Athena: An Effective Learning-based Framework for Query Optimizer Performance Improvement

Summary: Athena is a learning-based framework that enhances query optimizer performance by expanding plan exploration and improving learning from executions. It features an order-centric plan explorer, a Tree-Mamba plan comparator, and a time-weighted loss, is implemented on PostgreSQL, and yields multi-benchmark speedups over vanilla PostgreSQL and Lero; open-sourced and portable. (summarized by gpt-5-nano on Feb 09 2026)

Paper ID: 7284
Venue: SIGMOD
Year: 2025
Pagerank: 4.2710095e-05
Overall Rank: 9,824 | 31.73%
DOI: 10.1145/3725395

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

Authors

Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 1 of 1 citing papers.

Rank	Citing Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
10,227	Sample-based Distinct Cardinality Estimation for Multiple Attributes in Multi-Dataset Queries	2026	VLDB	4.1905499e-05

Outgoing Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 40 of 40 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
44	The Design Of Postgres	1986	SIGMOD	0.00071946446
71	How Good Are Query Optimizers, Really?	2016	VLDB	0.00059446482
181	LEO - DB2's LEarning Optimizer	2001	VLDB	0.00036970794
203	Learned Cardinalities: Estimating Correlated Joins with Deep Learning	2019	CIDR	0.00034868567
329	Neo: A Learned Query Optimizer	2019	VLDB	0.00027301488
486	TiDB: A Raft-based HTAP Database	2020	VLDB	0.00022039625
606	DeepDB: Learn from Data, not from Queries!	2020	VLDB	0.00019251186
634	Bao: Making Learned Query Optimization Practical	2021	SIGMOD	0.00018844568
752	Deep Unsupervised Cardinality Estimation	2020	VLDB	0.00017138049
804	An End-to-End Learning-based Cost Estimator	2020	VLDB	0.0001643674
876	Plan-Structured Deep Neural Network Models for Query Performance Prediction	2019	VLDB	0.00015660534
905	NeuroCard: One Cardinality Estimator for All Tables	2021	VLDB	0.00015423174
1,239	Selectivity Estimation for Range Predicates using Lightweight Models	2019	VLDB	0.00013091459
1,638	Cardinality Estimation in DBMS: A Comprehensive Benchmark Evaluation	2022	VLDB	0.00011050093
2,090	Balsa: Learning a Query Optimizer Without Expert Demonstrations	2022	SIGMOD	9.5668285e-05
2,364	Deep Learning Models for Selectivity Estimation of Multi-Attribute Queries	2020	SIGMOD	8.955077e-05
2,693	Greenplum: A Hybrid Database for Transactional and Analytical Workloads	2021	SIGMOD	8.2845883e-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
2,937	DSB: A Decision Support Benchmark for Workload-Driven and Traditional Database Systems	2021	VLDB	7.8552033e-05
3,345	Lero: A Learning-to-Rank Query Optimizer	2023	VLDB	7.1908499e-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
4,464	LOGER: A Learned Optimizer towards Generating Efficient and Robust Query Execution Plans	2023	VLDB	6.1552798e-05
4,543	FACE: A Normalizing Flow based Cardinality Estimator	2022	VLDB	6.0953507e-05
5,405	ALECE: An Attention-based Learned Cardinality Estimator for SPJ Queries on Dynamic Workloads	2024	VLDB	5.5243727e-05
5,412	Kepler: Robust Learning for Faster Parametric Query Optimization	2023	SIGMOD	5.5200608e-05
5,978	SafeBound: A Practical System for Generating Cardinality Bounds	2023	SIGMOD	5.2424396e-05
6,382	Sample-Efficient Cardinality Estimation Using Geometric Deep Learning	2024	VLDB	5.0835686e-05
7,118	ASM: Harmonizing Autoregressive Model, Sampling, and Multi-dimensional Statistics Merging for Cardinality Estimation	2024	SIGMOD	4.8204951e-05
7,188	LPLM: A Neural Language Model for Cardinality Estimation of LIKE-Queries	2024	SIGMOD	4.8017628e-05
7,220	Speeding Up End-to-end Query Execution via Learning-based Progressive Cardinality Estimation	2023	SIGMOD	4.7926382e-05
7,326	Lemo: A Cache-Enhanced Learned Optimizer for Concurrent Queries	2023	SIGMOD	4.7563708e-05
7,611	Learning to be a Statistician: Learned Estimator for Number of Distinct Values	2022	VLDB	4.6920008e-05
8,695	Convolution and Cross-Correlation of Count Sketches Enables Fast Cardinality Estimation of Multi-Join Queries	2024	SIGMOD	4.461508e-05
8,952	One Seed, Two Birds: A Unified Learned Structure for Exact and Approximate Counting	2024	SIGMOD	4.4195459e-05
9,394	CEDA: Learned Cardinality Estimation with Domain Adaptation	2023	VLDB	4.3401448e-05

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Overall Rank	Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
5,412	Kepler: Robust Learning for Faster Parametric Query Optimization	2023	SIGMOD	5.5200608e-05
10,219	Practical Parameterized Query Optimization via Efficient Plan Reuse and List-wise Ranking	2026	SIGMOD	4.1905499e-05
9,350	LIMAO: A Framework for Lifelong Modular Learned Query Optimization	2025	VLDB	4.3494621e-05
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329	Neo: A Learned Query Optimizer	2019	VLDB	0.00027301488
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7,009	Is Your Learned Query Optimizer Behaving As You Expect? A Machine Learning Perspective	2024	VLDB	4.8597992e-05
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