Simple Adaptive Query Processing vs. Learned Query Optimizers: Observations and Analysis

Summary: Compare SOTA RL-based learned optimizers to two simple adaptive methods (on-the-fly NLJ/Hash switching and Lookahead Information Passing) implemented in PostgreSQL. Adaptive methods match or often beat RL, need no training, are interpretable, and handle complex queries RL can't. (summarized by gpt-5-mini on Feb 09 2026)

Paper ID: hb3b8686a324cc285
Venue: VLDB
Year: 2023
Pagerank: 5.6993812e-05
Overall Rank: 6,714 | 54.88%
DOI: 10.14778/3611479.3611501
PDF: Download (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

Authors

1. Yunjia Zhang (University of Wisconsin)
2. Yannis Chronis (University of Wisconsin)
3. Jignesh M. Patel (Carnegie Mellon University)
4. Theodoros Rekatsinas (ETH Zurich)

BibTeX Citation

@article{zhang_vldb23,
        title = {{Simple Adaptive Query Processing vs. Learned Query Optimizers: Observations and Analysis}},
        author = {Zhang, Yunjia and Chronis, Yannis and Patel, Jignesh M. and Rekatsinas, Theodoros},
        journal = {PVLDB},
        series = {{VLDB} '23},
        volume = {16},
        number = {11},
        pages = {2962--2975},
        doi = {10.14778/3611479.3611501},
        url = {https://doi.org/10.14778/3611479.3611501},
        year = {2023}
}

Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 8 of 8 citing papers.

Rank	Citing Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
6,298	Is Your Learned Query Optimizer Behaving As You Expect? A Machine Learning Perspective	2024	VLDB	5.8177684e-05
7,810	Parachute: Single-Pass Bi-Directional Information Passing	2025	VLDB	5.4477354e-05
10,107	Still Asking: How Good Are Query Optimizers, Really?	2025	VLDB	5.0765311e-05
10,343	An Elephant Under The Microscope: Analyzing The Interaction Of Optimizer Components In PostgreSQL	2025	SIGMOD	5.0176429e-05
10,723	Robust Predicate Transfer with Dynamic Execution	2026	VLDB	4.9769913e-05
10,751	OBELISK: Efficient Offline Query Planning with Bayesian Optimization-Informed Language Model Reasoning	2026	VLDB	4.9769913e-05
10,950	Ultron: History-Based Query Optimization at Databricks	2026	VLDB	4.9769913e-05
11,291	Robust Plan Evaluation based on Approximate Probabilistic Machine Learning	2025	VLDB	4.9769913e-05

Outgoing Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 26 of 26 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	0.0023943337
15	How Good Are Query Optimizers, Really?	2016	VLDB	0.00061067652
53	Eddies: Continuously Adaptive Query Processing	2000	SIGMOD	0.000408505
85	Learned Cardinalities: Estimating Correlated Joins with Deep Learning	2019	CIDR	0.00035876108
144	Neo: A Learned Query Optimizer	2019	VLDB	0.00029090793
149	Efficient Mid-Query Re-Optimization of Sub-Optimal Query Execution Plans	1998	SIGMOD	0.00028977821
232	Adaptive Selectivity Estimation Using Query Feedback	1994	SIGMOD	0.0002378554
288	Optimization of Dynamic Query Evaluation Plans	1994	SIGMOD	0.00021964339
318	DeepDB: Learn from Data, not from Queries!	2020	VLDB	0.00021166957
361	Bao: Making Learned Query Optimization Practical	2021	SIGMOD	0.00020000855
397	R* Optimizer Validation and Performance Evaluation for Local Queries	1986	SIGMOD	0.00019151375
454	Self-tuning Histograms: Building Histograms Without Looking at Data	1999	SIGMOD	0.00017955913
462	An End-to-End Learning-based Cost Estimator	2020	VLDB	0.00017836105
477	Dynamic Query Evaluation Plans	1989	SIGMOD	0.00017640718
691	Selectivity Estimation for Range Predicates using Lightweight Models	2019	VLDB	0.00014737455
827	Adaptive Ordering of Pipelined Stream Filters	2004	SIGMOD	0.00013629035
1,195	Balsa: Learning a Query Optimizer Without Expert Demonstrations	2022	SIGMOD	0.00011574218
1,800	SkinnerDB: Regret-Bounded Query Evaluation via Reinforcement Learning	2018	VLDB	9.6082185e-05
2,139	Quickstep: A Data Platform Based on the Scaling-Up Approach	2018	VLDB	8.9735524e-05
3,041	Configuration-Parametric Query Optimization for Physical Design Tuning	2008	SIGMOD	7.718081e-05
3,075	Pushing Data-Induced Predicates Through Joins in Big-Data Clusters	2020	VLDB	7.6742518e-05
3,563	Astrid: Accurate Selectivity Estimation for String Predicates using Deep Learning	2021	VLDB	7.2023194e-05
3,593	Looking Ahead Makes Query Plans Robust: Making the Initial Case with In-Memory Star Schema Data Warehouse Workloads	2017	VLDB	7.1803217e-05
4,369	Lifting the Burden of History from Adaptive Query Processing	2004	VLDB	6.6302169e-05
4,394	Bitvector-aware Query Optimization for Decision Support Queries	2020	SIGMOD	6.6182964e-05
4,760	SQLite: Past, Present, and Future	2022	VLDB	6.4288554e-05

Semantically Similar Papers

#	Overall Rank	Paper	Year	Venue
1	9,214	BASE: Bridging the Gap between Cost and Latency for Query Optimization	2023	VLDB
2	4,046	Adaptive Query Processing in the Looking Glass	2005	CIDR
3	3,057	Towards a Hands-Free Query Optimizer through Deep Learning	2019	CIDR
4	8,170	Efficient Query Re-optimization with Judicious Subquery Selections	2023	SIGMOD
5	8,373	GenJoin: Conditional Generative Plan-to-Plan Query Optimizer that Learns from Subplan Hints	2026	SIGMOD
6	7,546	Learned Offline Query Planning via Bayesian Optimization	2025	SIGMOD
7	7,372	ADOPT: Adaptively Optimizing Attribute Orders for Worst-Case Optimal Join Algorithms via Reinforcement Learning	2023	VLDB
8	11,812	Demonstrating ADOPT: Adaptively Optimizing Attribute Orders for Worst-Case Optimal Joins via Reinforcement Learning	2023	VLDB
9	6,575	Can Large Language Models Be Query Optimizer for Relational Databases?	2026	SIGMOD
10	6,298	Is Your Learned Query Optimizer Behaving As You Expect? A Machine Learning Perspective	2024	VLDB