ALECE: An Attention-based Learned Cardinality Estimator for SPJ Queries on Dynamic Workloads

Summary: ALECE uses attention to learn attribute-wise aggregations (data-encoder) and a query-analyzer that maps query features to these aggregations, capturing implicit correlations for SPJ queries on dynamic workloads. Plugged into PostgreSQL it yields near-optimal plans and outperforms existing estimators. (summarized by gpt-5-mini on Feb 09 2026)

Paper ID: 13433
Venue: VLDB
Year: 2024
Pagerank: 5.5243727e-05
Overall Rank: 5,405 | 62.44%
DOI: 10.14778/3626292.3626302

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

Authors

Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 20 of 20 citing papers.

Rank	Citing Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
8,365	NeurDB: On the Design and Implementation of an AI-powered Autonomous Database	2025	CIDR	4.5305127e-05
8,660	Learned Offline Query Planning via Bayesian Optimization	2025	SIGMOD	4.4680058e-05
8,835	Learning-based Property Estimation with Polynomials	2024	SIGMOD	4.4351469e-05
8,896	SQL-Factory: A Multi-Agent Framework for High-Quality and Large-Scale SQL Generation	2026	VLDB	4.4229886e-05
8,961	T3: Accurate and Fast Performance Prediction for Relational Database Systems With Compiled Decision Trees	2025	SIGMOD	4.4171776e-05
9,350	LIMAO: A Framework for Lifelong Modular Learned Query Optimization	2025	VLDB	4.3494621e-05
9,487	Spatial Query Optimization With Learning	2024	VLDB	4.3300131e-05
9,581	Low Rank Learning for Offline Query Optimization	2025	SIGMOD	4.3186744e-05
9,811	A Practical Theory of Generalization in Selectivity Learning	2025	VLDB	4.2742278e-05
9,824	Athena: An Effective Learning-based Framework for Query Optimizer Performance Improvement	2025	SIGMOD	4.2710095e-05
9,877	PRICE: A Pretrained Model for Cross-Database Cardinality Estimation	2025	VLDB	4.2615675e-05
10,096	NeuSO: Neural Optimizer for Subgraph Queries	2026	SIGMOD	4.1905499e-05
10,216	The Case For Language Model Approximated LIKE Predicate	2026	SIGMOD	4.1905499e-05
10,507	PLM4NDV: Minimizing Data Access for Number of Distinct Values Estimation with Pre-trained Language Models	2025	SIGMOD	4.1905499e-05
10,543	AdaNDV: Adaptive Number of Distinct Value Estimation via Learning to Select and Fuse Estimators	2025	VLDB	4.1905499e-05
10,598	ACE: A Cardinality Estimator for Set-Valued Queries	2025	VLDB	4.1905499e-05
10,627	Data-Agnostic Cardinality Learning from Imperfect Workloads	2025	VLDB	4.1905499e-05
10,863	Graph Transformers for Query Plan Representation: Potentials and Challenges	2025	VLDB	4.1905499e-05
10,872	LEAP: A Low-cost Spark SQL Query Optimizer using Pairwise Comparison	2025	VLDB	4.1905499e-05
10,986	A Universal Sketch for Estimating Heavy Hitters and Per-Element Frequency Moments in Data Streams with Bounded Deletions	2024	SIGMOD	4.1905499e-05

Outgoing Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 35 of 35 cited papers.

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

Rank	Cited Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
1	Access Path Selection in a Relational Database Management System	1979	SIGMOD	0.0040465394
18	On Random Sampling over Joins	1999	SIGMOD	0.00092569117
141	Selectivity Estimation Without the Attribute Value Independence Assumption	1997	VLDB	0.00041819767
181	LEO - DB2's LEarning Optimizer	2001	VLDB	0.00036970794
203	Learned Cardinalities: Estimating Correlated Joins with Deep Learning	2019	CIDR	0.00034868567
373	Selectivity Estimation using Probabilistic Models	2001	SIGMOD	0.00025354685
512	STHoles: A Multidimensional Workload-Aware Histogram	2001	SIGMOD	0.00021385343
606	DeepDB: Learn from Data, not from Queries!	2020	VLDB	0.00019251186
627	Preventing Bad Plans by Bounding the Impact of Cardinality Estimation Errors	2009	VLDB	0.00018959896
752	Deep Unsupervised Cardinality Estimation	2020	VLDB	0.00017138049
838	Independence is Good: Dependency-Based Histogram Synopses for High-Dimensional Data	2001	SIGMOD	0.00016024923
905	NeuroCard: One Cardinality Estimator for All Tables	2021	VLDB	0.00015423174
941	Wander Join: Online Aggregation via Random Walks	2016	SIGMOD	0.00015147831
995	Approximating Multi-Dimensional Aggregate Range Queries Over Real Attributes	2000	SIGMOD	0.00014745185
1,239	Selectivity Estimation for Range Predicates using Lightweight Models	2019	VLDB	0.00013091459
1,372	Random Sampling over Joins Revisited	2018	SIGMOD	0.0001233325
1,536	Lightweight Graphical Models for Selectivity Estimation Without Independence Assumptions	2011	VLDB	0.00011458359
1,638	Cardinality Estimation in DBMS: A Comprehensive Benchmark Evaluation	2022	VLDB	0.00011050093
1,699	Are We Ready For Learned Cardinality Estimation?	2021	VLDB	0.00010848882
2,080	Towards a Learning Optimizer for Shared Clouds	2019	VLDB	9.5954034e-05
2,254	Two-Level Sampling for Join Size Estimation	2017	SIGMOD	9.1871115e-05
2,769	FLAT: Fast, Lightweight and Accurate Method for Cardinality Estimation	2021	VLDB	8.1512848e-05
2,781	Flow-Loss: Learning Cardinality Estimates That Matter	2021	VLDB	8.1282042e-05
2,971	Estimating Join Selectivities using Bandwidth-Optimized Kernel Density Models	2017	VLDB	7.7935535e-05
3,455	Learned Cardinality Estimation: A Design Space Exploration and A Comparative Evaluation	2022	VLDB	7.0760196e-05
3,492	Fauce: Fast and Accurate Deep Ensembles with Uncertainty for Cardinality Estimation	2021	VLDB	7.0435484e-05
3,924	A Unified Deep Model of Learning from both Data and Queries for Cardinality Estimation	2021	SIGMOD	6.6227223e-05
3,992	FactorJoin: A New Cardinality Estimation Framework for Join Queries	2023	SIGMOD	6.5519369e-05
4,413	Robust Query Driven Cardinality Estimation under Changing Workloads	2023	VLDB	6.1989918e-05
4,431	Lightweight and Accurate Cardinality Estimation by Neural Network Gaussian Process	2022	SIGMOD	6.1870601e-05
4,543	FACE: A Normalizing Flow based Cardinality Estimator	2022	VLDB	6.0953507e-05
6,724	Combining Aggregation and Sampling (Nearly) Optimally for Approximate Query Processing	2021	SIGMOD	4.9449472e-05
6,774	A Unified Transferable Model for ML-Enhanced DBMS	2022	CIDR	4.9253635e-05
7,340	Weighted Distinct Sampling: Cardinality Estimation for SPJ Queries	2021	SIGMOD	4.7526052e-05
7,573	Synopses for Query Optimization: A Space-Complexity Perspective	2004	PODS	4.7034681e-05

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Overall Rank	Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
9,725	Cardinality Estimation of LIKE Predicate Queries using Deep Learning	2025	SIGMOD	4.290223e-05
7,340	Weighted Distinct Sampling: Cardinality Estimation for SPJ Queries	2021	SIGMOD	4.7526052e-05
1,638	Cardinality Estimation in DBMS: A Comprehensive Benchmark Evaluation	2022	VLDB	0.00011050093
1,699	Are We Ready For Learned Cardinality Estimation?	2021	VLDB	0.00010848882
11,192	Efficient and Effective Cardinality Estimation for Skyline Family	2023	SIGMOD	4.1905499e-05
2,364	Deep Learning Models for Selectivity Estimation of Multi-Attribute Queries	2020	SIGMOD	8.955077e-05
10,598	ACE: A Cardinality Estimator for Set-Valued Queries	2025	VLDB	4.1905499e-05
3,455	Learned Cardinality Estimation: A Design Space Exploration and A Comparative Evaluation	2022	VLDB	7.0760196e-05
6,382	Sample-Efficient Cardinality Estimation Using Geometric Deep Learning	2024	VLDB	5.0835686e-05
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