Real-time OLAP databases · Apache Software Foundation

Apache Pinot

Open-source distributed OLAP database built by LinkedIn for low-latency analytics serving at high query volume.

Visit Apache Pinot Alternatives

Apache Pinot is an open-source real-time distributed OLAP database originally built at LinkedIn to power user-facing analytics features at very high query concurrency and low, predictable latency. It ingests from streaming sources like Kafka as well as batch sources such as S3 or HDFS, and organizes data into segments with pluggable indexes (inverted, sorted, star-tree) chosen per column to speed specific query patterns. Pinot is designed for applications that expose analytics directly to end users or embed them in products, where thousands of queries per second at millisecond latency matter more than deep ad hoc exploration. It runs self-hosted across controller, broker and server components, requiring operational investment similar to Druid; a fully managed version is offered commercially by StarTree. It supports SQL via its query layer and integrates with common BI and visualization tools.

At a glance

Vendor Apache Software Foundation
Pricing model Open source + paid options
Free tier Yes
Deployment Self-hosted
Open source Yes (Apache-2.0)
Best for Teams embedding low-latency, high-concurrency analytics directly into customer-facing products.

Pricing

Free and open source under the Apache Software Foundation; commercial managed hosting is available separately through StarTree.

Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site.

Features

  • Real-time and batch ingestion (Kafka, S3, HDFS)
  • Per-column pluggable indexing (inverted, sorted, star-tree)
  • Millisecond query latency at high concurrency
  • SQL query interface
  • Upsert support for mutable data
  • Horizontal scaling of controller/broker/server tiers
  • Anomaly detection via ThirdEye integration

Integrations

Profile last reviewed September 21, 2026

Head to head

Alternatives

StarTree Fully managed cloud service for Apache Pinot, built by Pinot's original creators. Apache Druid Open-source real-time analytics database that ingests streaming and batch data for interactive dashboards. Imply Managed and self-hosted Apache Druid platform built by Druid's original creators. ClickHouse Open-source columnar database built for sub-second aggregate queries over billions of rows.

Apache Pinot in the index now

Terms to know

OLAP (online analytical processing) A category of technology optimized for fast, multi-dimensional aggregation and slicing of data for analysis. Data pipeline The automated sequence of steps that moves data from source systems to a destination, transforming it along the way. Anomaly detection Identifying data points or patterns that deviate significantly from expected or normal behavior. Real-time OLAP An analytical database that ingests streaming data continuously and answers aggregation queries with sub-second latency.

Related guides

How to choose a real-time OLAP database Real-time OLAP databases trade operational complexity for speed on fresh data — the decisions are architecture, query concurrency, and who runs it.