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Lero: A Learning-to-Rank Query Optimizer

Summary: Lero: a non‑intrusive learning‑to‑rank layer that uses pairwise classifiers to compare plans instead of regressing costs. Pluggable into existing DBMS (Postgres prototype), it continuously adapts to workloads and cuts execution time vs native optimizer by up to 70% (vs other learned optimizers up to 37%). (summarized by gpt-5-mini on Feb 09 2026)

Paper ID
13197
Venue
VLDB
Year
2023
Pagerank
8.605257e-05
Overall Rank
2,420 | 83.40%
DOI
10.14778/3583140.3583160

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

Authors

BibTeX Citation

@article{zhu_vldb23,
        title = {{Lero: A Learning-to-Rank Query Optimizer}},
        author = {Zhu, Rong and Chen, Wei and Ding, Bolin and Chen, Xingguang and Pfadler, Andreas and Wu, Ziniu and Zhou, Jingren},
        journal = {PVLDB},
        series = {{VLDB} '23},
        volume = {16},
        number = {6},
        pages = {1466--1479},
        doi = {10.14778/3583140.3583160},
        url = {https://doi.org/10.14778/3583140.3583160},
        year = {2023}
}

Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 38 of 38 citing papers.

Rank Citing Paper Year Venue Pagerank
5,573 Eraser: Eliminating Performance Regression on Learned Query Optimizer 2024 VLDB 6.1682747e-05
5,701 Lemo: A Cache-Enhanced Learned Optimizer for Concurrent Queries 2023 SIGMOD 6.1167049e-05
5,712 Sample-Efficient Cardinality Estimation Using Geometric Deep Learning 2024 VLDB 6.1123894e-05
6,088 How Good are Learned Cost Models, Really? Insights from Query Optimization Tasks 2025 SIGMOD 5.9813965e-05
6,271 Is Your Learned Query Optimizer Behaving As You Expect? A Machine Learning Perspective 2024 VLDB 5.9326197e-05
6,462 PilotScope: Steering Databases with Machine Learning Drivers 2024 VLDB 5.8717744e-05
6,735 Join Order Selection with Deep Reinforcement Learning: Fundamentals, Techniques, and Challenges 2023 VLDB 5.7878855e-05
6,921 Rethinking Learned Cost Models: Why Start from Scratch? 2023 SIGMOD 5.7388557e-05
6,997 E2ETune: End-to-End Knob Tuning via Fine-tuned Generative Language Model 2025 VLDB 5.7300324e-05
7,809 Can Large Language Models Be Query Optimizer for Relational Databases? 2026 SIGMOD 5.5399022e-05
7,825 RCRank: Multimodal Ranking of Root Causes of Slow Queries in Cloud Database Systems 2025 VLDB 5.5367884e-05
7,846 The Holon Approach for Simultaneously Tuning Multiple Components in a Self-Driving Database Management System with Machine Learning via Synthesized Proto-Actions 2024 VLDB 5.5331459e-05
8,163 Learned Offline Query Planning via Bayesian Optimization 2025 SIGMOD 5.4751517e-05
8,221 NeurDB: On the Design and Implementation of an AI-powered Autonomous Database 2025 CIDR 5.4640314e-05
8,572 T3: Accurate and Fast Performance Prediction for Relational Database Systems With Compiled Decision Trees 2025 SIGMOD 5.4102362e-05
9,428 LIMAO: A Framework for Lifelong Modular Learned Query Optimization 2025 VLDB 5.2709145e-05
9,601 Low Rank Learning for Offline Query Optimization 2025 SIGMOD 5.2487799e-05
9,734 Optimizing Dataflow Systems for Scalable Interactive Visualization 2024 SIGMOD 5.227679e-05
9,971 Athena: An Effective Learning-based Framework for Query Optimizer Performance Improvement 2025 SIGMOD 5.1845938e-05
10,108 An Elephant Under The Microscope: Analyzing The Interaction Of Optimizer Components In PostgreSQL 2025 SIGMOD 5.1347137e-05
10,196 Are Learned DBMS Components Robust to Workload Drift?: [Experiments & Analysis] 2026 SIGMOD 5.093636e-05
10,272 NeurBench: A Benchmark Suite for Learned Database Components with Drift Modeling: [Experiments & Analysis] 2026 SIGMOD 5.093636e-05
10,316 GenJoin: Conditional Generative Plan-to-Plan Query Optimizer that Learns from Subplan Hints 2026 SIGMOD 5.093636e-05
10,401 SEFRQO: A Self-Evolving Fine-Tuned RAG-Based Query Optimizer 2026 SIGMOD 5.093636e-05
10,445 Divo: Learning a Stable and Effective Query Optimizer with a Diverse Workload 2026 SIGMOD 5.093636e-05
10,492 Reqo: A Comprehensive Learning-Based Cost Model for Robust and Explainable Query Optimization 2026 SIGMOD 5.093636e-05
10,508 Practical Parameterized Query Optimization via Efficient Plan Reuse and List-wise Ranking 2026 SIGMOD 5.093636e-05
10,513 LIO: A lightweight and interpretable query optimizer based on an evolutionary forest 2026 VLDB 5.093636e-05
10,559 OBELISK: Efficient Offline Query Planning with Bayesian Optimization-Informed Language Model Reasoning 2026 VLDB 5.093636e-05
10,586 TATA: An Efficient Framework for Task Transfer in Query Plan Representation 2026 VLDB 5.093636e-05
10,830 PlanRGCN: Predicting SPARQL Query Performance 2025 VLDB 5.093636e-05
10,881 Robust Plan Evaluation based on Approximate Probabilistic Machine Learning 2025 VLDB 5.093636e-05
10,884 Conformal Prediction for Verifiable Learned Query Optimization 2025 VLDB 5.093636e-05
11,001 veDB-HTAP: a Highly Integrated, Efficient and Adaptive HTAP System 2025 VLDB 5.093636e-05
11,065 Learned Cost Models for Query Optimization: From Batch to Streaming Systems 2025 VLDB 5.093636e-05
11,083 Graph Transformers for Query Plan Representation: Potentials and Challenges 2025 VLDB 5.093636e-05
11,091 LEAP: A Low-cost Spark SQL Query Optimizer using Pairwise Comparison 2025 VLDB 5.093636e-05
11,103 RankPQO: Learning-to-Rank for Parametric Query Optimization 2025 VLDB 5.093636e-05
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Outgoing Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 29 of 29 cited papers.

Citations counted here include only citations to other VLDB/SIGMOD/CIDR/PODS papers in this database.

Rank Cited Paper Year Venue Pagerank
18 How Good Are Query Optimizers, Really? 2016 VLDB 0.00059284255
30 SCOPE: Easy and Efficient Parallel Processing of Massive Data Sets 2008 VLDB 0.00051174276
84 Learned Cardinalities: Estimating Correlated Joins with Deep Learning 2019 CIDR 0.00035838391
154 Neo: A Learned Query Optimizer 2019 VLDB 0.00028726181
156 An Efficient, Cost-Driven Index Selection Tool for Microsoft SQL Server 1997 VLDB 0.00028636811
323 DeepDB: Learn from Data, not from Queries! 2020 VLDB 0.00021264788
378 Bao: Making Learned Query Optimization Practical 2021 SIGMOD 0.00019638121
388 Preventing Bad Plans by Bounding the Impact of Cardinality Estimation Errors 2009 VLDB 0.00019410042
401 Deep Unsupervised Cardinality Estimation 2020 VLDB 0.00019092557
465 An End-to-End Learning-based Cost Estimator 2020 VLDB 0.0001803934
501 Database Tuning Advisor for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 2004 VLDB 0.0001738508
513 NeuroCard: One Cardinality Estimator for All Tables 2021 VLDB 0.00017190574
563 Plan-Structured Deep Neural Network Models for Query Performance Prediction 2019 VLDB 0.0001650812
682 Robust Estimation of Resource Consumption for SQL Queries using Statistical Techniques 2012 VLDB 0.00015014887
697 Selectivity Estimation for Range Predicates using Lightweight Models 2019 VLDB 0.00014888851
984 Analyzing Plan Diagrams of Database Query Optimizers 2005 VLDB 0.00012825643
1,061 Are We Ready For Learned Cardinality Estimation? 2021 VLDB 0.00012369764
1,071 Lightweight Graphical Models for Selectivity Estimation Without Independence Assumptions 2011 VLDB 0.00012322342
1,122 Cardinality Estimation in DBMS: A Comprehensive Benchmark Evaluation 2022 VLDB 0.0001209124
1,241 Balsa: Learning a Query Optimizer Without Expert Demonstrations 2022 SIGMOD 0.00011521639
1,279 AI Meets AI: Leveraging Query Executions to Improve Index Recommendations 2019 SIGMOD 0.00011361878
1,712 SkinnerDB: Regret-Bounded Query Evaluation via Reinforcement Learning 2019 SIGMOD 9.9492299e-05
1,988 FLAT: Fast, Lightweight and Accurate Method for Cardinality Estimation 2021 VLDB 9.3501502e-05
2,620 Fauce: Fast and Accurate Deep Ensembles with Uncertainty for Cardinality Estimation 2021 VLDB 8.3363963e-05
2,812 Query Performance Prediction for Concurrent Queries using Graph Embedding 2020 VLDB 8.0979597e-05
3,506 Identifying Robust Plans through Plan Diagram Reduction 2008 VLDB 7.3581509e-05
3,953 Efficient Deep Learning Pipelines for Accurate Cost Estimations Over Large Scale Query Workload 2021 SIGMOD 6.996368e-05
4,817 Efficiently Approximating Query Optimizer Plan Diagrams 2008 VLDB 6.4944225e-05
5,059 Steering Query Optimizers: A Practical Take on Big Data Workloads 2021 SIGMOD 6.3807509e-05
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# Overall Rank Paper Year Venue
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