An exact cardinality query optimization system and method for optimizing a query having a plurality of expressions to obtain a cardinality-optimal query execution plan for the query. Embodiments of the system and method use various techniques to shorten the time necessary to obtain the cardinality-optimal query execution plan, which contains the query execution plan when all cardinalities are exact. Embodiments of the system and method include a covering queries technique that leverages query execution feedback to obtain an unordered subset of relevant expressions for the query, an early termination technique that bounds the cardinality to determine whether the processing can be terminate before each of the expressions are executed, and an expressions ordering technique that finds an ordering of expressions that yields the greatest reduction in time to obtain the cardinality-optimal query execution plan.