Malloy vs Starburst Enterprise Context Layer
Malloy
malloydata.dev
Starburst Enterprise Context Layer
starburst.ioSide by side
| Figure | Malloy | Starburst Enterprise Context Layer |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $0.50/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 7 |
| Spec score · Semantic Layer Software | 7.6 (#18) | 8.6 (#5) |
| Security controls | DuckDB connections offer local and sandboxed security policies that disable network access; sandboxed mode also restricts file access to allowed directories. | Enterprise provides row- and column-level RBAC or ABAC, masking, column encryption, unified auditing and integrations with Ranger, Vault, Okta and LDAP. |
| Support | Malloy directs users to its Slack community to share work, ask questions, and provide feedback, and to its GitHub project for bugs and ideas. | Enterprise support tiers range from five portal tickets monthly to unlimited tickets and dedicated experts; Sev-1 response targets range from one hour to 30 minutes. |
Plans
Starburst Enterprise Context Layer
- FreeFree
- ProPriced on request
- Pro$0.50 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
- Enterprise$0.75 a month
- Mission-CriticalPriced on request
- Mission-Critical$1 a month
In their own words
Malloy
Malloy is an open source language for describing data relationships and transformations. Users can define reusable calculations, table relationships and business logic in semantic models, then compile queries into SQL optimized for the connected database. The language supports nested datasets and automatically guards against common errors in sums, averages and counts. Supported databases include DuckDB, MotherDuck, BigQuery, Databricks, Snowflake, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Trino and Presto. DuckDB can read Parquet, CSV and JSON files without additional setup. Malloy offers a Visual Studio Code extension for modeling, querying, transformation and visualization, plus a browser notebook through github.dev that requires a GitHub sign-in. Its Python package loads models, compiles queries and runs statements with DuckDB and BigQuery. The CLI can run Malloy files, build persistent tables and automate transformations and pipelines. The project is free and open source, with web, editor extension, API and self-hosted options, among others. DuckDB connections can disable network access; sandboxed mode also limits file access to allowed directories.
Starburst Enterprise Context Layer
Starburst Enterprise Context Layer turns scattered data into governed, versioned Data Products. Each product combines a dataset with business definitions, ownership, access policies, and lineage, and appears in a shared catalog. Controls include role-based access, column masking, and row-level security. Teams can define products in YAML, commit them to git, test changes before merging, and roll back; breaking changes are reviewed before rollout. Automated CI/CD lineage checks verify upstream freshness before a new version is published. A semantic layer turns raw data into business-ready metrics, dimensions, and relationships for BI tools and AI agents. Products can be consumed through JDBC or REST, and the platform connects to more than 50 sources, including Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake, Hive, Amazon S3, Snowflake, and PostgreSQL. It runs in private cloud, hybrid, or on-premises environments and is air-gap ready. The free plan is free. Pro costs what you agree with the maker, billed /credit; Enterprise costs what you agree with the maker, billed /credit; Mission-Critical costs what you agree with the maker, billed /credit.