Google BigQuery vs Trino

Updated November 2026 · AppBreakup editorial

Google BigQuery

Google Cloud's serverless data warehouse for SQL analytics, billed per query or by capacity.

Free plan + paid

Visit Google BigQuery Google BigQuery profile

Trino

Open-source distributed SQL engine for querying data lakes and many databases in one query.

Open sourceSelf-hostable

Visit Trino Trino profile

The short answer

Google BigQuery is a serverless, managed data warehouse on Google Cloud, billed by data scanned or by capacity. Trino is a free, open-source SQL engine that queries data where it already lives, across lakes and databases, on clusters you run yourself. Choose BigQuery for zero operations on Google Cloud; choose Trino for federated queries across many sources and freedom from any one cloud.

Google BigQuery or Trino: our take

BigQuery stores and queries data in one managed service. Teams load data or point it at files in cloud storage, run standard SQL, and Google allocates compute with no clusters to size. It includes BigQuery ML for training models in SQL, geospatial functions, streaming inserts, and BigQuery Omni for querying data on AWS or Azure. Trino, formerly PrestoSQL, doesn't store data. It queries object storage using Hive, Iceberg and Delta Lake tables, plus relational databases, Cassandra, Kafka and other sources through connectors, and a single ANSI SQL query can join across several of them. It works with BI tools such as Tableau, Power BI and Superset.

Cost and operations pull in opposite directions. BigQuery has a free allowance of the first 1 TiB of queries and first 10 GiB of storage each month, then on-demand pricing from $6.25 per TiB scanned, or capacity pricing for predictable spend. Careless queries over wide tables can cost more than expected. Trino is free under the Apache 2.0 licence, but running a cluster well takes tuning and operations skills, and the project offers no official managed service; managed versions come from vendors such as Starburst, and Amazon Athena is built on it.

Lock-in is the other difference. BigQuery only runs on Google Cloud, with no self-hosted version. Trino runs on premises or in any cloud and is governed by the non-profit Trino Software Foundation. Trino is not a transactional database or a storage layer, so it usually sits alongside a data lake.

BigQuery fits teams on Google Cloud or with GA4 exports who want a warehouse without servers. Trino fits data teams with data spread across lakes and databases who want to query it in place and can operate their own clusters.

Choose Google BigQuery if…

Teams on Google Cloud or GA4 who want a warehouse with no servers to manage
You need Web, which Trino doesn't list
Fully serverless, with nothing to size or keep running
Monthly free query and storage allowance for small projects

Choose Trino if…

Data teams that want fast SQL over a data lake and other databases without copying data into a warehouse.
You want open-source software
You need to host it on your own servers
You need Self-hosted and Linux, which Google BigQuery doesn't list
Queries data in place across lakes, databases and NoSQL stores

What is Google BigQuery?

BigQuery is Google Cloud's serverless data warehouse. There are no clusters or instances to set up: you load data or point it at files in cloud storage and run standard SQL, and Google allocates compute behind the scenes. It suits teams already on Google Cloud, marketers working with Google Analytics 4 exports, and anyone who wants a warehouse without operations work. It includes built-in machine learning in SQL (BigQuery ML), geospatial functions, streaming inserts, and BigQuery Omni for querying data held on AWS or Azure. Pricing has two compute models: on-demand, where you pay for the bytes each query scans with the first chunk each month free, and capacity pricing for predictable spend; storage is billed separately with a small free allowance. It only runs on Google Cloud, and careless queries over wide tables can scan a lot of data and cost more than expected.

What is Trino?

Trino is an open-source, distributed SQL query engine for analytics over large data sets. Formerly called PrestoSQL, it was created by the original Presto developers and is now run by the non-profit Trino Software Foundation. Rather than storing data itself, Trino queries data where it lives: object storage such as S3 and HDFS with table formats like Hive, Iceberg and Delta Lake, plus relational databases, Cassandra, Kafka and other sources through connectors. A single query can join data across several of these systems. It speaks ANSI SQL and works with BI tools such as Tableau, Power BI and Superset. Data teams run it on their own clusters, on premises or in any cloud, for interactive dashboards, ad-hoc analysis and batch ETL. Trino is free under the Apache 2.0 licence; managed versions are sold by companies such as Starburst, and Amazon Athena is built on it. It is not a transactional database, and running a cluster well takes real operations work.

Side by side

Attribute	Google BigQuery	Trino
Pricing	Free plan + paid	Open source
Open source	No	Yes
Self-hostable	No	Yes
Platforms	Web	Self-hosted, Linux
Best for	Teams on Google Cloud or GA4 who want a warehouse with no servers to manage	Data teams that want fast SQL over a data lake and other databases without copying data into a warehouse.
Status	Active	Active