Apache Hive vs Azure Synapse Analytics
Apache Hive
hive.apache.org
Azure Synapse Analytics
azure.microsoft.comSide by side
| Figure | Apache Hive | Azure Synapse Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 7 |
| Spec score · Query Engine Software | 9.0 (#1) | 6.2 (#21) |
| Spec score · Analytics Databases | 9.0 (#4) | 6.2 (#26) |
| Spec score · Big Data Analytics Software | 8.9 (#4) | 6.0 (#28) |
| Spec score · Data Warehouse Software | 9.0 (#4) | 6.2 (#20) |
| Spec score · OLAP Databases | 8.9 (#5) | 6.1 (#26) |
Plans
Azure Synapse Analytics
- Serverless SQL poolPriced on request
- Dedicated SQL pool — pay as you goPriced on request
- Dedicated SQL pool — 1-year reservedPriced on request
- Dedicated SQL pool — 3-year reservedPriced on request
- Apache Spark — Memory OptimizedPriced on request
- Apache Spark — GPU acceleratedPriced on request
- Data Explorer computePriced on request
In their own words
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.
Azure Synapse Analytics
Azure Synapse Analytics has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.