1. A method comprising: receiving a logical execution plan for a database query corresponding to a plurality of tables of a database, wherein the logical execution plan comprises one or more operators; receiving an operator cost for each of the operators in the logical execution plan; computing a first accumulated processing cost for a first of the tables based on the logical execution plan and operator costs corresponding to the first table; computing a second accumulated processing cost for a second of the tables based on the logical execution plan and operator costs corresponding to the second table; comparing the first accumulated processing cost and the second accumulated processing cost to determine a table with a highest accumulated processing cost; and responsive to comparing the accumulated processing costs, computing a physical execution plan that requires partitioning the table with the highest accumulated processing cost.