Cost Aware Query Optimization

via “query optimization with cost-based join ordering and range analysis”

MariaDB server is a community developed fork of MySQL server. Started by core members of the original MySQL team, MariaDB actively works with outside developers to deliver the most featureful, stable, and sanely licensed open SQL server in the industry.

Unique: Implements range analysis as a separate optimization phase that converts WHERE predicates into index-compatible ranges, enabling precise selectivity estimation. Uses a greedy join ordering algorithm with branch-and-bound pruning rather than dynamic programming, trading optimality for speed on large joins.

vs others: More transparent than PostgreSQL's genetic algorithm optimizer (easier to debug); simpler than Presto's distributed optimizer but less sophisticated for complex analytical queries