At least one implementation described herein relates to using multiple filter engines to optimize query processing. A filter engine comprises a general matcher and at least one optimized matcher, a matcher being a filter engine in its own right. When the filter engine receives an input, the input is analyzed to determine if it can be handled by the optimized matcher. While the general matcher is fully compliant with a query language, the optimized matcher only handles a subset of the query language. Therefore, inputs that can be processed in the optimized matcher are compared against fewer filters, making the filtering process more efficient. The filter engine may also process only a portion of an input in the optimized matcher and another portion of the input in the general matcher, which reduces processing overhead.