Starburst
Starburst enables enterprises to query all data where it lives via SQL.
Starburst provides an enterprise-ready SQL query engine built on the open-source Trino project, enabling organizations to query data across multiple sources without moving or consolidating it. The platform decouples compute from storage, supporting on-premises, hybrid, cloud, and multi-cloud deployments through Starburst Enterprise, or cloud-only querying via their SaaS offering Starburst Galaxy. Trusted by enterprises like Comcast, Grubhub, and Priceline, Starburst differentiates with advanced security features, enterprise support, and optimizations that open-source Trino users must build themselves.
Problem solved
Organizations waste resources moving data between systems to analyze it, when they could query data efficiently across multiple sources from a single access point.
Target customer
Enterprise data teams and analytics organizations with distributed data sources across multiple platforms (Hadoop, Snowflake, MySQL, proprietary stores) requiring unified query access without data movement.
Founders
J
Justin Borgman
Founder & CEO
Former VP & GM at Teradata leading Hadoop products; co-founder and CEO of Hadapt (acquired by Teradata in 2014).
M
Matthew Fuller
Co-Founder
Database expert and co-founder of Starburst; currently serves as primary contact for the organization.
K
Kamil Bajda-Pawlikowski
Co-Founder
Database expert and co-founder of Starburst.
M
Martin Traverso
Founding Engineer (Presto Creator)
Original creator of Presto project at Facebook; joined Starburst in October 2019.
D
Dain Sundstrom
Founding Engineer (Presto Creator)
Original creator of Presto project at Facebook; joined Starburst in October 2019.
D
David Phillips
Founding Engineer (Presto Creator)
Original creator of Presto project at Facebook; joined Starburst in October 2019.
Funding history
Series A
$22M
November 2019
Led by Index Ventures
· Unknown
Series B
$42M
June 2020
Led by Coatue
· Index Ventures
Series C
Unknown
January 2021
Led by Andreessen Horowitz
· Salesforce Ventures, Coatue, Index Ventures
Series D
$250M
February 2022
Led by Alkeon Capital
· Altimeter, B Capital Group, Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue Management, Index Ventures, Salesforce Ventures
Series D (Additional)
Undisclosed
May 2025
Led by Citi Impact Fund
· Existing investors
Total raised:
$414M
Industries
Pricing
Enterprise-based pricing not publicly disclosed. Starburst Enterprise (self-managed) and Starburst Galaxy (SaaS) offered as separate product tiers. Likely based on deployment type, compute resources, or query volume.
Notable customers
Comcast, Grubhub, Priceline, Zalando, FINRA, Checkatrade, Thinksurance, Sky, Resilience
Integrations
Hive, Snowflake, MySQL, Presto (open-source), Hadoop, proprietary data stores
Website
Competitors
Dremio
Dremio focuses on self-service analytics and data discovery; Starburst emphasizes enterprise-grade query performance across diverse sources.
Databricks
Databricks centers on unified data and AI lakehouse; Starburst specializes in federated SQL querying without data consolidation.
Snowflake
Snowflake is a cloud data warehouse requiring data movement; Starburst queries data in place across multiple sources including Snowflake itself.
AtScale
AtScale provides semantic layer and analytics abstraction; Starburst focuses on distributed SQL query execution across heterogeneous sources.
Why this matters: Starburst achieved unicorn status in just 4 years (2017-2021) by building the commercial enterprise version of Facebook's open-source Presto project, backed by top-tier VCs including Andreessen Horowitz and Alkeon Capital. The company solves a critical enterprise problem—eliminating expensive data movement—while maintaining ties to its open-source roots, making it a compelling play in the increasingly important federated data access market.
Best for: Enterprise data teams with distributed data across multiple platforms who need fast, unified SQL access without building complex ETL pipelines or moving data.
Use cases
Unified Data Access Across Multiple Sources
Organizations with data in Snowflake, Hadoop, MySQL, and proprietary systems can query all sources through a single SQL interface. Instead of building ETL pipelines or connecting to each system individually, analysts run one query that federates across all platforms, cutting query time from months to minutes.
Cost Reduction Through Query-in-Place
Companies like Thinksurance achieved 80% faster queries and 20% lower costs by querying data where it lives rather than consolidating it. This eliminates expensive data movement, duplication, and storage overhead while improving performance and freshness of analytics.
Democratizing Data Access
Checkatrade enabled 35% of its workforce to self-serve analytics while reducing processing time by 60%. Starburst's unified interface allows non-technical users to access insights directly without requesting data exports or waiting for data pipeline schedules.
Alternatives
Trino (Open Source)
Free and open-source but requires in-house implementation of security, support, and optimizations that Starburst provides out-of-the-box for enterprises.
Snowflake
Cloud data warehouse requiring data consolidation; better if you want to move all data to a single source and need native cloud-first features.
Databricks
Unified lakehouse platform stronger for AI/ML and big data processing; better if you need distributed computing and machine learning alongside analytics.
FAQ
What does Starburst do? +
Starburst is an enterprise SQL query engine that lets you query data across multiple sources (Snowflake, Hadoop, MySQL, etc.) without moving or consolidating it. Built on Presto, it decouples compute from storage and provides managed enterprise features like security, support, and performance optimizations. Available as self-managed Starburst Enterprise or cloud SaaS Starburst Galaxy.
How much does Starburst cost? +
Starburst does not publish pricing publicly. Pricing is enterprise-based and likely depends on deployment type (self-managed vs. SaaS), compute resources, query volume, or cluster size. Contact their sales team for custom quotes.
What are alternatives to Starburst? +
Trino (open-source alternative with no enterprise support), Snowflake (cloud data warehouse with data consolidation), Databricks (unified lakehouse for data and AI), and Dremio (self-service analytics platform).
Who uses Starburst? +
Enterprise data teams and analytics organizations. Notable customers include Comcast, Grubhub, Priceline, Zalando, FINRA, Checkatrade, Thinksurance, Sky, and Resilience. Typical users are companies with distributed data across multiple platforms needing unified query access.
How does Starburst compare to Snowflake? +
Snowflake is a cloud data warehouse that requires consolidating data into a single system; Starburst queries data where it lives across heterogeneous sources without movement. Starburst is better for avoiding data duplication and ETL costs, while Snowflake is better for centralized analytics on large consolidated datasets.
What is the difference between Starburst Enterprise and Galaxy? +
Starburst Enterprise is self-managed and supports on-premises, hybrid, cloud, and multi-cloud deployments. Starburst Galaxy is a managed SaaS offering limited to cloud data sources. Choose Enterprise for on-prem or complex hybrid setups; Galaxy for cloud-only deployments wanting managed service.
Tags
SQL query engine
distributed query
data federation
analytics
MPP
Presto
enterprise data
open source
cloud data
query optimization