---
title: "Views"
sidebarTitle: "View"
description: "A saved query, evaluated when read. The non-materialized counterpart to a materialized view."
icon: eye
keywords: ["view", "create view", "sql", "catalog"]
availability:
  oss: unavailable
  enterprise: available
  summary: >-
    Enterprise supports views when enabled for your Enterprise cluster; the embedded library cannot create them.
---

A view saves a query that you can refer to by name. Reading the view executes
that query against the source tables, using their read-consistency behavior.
Views do not store a separate copy of the result.

It is the counterpart to a
[materialized view](/management/materialized-view), which stores rows and is
brought up to date by a refresh. Both are [catalog objects](/basics/catalog)
defined by a query; choose a materialized view when you need to store and reuse the result.

| | View | Materialized view |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Stores | the query | the rows |
| Freshness | follows source-table reads | as of the last refresh |
| Read cost | executes the saved query | queries the stored result |
| Write cost | none | a refresh |

Views are created in LanceDB Enterprise, either in SQL over the
[Flight SQL endpoint](/sql#connecting) or with the SDKs' `create_view` /
`createView`, which send the query to the deployment. Either way, the deployment
must have views enabled. See [View](/sql/ddl/view) for `CREATE VIEW`,
`DROP VIEW`, and listing.