Both ORDER BY and SORT BY are used for sorting query results in ascending or descending order. However, one of the differences between them is the way they sort results. ORDER BY sorts the entire data using a reducer, whereas SORT BY does not guarantee overall sorting of data. There may be overlapping data and it might need more than one reducer.
Both DISTRIBUTE BY and CLUSTER BY are used for categorising query results on the basis of one or more columns. CLUSTER BY is a shortcut for both DISTRIBUTE BYand SORT BY. Hive uses the columns in DISTRIBUTE BY to distribute the rows among the reducers. All rows with the same DISTRIBUTE BY columns will go to the same reducer. However, DISTRIBUTE BY does not guarantee clustering or sorting of properties.