--- title: "Amazon Athena vs Trino: Which is Better in 2026? | App Stack Builder" description: "Amazon Athena vs Trino compared for 2026: pricing, free tiers, features, pros & cons. See which distributed sql query engines tool is the better fit for your startup." source: https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/amazon-athena-vs-trino retrieved: 2026-11-10 --- ![](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=aws.amazon.com&sz=128) vs ![](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=trino.io&sz=128) # Amazon Athena vs Trino: Which is Better in 2026? Distributed SQL Query Engines [Amazon Athena](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/amazon-athena) and [Trino](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/trino) are both Distributed SQL Query Engines tools, made for different people. Amazon Athena is for teams on AWS that want to run SQL on files in S3 occasionally or on a schedule, with nothing to manage. Trino is for data platform teams that want free, federated SQL across lakes and databases and can run a cluster. Quick verdict There’s no single winner; pick on your constraint. Choose Amazon Athena if your data is already in S3 and you want SQL on it today. Choose Trino if you want to query several data stores with one SQL engine. ## Amazon Athena vs Trino: Side by Side | | Amazon Athena | Trino | | -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Category | Distributed SQL Query Engines | Distributed SQL Query Engines | | What it is | Serverless SQL on S3 (AWS) | Open-source distributed SQL engine | | Licence | Managed AWS service | Apache 2.0 | | How you pay | $5 per TB scanned | Free; you pay for the servers | | Where it runs | AWS | Your infrastructure | | Managed option | Fully managed | Starburst Galaxy and Enterprise | | Pricing | From $0.3/mo | Free | | Starting price | From $0.3/mo | Free tier available | | Free tier | — | ✓ | | Rating | 4.4 | 4.6 | | Best for | Distributed SQL Query Engines: serverless, S3, pay per scan | Distributed SQL Query Engines: federated SQL, open source, data lakes | Ratings are App Stack Builder’s editorial score out of 5, not an average of user reviews. ## Pros & Cons ![](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=aws.amazon.com&sz=128) [Amazon Athena](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/amazon-athena) * ✓Nothing to provision * ✓Pay only for data scanned * ✓Works on existing S3 data * ✓Spark option on the same service * ✗Scanning uncompressed data gets expensive * ✗AWS only * ✗Less control over performance than your own cluster ![](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=trino.io&sz=128) [Trino](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/trino) * ✓Free and vendor-neutral * ✓Joins across many data sources * ✓Large connector set * ✓Active foundation * ✗You run and size the cluster * ✗Memory-hungry on big joins * ✗No storage of its own ## Key Features Compared ### Amazon Athena * ✓SQL queries: $5 per TB scanned * ✓Federated queries on non-S3 sources: rounded up per MB, 10 MB minimum * ✓Capacity Reservations: $0.30 per DPU-hour * ✓Athena for Apache Spark: $0.35 per DPU-hour ### Trino * ✓Apache 2.0, run by the non-profit Trino Software Foundation * ✓Queries Hadoop, S3, Cassandra, MySQL and many other sources in place * ✓Joins across sources in one query * ✓Managed versions from Starburst, founded by Trino’s creators ### Choose Amazon Athena if… * ✓Your data is already in S3 and you want SQL on it today. * ✓Your query volume is irregular, so paying per TB scanned beats a running cluster. * ✓You don’t want to operate any servers. [Amazon Athena review & pricing ](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/amazon-athena) ### Choose Trino if… * ✓You want to start free. Trino has a free tier and Amazon Athena does not. * ✓You want to query several data stores with one SQL engine. * ✓You want no licence fee and a neutral foundation behind the project. * ✓Your team can operate a coordinator and workers. [Trino review & pricing ](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/trino) ## Frequently Asked Questions Is Amazon Athena better than Trino?⌄ There’s no single winner; pick on your constraint. Choose Amazon Athena if your data is already in S3 and you want SQL on it today. Choose Trino if you want to query several data stores with one SQL engine. What is the difference between Amazon Athena and Trino?⌄ What it is. Amazon Athena: Serverless SQL on S3 (AWS). Trino: Open-source distributed SQL engine. Licence. Amazon Athena: Managed AWS service. Trino: Apache 2.0\. How you pay. Amazon Athena: $5 per TB scanned. Trino: Free; you pay for the servers. Where it runs. Amazon Athena: AWS. Trino: Your infrastructure. Managed option. Amazon Athena: Fully managed. Trino: Starburst Galaxy and Enterprise. Amazon Athena vs Trino: which is cheaper?⌄ Amazon Athena pricing: From $0.3/mo. Trino pricing: Free. Confirm current pricing on each tool's official site, as plans change. Which is rated higher, Amazon Athena or Trino?⌄ On our editorial score, Amazon Athena is 4.4 out of 5 and Trino is 4.6 out of 5, so Trino is slightly ahead. This is our own score, not an average of user reviews. When should I skip both Amazon Athena and Trino?⌄ Skip Amazon Athena if you query across clouds or on-prem sources. Trino or Starburst connect to more places. Skip Trino if you don’t want to run a cluster. Amazon Athena is serverless, and Starburst manages Trino for you. Sources · tool facts checked November 2026 1. 1.[Amazon Athena pricingaws.amazon.com ](https://aws.amazon.com/athena/pricing/) 2. 2.[Trinotrino.io ](https://trino.io/) See more options in our guide to the [best distributed sql query engines tools for startups](https://appstackbuilder.com/categories/query-engine). ## Still not sure which to pick? Get a free, AI-powered tech stack, including the best distributed sql query engines pick for your budget and team, in 60 seconds. [Build my stack free ](https://appstackbuilder.com/build-stack)