Starburst Galaxy

Freemium#2 of 24 in Data Federation SoftwareData Virtualization SoftwareData Lakehouse PlatformsAi Data Platforms+3 more

Starburst Galaxy: A cloud-native federation platform with a free tier and usage-based paid plans. Ranked #2 of 24 in Data Federation Software by our editors (9.1/10); pricing: Free plan · 30-day trial; best for cloud-native federation with a free starting tier.

9.1/10★★★★★Editor score

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At a glance

• Editor score
  9.1 / 10
• Pricing
  Free plan · 30-day trial
• Best for
  Cloud-native federation with a free starting tier
• Free plan
  Yes
• Paid from
  $0.50/unit usage-based
• Founded
  2017 · Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Facts checked
  20 Sep 2026

• Where it wins

  • Federates SQL queries across lakes, warehouses, databases, and streaming systems
  • Supports Iceberg tables, snapshots, time travel, and Kafka streaming ingestion
  • Includes governance controls, APIs, autoscaling, and optional AI capabilities

• Where it doesn't

  • Paid usage is priced per compute credit rather than a fixed plan fee
  • Advanced governance and execution features require paid tiers
  • Not open source; access is provided through web and API interfaces

Our verdict on Starburst Galaxy

Starburst Galaxy is a fully managed cloud data lake analytics platform built on Trino. It is designed for data teams and enterprises that need SQL access across object storage, data warehouses, relational databases, and streaming systems without copying data between systems. Catalog-based connections support sources including Amazon S3, Azure Data Lake Storage, Google Cloud Storage, Snowflake, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, and Kafka. The platform also supports Tableau, Salesforce, Apache Polaris, and Unity Catalog integrations.

Pricing starts with a Free plan available forever, supporting up to 3 clusters and standard cluster execution for ad hoc queries. Pro costs $0.50 per credit and adds flexible cluster execution modes, Streaming Ingest, and advanced cluster management. Enterprise costs $0.75 per credit and adds advanced autoscaling, fine-grained access controls, AWS PrivateLink for data sources, and AIDA, with token usage billed separately. Mission-Critical costs $1 per credit and adds elite support and ticketing, advanced governance integrations, lakehouse security and compliance tools, highest uptime guarantees, and AIDA with token usage billed separately. A 30-day trial downgrades to the Free tier afterward.

Galaxy’s strongest fit is for teams combining federation, lakehouse analytics, and governance in one managed service. Iceberg support covers table creation, querying, snapshots, and time travel, while Kafka can stream data into managed Iceberg tables. Catalog exploration, universal search, schema discovery, and data products support data discovery, and role-based or attribute-based controls include row filters and column masking. SAML SSO, SCIM provisioning, a REST API, autoscaling, multiple execution modes, and AI data capabilities extend the platform beyond query federation. Choose it for connected cloud analytics with a free entry point; consider an alternative if open-source deployment or fixed subscription pricing is a priority.

Your product? Our editors can test Starburst Galaxy in depth and publish a review, labelled as paid · from $149/mo →

Starburst Galaxy pricing

All 4 Starburst Galaxy plans and prices →

Starburst Galaxy fact sheet

Starburst Galaxy integrations

Starburst Galaxy lists 50+ integrations on its own site — the 14 named here are the ones its pages call out.

• Amazon S3
• Azure Data Lake Storage
• Google Cloud Storage
• Snowflake
• Amazon Redshift
• Google BigQuery
• PostgreSQL
• MySQL
• MongoDB
• Kafka
• Tableau
• Salesforce
• Apache Polaris
• Unity Catalog

See all Starburst Galaxy integrations →

Alternatives to Starburst Galaxy

• DPDenodo PlatformA governed data federation layer with broad access methods, security controls, and enterprise scale.9.3
• DremioA broad federation and lakehouse platform with free, managed-cloud, and self-managed options.8.8
• TrinoA flexible SQL engine for querying and joining data across multiple systems.8.6

See all Starburst Galaxy alternatives →

Starburst Galaxy vs the competition

• DPStarburst Galaxy vs Denodo Platform
• Starburst Galaxy vs Trino
• Starburst Galaxy vs Querona
• Starburst Galaxy vs Stardog
• Starburst Galaxy vs SAS Federation Server
• Starburst Galaxy vs IBM Data Virtualization

Compare Starburst Galaxy with any tool side by side →

Featured on iTechGuides

Starburst Galaxy is listed in our Data Federation Software directory. Add the badge to your site — it links back to this page.

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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

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Last updated 7 Oct 2026 · How we research and update