diff --git a/web-console/src/components/sql-control.scss b/web-console/src/components/sql-control.scss
index f8ae7951382c..468e91a33108 100644
--- a/web-console/src/components/sql-control.scss
+++ b/web-console/src/components/sql-control.scss
@@ -37,9 +37,21 @@
 
 }
 
-.auto-complete-checkbox {
-  margin:10px;
+.sql-control-popover {
+  padding:10px;
   min-width: 120px;
+
+  .bp3-form-group {
+    margin-bottom: 0;
+  }
+
+  button {
+    span {
+      position: relative;
+      left: -7px;
+    }
+    padding-right: 35px;
+  }
 }
 
 .ace_tooltip {
diff --git a/web-console/src/components/sql-control.tsx b/web-console/src/components/sql-control.tsx
index 033944bd9a26..0dd8adecc561 100644
--- a/web-console/src/components/sql-control.tsx
+++ b/web-console/src/components/sql-control.tsx
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-import { Button, Checkbox, Classes, Intent, Popover, Position } from "@blueprintjs/core";
+import { Button, Checkbox, Classes, FormGroup, Intent, Menu, Popover, Position } from "@blueprintjs/core";
 import { IconNames } from "@blueprintjs/icons";
 import axios from "axios";
 import * as ace from 'brace';
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ const langTools = ace.acequire('ace/ext/language_tools');
 export interface SqlControlProps extends React.Props<any> {
   initSql: string | null;
   onRun: (query: string) => void;
+  onExplain: (query: string) => void;
 }
 
 export interface SqlControlState {
@@ -165,19 +166,28 @@ export class SqlControl extends React.Component<SqlControlProps, SqlControlState
   }
 
   render() {
-    const { onRun } = this.props;
+    const { onRun, onExplain } = this.props;
     const { query, autoCompleteOn } = this.state;
 
     const isRune = query.trim().startsWith('{');
 
-    const autoCompletePopover = <div className={"auto-complete-checkbox"}>
-      <Checkbox
-        checked={isRune ? false : autoCompleteOn}
-        disabled={isRune}
-        label={"Auto complete"}
-        onChange={() => this.setState({autoCompleteOn: !autoCompleteOn})}
-      />
-    </div>;
+    const SqlControlPopover = <Popover position={Position.BOTTOM_LEFT}>
+        <Button minimal icon={IconNames.MORE}/>
+        <div className={"sql-control-popover"}>
+          <Checkbox
+            checked={isRune ? false : autoCompleteOn}
+            label={"Auto complete"}
+            onChange={() => this.setState({autoCompleteOn: !autoCompleteOn})}
+          />
+          <Button
+            icon={IconNames.CLEAN}
+            className={Classes.POPOVER_DISMISS}
+            text={"Explain"}
+            onClick={() => onExplain(query)}
+            minimal
+          />
+        </div>
+      </Popover>;
 
     // Set the key in the AceEditor to force a rebind and prevent an error that happens otherwise
     return <div className="sql-control">
@@ -207,9 +217,7 @@ export class SqlControl extends React.Component<SqlControlProps, SqlControlState
         <Button rightIcon={IconNames.CARET_RIGHT} onClick={() => onRun(query)}>
           {isRune ? 'Rune' : 'Run'}
         </Button>
-        <Popover position={Position.BOTTOM_LEFT} content={autoCompletePopover}>
-          <Button minimal icon={IconNames.MORE}/>
-        </Popover>
+        {!isRune ? SqlControlPopover : null}
       </div>
     </div>;
   }
diff --git a/web-console/src/dialogs/query-plan-dialog.scss b/web-console/src/dialogs/query-plan-dialog.scss
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8b61ec08c088
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web-console/src/dialogs/query-plan-dialog.scss
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+.query-plan-dialog {
+
+  &.bp3-dialog {
+    width: 600px;
+  }
+
+  textarea {
+    width: 100%;
+  }
+
+  .one-query {
+    textarea {
+      height: 50vh !important;
+    }
+  }
+
+  .two-queries {
+    textarea {
+      height: 25vh !important;
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/web-console/src/dialogs/query-plan-dialog.tsx b/web-console/src/dialogs/query-plan-dialog.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..6db4b7c08591
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web-console/src/dialogs/query-plan-dialog.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import { Button, Classes, Dialog, FormGroup, InputGroup, TextArea } from "@blueprintjs/core";
+import * as React from "react";
+
+import { BasicQueryExplanation, SemiJoinQueryExplanation } from "../utils";
+
+import "./query-plan-dialog.scss";
+
+export interface QueryPlanDialogProps extends React.Props<any> {
+  explainResult: BasicQueryExplanation | SemiJoinQueryExplanation | string | null;
+  explainError: Error | null;
+  onClose: () => void;
+}
+
+export interface QueryPlanDialogState {
+
+}
+
+export class QueryPlanDialog extends React.Component<QueryPlanDialogProps, QueryPlanDialogState> {
+
+  constructor(props: QueryPlanDialogProps) {
+    super(props);
+    this.state = {};
+  }
+
+  render() {
+    const { explainResult, explainError, onClose } = this.props;
+
+    let content: JSX.Element;
+
+    if (explainError) {
+      content = <div>{explainError.message}</div>;
+    } else if (explainResult == null) {
+      content = <div/>;
+    } else if ((explainResult as BasicQueryExplanation).query) {
+
+      let signature: JSX.Element | null = null;
+      if ((explainResult as BasicQueryExplanation).signature) {
+        const signatureContent = (explainResult as BasicQueryExplanation).signature || "";
+        signature = <FormGroup
+          label={"Signature"}
+        >
+          <InputGroup defaultValue={signatureContent} readOnly/>
+        </FormGroup>;
+      }
+
+      content = <div className={"one-query"}>
+        <FormGroup
+          label={"Query"}
+        >
+          <TextArea
+            readOnly
+            value={JSON.stringify((explainResult as BasicQueryExplanation).query[0], undefined, 2)}
+          />
+        </FormGroup>
+        {signature}
+      </div>;
+    } else if ((explainResult as SemiJoinQueryExplanation).mainQuery && (explainResult as SemiJoinQueryExplanation).subQueryRight) {
+
+      let mainSignature: JSX.Element | null = null;
+      let subSignature: JSX.Element | null = null;
+      if ((explainResult as SemiJoinQueryExplanation).mainQuery.signature) {
+        const signatureContent = (explainResult as SemiJoinQueryExplanation).mainQuery.signature || "";
+        mainSignature = <FormGroup
+          label={"Signature"}
+        >
+          <InputGroup defaultValue={signatureContent} readOnly/>
+        </FormGroup>;
+      }
+      if ((explainResult as SemiJoinQueryExplanation).subQueryRight.signature) {
+        const signatureContent = (explainResult as SemiJoinQueryExplanation).subQueryRight.signature || "";
+        subSignature = <FormGroup
+          label={"Signature"}
+        >
+          <InputGroup defaultValue={signatureContent} readOnly/>
+        </FormGroup>;
+      }
+
+      content = <div className={"two-queries"}>
+        <FormGroup
+          label={"Main query"}
+        >
+          <TextArea
+            readOnly
+            value={JSON.stringify((explainResult as SemiJoinQueryExplanation).mainQuery.query, undefined, 2)}
+          />
+        </FormGroup>
+        {mainSignature}
+        <FormGroup
+          label={"Sub query"}
+        >
+          <TextArea
+            readOnly
+            value={JSON.stringify((explainResult as SemiJoinQueryExplanation).subQueryRight.query, undefined, 2)}
+          />
+        </FormGroup>
+        {subSignature}
+      </div>;
+    } else {
+      content = <div>{explainResult}</div>;
+    }
+
+    return <Dialog
+      className={'query-plan-dialog'}
+      isOpen
+      onClose={onClose}
+      title={"Query plan"}
+    >
+      <div className={Classes.DIALOG_BODY}>
+        {content}
+      </div>
+      <div className={Classes.DIALOG_FOOTER}>
+        <div className={Classes.DIALOG_FOOTER_ACTIONS}>
+          <Button
+            text="Close"
+            onClick={onClose}
+          />
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    </Dialog>;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/web-console/src/utils/druid-query.tsx b/web-console/src/utils/druid-query.tsx
index 57e66d3a1faf..80fddbb2e4d5 100644
--- a/web-console/src/utils/druid-query.tsx
+++ b/web-console/src/utils/druid-query.tsx
@@ -43,3 +43,70 @@ export async function queryDruidSql(sqlQuery: Record<string, any>): Promise<any[
   }
   return sqlResultResp.data;
 }
+
+export interface BasicQueryExplanation {
+  query: any;
+  signature: string | null;
+}
+
+export interface SemiJoinQueryExplanation {
+  mainQuery: BasicQueryExplanation;
+  subQueryRight: BasicQueryExplanation;
+}
+
+function parseQueryPlanResult(queryPlanResult: string): BasicQueryExplanation {
+  if (!queryPlanResult) {
+    return {
+      query: null,
+      signature: null
+    };
+  }
+
+  const queryAndSignature = queryPlanResult.split(', signature=');
+  const queryValue = new RegExp(/query=(.+)/).exec(queryAndSignature[0]);
+  const signatureValue = queryAndSignature[1];
+
+  let parsedQuery: any;
+
+  if (queryValue && queryValue[1]) {
+    try {
+      parsedQuery = JSON.parse(queryValue[1]);
+    } catch (e) {}
+  }
+
+  return {
+    query: parsedQuery || queryPlanResult,
+    signature: signatureValue || null
+  };
+}
+
+export function parseQueryPlan(raw: string): BasicQueryExplanation | SemiJoinQueryExplanation | string {
+  let plan: string = raw;
+  plan = plan.replace(/\n/g, '');
+
+  if (plan.includes('DruidOuterQueryRel(')) {
+    return plan; // don't know how to parse this
+  }
+
+  let queryArgs: string;
+  const queryRelFnStart = 'DruidQueryRel(';
+  const semiJoinFnStart = 'DruidSemiJoin(';
+
+  if (plan.startsWith(queryRelFnStart)) {
+    queryArgs = plan.substring(queryRelFnStart.length, plan.length - 1);
+  } else if (plan.startsWith(semiJoinFnStart)) {
+    queryArgs = plan.substring(semiJoinFnStart.length, plan.length - 1);
+    const leftExpressionsArgs = ', leftExpressions=';
+    const keysArgumentIdx = queryArgs.indexOf(leftExpressionsArgs);
+    if (keysArgumentIdx !== -1) {
+      return {
+        mainQuery: parseQueryPlanResult(queryArgs.substring(0, keysArgumentIdx)),
+        subQueryRight: parseQueryPlan(queryArgs.substring(queryArgs.indexOf(queryRelFnStart)))
+      } as SemiJoinQueryExplanation;
+    }
+  } else {
+    return plan;
+  }
+
+  return parseQueryPlanResult(queryArgs);
+}
diff --git a/web-console/src/views/sql-view.scss b/web-console/src/views/sql-view.scss
index 863f1901b86f..2cc88763bcef 100644
--- a/web-console/src/views/sql-view.scss
+++ b/web-console/src/views/sql-view.scss
@@ -38,3 +38,4 @@
     flex: 1;
   }
 }
+
diff --git a/web-console/src/views/sql-view.tsx b/web-console/src/views/sql-view.tsx
index 24027cce1e51..a60cc3eaaa94 100644
--- a/web-console/src/views/sql-view.tsx
+++ b/web-console/src/views/sql-view.tsx
@@ -16,20 +16,20 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-import axios from 'axios';
-import * as classNames from 'classnames';
 import * as Hjson from "hjson";
 import * as React from 'react';
 import ReactTable from "react-table";
 
 import { SqlControl } from '../components/sql-control';
+import { QueryPlanDialog } from "../dialogs/query-plan-dialog";
 import {
+  BasicQueryExplanation,
   decodeRune,
   HeaderRows,
   localStorageGet, LocalStorageKeys,
-  localStorageSet,
+  localStorageSet, parseQueryPlan,
   queryDruidRune,
-  queryDruidSql, QueryManager
+  queryDruidSql, QueryManager, SemiJoinQueryExplanation
 } from '../utils';
 
 import "./sql-view.scss";
@@ -42,18 +42,27 @@ export interface SqlViewState {
   loading: boolean;
   result: HeaderRows | null;
   error: string | null;
+  explainDialogOpen: boolean;
+  explainResult: BasicQueryExplanation | SemiJoinQueryExplanation | string | null;
+  loadingExplain: boolean;
+  explainError: Error | null;
 }
 
 export class SqlView extends React.Component<SqlViewProps, SqlViewState> {
 
   private sqlQueryManager: QueryManager<string, HeaderRows>;
+  private explainQueryManager: QueryManager<string, any>;
 
   constructor(props: SqlViewProps, context: any) {
     super(props, context);
     this.state = {
       loading: false,
       result: null,
-      error: null
+      error: null,
+      explainDialogOpen: false,
+      loadingExplain: false,
+      explainResult: null,
+      explainError: null
     };
   }
 
@@ -86,10 +95,51 @@ export class SqlView extends React.Component<SqlViewProps, SqlViewState> {
         });
       }
     });
+
+    this.explainQueryManager = new QueryManager({
+      processQuery: async (query: string) => {
+        const explainQuery = `explain plan for ${query}`;
+        const result = await queryDruidSql({
+          query: explainQuery,
+          resultFormat: "object"
+        });
+        const data: BasicQueryExplanation | SemiJoinQueryExplanation | string = parseQueryPlan(result[0]["PLAN"]);
+        return data;
+      },
+      onStateChange: ({ result, loading, error }) => {
+        this.setState({
+          explainResult: result,
+          loadingExplain: loading,
+          explainError: error !== null ? new Error(error) : null
+        });
+      }
+    });
   }
 
   componentWillUnmount(): void {
     this.sqlQueryManager.terminate();
+    this.explainQueryManager.terminate();
+  }
+
+  getExplain = (q: string) => {
+    this.setState({
+      explainDialogOpen: true,
+      loadingExplain: true,
+      explainError: null
+    });
+    this.explainQueryManager.runQuery(q);
+  }
+
+  renderExplainDialog() {
+    const {explainDialogOpen, explainResult, loadingExplain, explainError} = this.state;
+    if (!loadingExplain && explainDialogOpen) {
+      return <QueryPlanDialog
+        explainResult={explainResult}
+        explainError={explainError}
+        onClose={() => this.setState({explainDialogOpen: false})}
+      />;
+    }
+    return null;
   }
 
   renderResultTable() {
@@ -116,8 +166,10 @@ export class SqlView extends React.Component<SqlViewProps, SqlViewState> {
           localStorageSet(LocalStorageKeys.QUERY_KEY, q);
           this.sqlQueryManager.runQuery(q);
         }}
+        onExplain={(q: string) => this.getExplain(q)}
       />
       {this.renderResultTable()}
+      {this.renderExplainDialog()}
     </div>;
   }
 }