engineers and other users. The listed current release is version 0.299, dated August 31, 2026.