An apparatus for optimizing a skewed join is described herein. The apparatus includes logic, at least partially including hardware logic, to determine that a dataset for the skewed join comprises a skewed key that does not fit in memory. The apparatus also includes logic to model the skewed join as a queue. The apparatus also includes logic to estimate a cost of the skewed join based on the modeled queue. The apparatus evaluates different join techniques, and partitioning strategies for the skewed join, and chooses the plan with the lowest cost.