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Databases · head to head

Presto vs Seldon

Presto logo

Presto

Databases

The Meta-lineage distributed SQL query engine, distinct from the Trino fork

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Seldon logo

Seldon

Machine Learning

Kubernetes model serving whose current version is licensed under the Business Source Licence

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Presto the original creators and most of the active contributor base left for Trino in 2020, so Presto has the smaller community, fewer connectors and slower feature delivery of the two branches.; Seldon seldon Core v2 is under the Business Source Licence rather than Apache 2.0, so production use requires a commercial agreement, and a team that evaluated it believing it was open source discovers the licence is the blocker exactly when the project is ready to ship.
  • They diverge on capability: Presto covers Federated querying, Seldon covers Kubernetes custom resources.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Presto and Seldon actually diverge.

Attributes where Presto and Seldon differ
AttributePrestoSeldon
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feefreemium
PlatformsLinux, Docker, KubernetesLinux
CategoryDatabasesMachine Learning
FoundedUnknown2014

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Presto

  • Federated querying
  • In-memory execution
  • Open table format support
  • Presto C++ workers
  • ANSI SQL
  • Pluggable connectors

Only in Seldon

  • Kubernetes custom resources
  • Inference graphs
  • Traffic strategies
  • Open Inference Protocol
  • Alibi Explain
  • Alibi Detect
  • Kafka-backed pipelines in v2
  • Commercial control plane

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Presto

  • An existing PrestoDB estate that needs continued upgrades rather than a migration to Trinonot Seldon
  • A team buying IBM watsonx.data, where Presto is the underlying query enginenot Seldon
  • Joining a Hive or Iceberg lake to an operational PostgreSQL database in one query without an ETL stepnot Seldon
  • Very large scale interactive SQL where the Meta-tested branch is a specific requirementnot Seldon

Seldon

  • Serving an ensemble or a multi-stage inference path as one versioned deployment rather than as a chain of separate servicesnot Presto
  • Running genuine production experiments where a share of live traffic goes to a candidate model and the results are comparednot Presto
  • Regulated environments needing explanations and drift monitoring attached to the served model rather than bolted on laternot Presto
  • Organisations with an established Kubernetes platform team who want serving expressed as manifests under existing deployment controlsnot Presto

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Presto

  • The original creators and most of the active contributor base left for Trino in 2020, so Presto has the smaller community, fewer connectors and slower feature delivery of the two branches.
  • Documentation, tutorials and Stack Overflow answers for the two projects are frequently mixed up, and a solution written for Trino often does not apply, which costs real debugging time.
  • It is a query engine with no storage of its own, so query performance is dictated by your file layout, partitioning and statistics, and a badly organised lake makes Presto look slow.
  • Memory-bound execution means a single large join can fail the whole query rather than spilling gracefully, and tuning cluster memory settings is a persistent operational chore.
  • Commercial support has consolidated into IBM since the Ahana acquisition, so the independent vendor market that once existed around Presto is largely gone.

Seldon

  • Seldon Core v2 is under the Business Source Licence rather than Apache 2.0, so production use requires a commercial agreement, and a team that evaluated it believing it was open source discovers the licence is the blocker exactly when the project is ready to ship.
  • Core v1 remains Apache 2.0 but is in maintenance, so taking the free route means running software that receives no new development while the architecture it belongs to moves on without it.
  • Version 2 is a different system rather than a newer release, with different custom resources, a scheduler component and a Kafka-based pipeline model, so migrating from v1 is a re-implementation of every deployment manifest rather than an upgrade.
  • Kafka is a dependency for v2 pipelines, so an organisation that does not already operate it takes on a distributed log with its own storage, retention, rebalancing and failure modes purely in order to serve models.
  • Everything assumes Kubernetes fluency and the failure modes are Kubernetes failure modes, custom resource version mismatches, an operator that will not reconcile, admission webhooks and resource limits terminating an inference pod mid-request, so it needs a platform engineer rather than a data scientist.

Pricing, plan by plan

Presto

Free
  • PrestoFree
    • Apache 2.0 licence
    • Presto Foundation governance under the Linux Foundation
    • No node or query limits

Seldon

Free
  • Seldon CoreFree
    • Open source
    • Kubernetes deployment
    • Model serving
  • Seldon DeployFree
    • Enterprise features
    • GUI
    • Monitoring

Which should you pick?

Choose Presto if

  • You need federated querying.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want in-memory execution.
Presto review

Choose Seldon if

  • You need kubernetes custom resources.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux.
  • You also want inference graphs.
Seldon review

Questions people ask

Is Presto or Seldon better?
Neither clearly leads. Presto starts at Free and Seldon at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Presto or Seldon?
Presto starts at Free and Seldon at Free.
Does Presto or Seldon run on more platforms?
Presto runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. Seldon runs on Linux.
Can I use Presto for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Presto best used for?
Presto is most often used for an existing prestodb estate that needs continued upgrades rather than a migration to trino, a team buying ibm watsonx.data, where presto is the underlying query engine, joining a hive or iceberg lake to an operational postgresql database in one query without an etl step, very large scale interactive sql where the meta-tested branch is a specific requirement. Of those, an existing prestodb estate that needs continued upgrades rather than a migration to trino and a team buying ibm watsonx.data, where presto is the underlying query engine are not what Seldon is typically brought in for.
What can Presto do that Seldon cannot?
Presto covers Federated querying, In-memory execution, Open table format support, Presto C++ workers. Seldon covers Kubernetes custom resources, Inference graphs, Traffic strategies, Open Inference Protocol.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Presto: Is this Presto or Trino?

This is PrestoDB, the branch that stayed at Facebook and moved to the Linux Foundation. Trino is the 2020 fork by the original creators.

Seldon: Is Seldon open source?

Partly, and this is the thing to check before you build on it. Core v1 is Apache 2.0 but in maintenance. Core v2 was moved to the Business Source Licence in 2024, which allows evaluation but not unlicensed production use. Verify the current licence of each component you intend to run, including MLServer and the Alibi libraries.

Presto: Which should I choose for a new project?

Trino, in most cases. It has the larger community, more connectors and more commercial options.

Seldon: What is the difference between v1 and v2?

Architecture, not just version number. v2 introduces a scheduler, a different set of custom resources and Kafka-backed pipelines. Manifests, mental model and operations all change, so treat a move as a project.

Presto: Who maintains Presto now?

Principally Meta, Uber and IBM, which acquired the Presto vendor Ahana in 2023.

Seldon: Do I need Kubernetes?

Yes. It is a Kubernetes-native system and there is no meaningful deployment without a cluster and someone competent to run it.

Presto: Is it still actively released?

Yes, releases continue on a regular cadence under the Presto Foundation.

Seldon: What is MLServer?

Seldon's Python inference server implementing the Open Inference Protocol, usable inside Seldon deployments or on its own. Check its current licence alongside Core's, since the company has moved projects onto the Business Source Licence.

Seldon: Do I have to run Kafka?

For v2 pipelines, yes. If you only need single models served, that dependency is a large amount of infrastructure for the benefit, and a simpler serving layer may be the better answer.

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