---
title: Apache Drill Reviews
meta_title: 'Apache Drill Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2'
meta_description: Filter 14 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to
  find out how Apache Drill works for a business like yours.
aggregate_rating:
  rating_value: 4.2
  review_count: 14
  scale: '5'
date_modified: '2026-08-07'
parent_category:
  name: Database Software
  url: https://www.g2.com/categories/database-software
---


# Apache Drill Reviews
**Vendor:** The Apache Software Foundation  
**Category:** [Database Management Systems (DBMS)](https://www.g2.com/categories/database-management-systems-dbms)  
**Average Rating:** 4.2/5.0  
**Total Reviews:** 14
## About Apache Drill
Apache Drill is an open-source software framework that supports data-intensive distributed applications for interactive analysis of large-scale datasets.




## Apache Drill Reviews
  ### 1. Access multiple datasource with configuration and without burden of learning multiple DB queries

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Vishal A. | Senior Software Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** June 27, 2021

**What do you like best about Apache Drill?**

I can use SQL with RDBMS and non RDBMS databases without the need to learn no SQL queries.

**What do you dislike about Apache Drill?**

Garbage collector needs to be improved faced issues while fetching big datasets. It can only read data in certain formats.  Vice and versa file conversion support without any overhead would be great to have.

**What problems is Apache Drill solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Validating data migration between various datasource like Oracle, mongo and elasticsearch.

  ### 2. Apache Drill - An Open Source SQL Query Tool

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 12, 2021

**What do you like best about Apache Drill?**

Apache Drill's best feature is that it is open source means free of cost, easy to install tool. You can query a large amount of data from any source by just enabling the plugins.

**What do you dislike about Apache Drill?**

The feature I dislike is that we can only query things using view, select statements. We cannot create databases, tables using Apache Drill.

**What problems is Apache Drill solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We used Apache Drill for querying the Parquet files residing in Hadoop Ecosystem that is HDFS.

  ### 3. Apache Drill Review

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** June 22, 2021

**What do you like best about Apache Drill?**

Easy to use, developer friendly, Schema Free, code reusability

**What do you dislike about Apache Drill?**

It cannot read XML, No hierarchical query support, Not much aggregate function

**What problems is Apache Drill solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Apache Drill is helping us to get insights on customer buying pattern & behaviour which helps us positioning right products & services to our customers. 
Benefits - Apache Drill has significantly reduced the investment towards big data analytics.
It's flexible data model has helped to query any type of data from almost any type of source.

  ### 4. Apache Drill-A query tool

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** June 23, 2021

**What do you like best about Apache Drill?**

It is easy to query a tool using apache drill, easy installation,open source tool having an interactive GUI.

**What do you dislike about Apache Drill?**

In Apache Drill , we can't create any database ,just can use select query .And it hangs showing us petabytes or terabytes of data.

**What problems is Apache Drill solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We used apache drill for our open source project in hadoop, easily configured the plugins for parquet files .

  ### 5. Great product

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** June 27, 2021

**What do you like best about Apache Drill?**

We can query many different data stores , which are completely different.
Like RDBMS And No sql

**What do you dislike about Apache Drill?**

Connections are little harder but not impossible

**What problems is Apache Drill solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Our data is in multiple stores like oracle, mongo etc..
We want pull it one go and we did it

  ### 6. fast and easy way to use

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** November 22, 2019

**What do you like best about Apache Drill?**

The use of basic SQL on serialized files such as parquet and very easy to play around in a distributed cluster.(cloud-based)

**What do you dislike about Apache Drill?**

It works on all the files, however, for serialized it works faster on .parquet extension files.

**Recommendations to others considering Apache Drill:**

I think the documentation of Apache Drill is one of the best documents for those who want are SQL beginners as well as new to Apache Drill set-up. Even on standalone system you can very well set-up and use the features of database query and data manipulation. 
I highly recommend going through their documentation which provides an explanation of even in which scenario the drill queries will perform faster operations and why?

**What problems is Apache Drill solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I work to extract insights for various empirical analyses from the stored files on the Hadoop cluster.


## Apache Drill Discussions
  - [Is Apache drill a database?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-apache-drill-a-database)
  - [What is Apache Drill vs spark?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-apache-drill-vs-spark)
  - [How does an Apache drill work?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-does-an-apache-drill-work)
  - [What is Apache drill used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-apache-drill-used-for)
  - [What are the competitive advantages vs Presto ?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-the-competitive-advantages-vs-presto) - 1 upvote

- [View Apache Drill pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-drill/reviews?filters%5Bnps_score%5D%5B%5D=5&section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-09+23%3A44%3A36+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=0f6367f3-2694-4a60-a52a-daaa5b593e5b&secure%5Btoken%5D=619d107088186218c4f018f9909715aff97f7c283987359c3197b4f49ad5cacd&format=llm_user)

## Apache Drill Features
**Management**
- Data dictionary
- Data Replication
- Query Language
- Data Modeling
- Performance Analysis
- Data Synchronization
- Real-Time Data
- Data Storage Management

**Data Management**
- Data Model
- Data Types
- Built - In Search
- Event Triggers
- Semantic Search

**Agentic AI - AWS Marketplace**
- Autonomous Task Execution
- Multi-step Planning
- Cross-system Integration

**Maintenance**
- Data Migration
- Backup and Recovery
- Multi-User Environment
- Automatic Backup
- Database Conversion

**Availability**
- Auto Sharding
- Auto Recovery
- Data Replication
- Backup and Recovery
- Real-Time Data

**Security**
- Data Encryption
- User Access Control
- Mobile Access

**Performance**
- Query Optimization
- Ad hoc Query

**Additional Functionality**
- Workflow Management
- Third-Party Integrations
- Data Extraction
- Relational Database Management
- SSL Security
- API
- Data Connectors
- Search/Filter
- Reporting & Statistics
- Customizable Templates
- AI Copilot
- Full Text Search
- Data Virtualization
- Data Import/Export
- Generative AI
- Drag & Drop
- Customizable Fields
- Authentication
- Data Visualization
- Secure Data Storage
- Activity Dashboard
- Data Mapping
- Multiple Programming Languages Supported
- Data Capture and Transfer
- User Management
- NOSQL Database Management
- Access Controls/Permissions
- Calendar Management
- Real-Time Monitoring
- Document Storage
- Audit Management
- Charting

**Security**
- Role-Based Authorization
- Authentication
- Audit Logs
- Encryption

**Support**
- Multi-Model
- Operating Systems
- BI Connectors
- Data Connectors

**Additional Functionality**
- Database Conversion
- Monitoring
- Activity Dashboard
- Data Extraction
- Reporting/Analytics
- Automatic Backup
- Real-Time Monitoring
- Audit Management
- Data Visualization
- Ad hoc Reporting
- Compliance Management
- Indexing
- Search/Filter
- Alerts/Notifications
- Data Verification
- Performance Testing
- Data Capture and Transfer
- Security Auditing
- Access Controls/Permissions
- Role-Based Permissions
- Data Mapping
- Data Retrieval
- AI Copilot
- Third-Party Integrations
- Generative AI
- Configuration Management
- Audit Trail
- For NoSQL Databases
- Data Import/Export
- Data Migration
- Data Synchronization
- API
- Serverless Accessibility
- Multiple Data Sources

**Database Features**
- Storage
- Availability
- Stability
- Scalability
- Security
- Data Manipulation
- Query Language

## Top Apache Drill Alternatives
  - [Microsoft SQL Server](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-sql-server/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (2,128 reviews)
  - [Snowflake](https://www.g2.com/products/snowflake/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (714 reviews)
  - [Amazon DynamoDB](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-web-services-aws-amazon-dynamodb/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (498 reviews)

