Apache Kylin vs Azure Synapse Analytics
Apache Kylin
kylin.apache.org
Azure Synapse Analytics
azure.microsoft.comSide by side
| Figure | Apache Kylin | Azure Synapse Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 7 |
| Spec score · Query Engine Software | 8.5 (#4) | 6.2 (#21) |
| Spec score · OLAP Software | 8.6 (#6) | 6.2 (#28) |
| Spec score · Analytics Databases | 8.5 (#6) | 6.2 (#26) |
| Spec score · OLAP Databases | 8.5 (#6) | 6.1 (#26) |
| Spec score · Big Data Analytics Software | 8.5 (#8) | 6.0 (#28) |
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 Kylin
Apache Kylin is an open-source OLAP engine for data analytics, designed for large-scale workloads with many concurrent users. Its pre-calculation approach is intended to support sub-second SQL queries. Kylin 5 can build models from SQL text, suggest index changes using query history, and use Apache Gluten as a native compute engine; the product overview describes a 2–4× improvement compared with vanilla Spark. For mixed data workloads, it supports Kafka streaming sources and fusion models for batch and streaming analysis, as well as internal tables for flexible queries and lakehouse scenarios. Teams can connect Tableau, Power BI, or Excel. A web UI supports table management, model design, job execution, and configuration. Deployment offers query, job, or all server modes. Kylin runs on Linux and uses Spark with Yarn or Standalone mode. Data storage can use HDFS or S3-compatible systems, while MySQL or PostgreSQL can hold metadata. The project is free under Apache License v2, with source and binary packages available. APIs use Basic Authentication; HTTPS is supported in Kylin 5 but disabled by default.
Azure Synapse Analytics
Azure Synapse Analytics has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.