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Amazon Neptune vs GrapheneDB

Amazon Neptune: AWS's managed graph database speaking Gremlin, openCypher and SPARQL on shared storage. GrapheneDB: Managed hosting for Neo4j Community Edition on dedicated cloud instances, with backups and replicas.

key differences

  • Amazon Neptune is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than GrapheneDB (≤ 10 TB).
  • Only Amazon Neptune has geospatial, change data capture, online schema changes.
  • Only GrapheneDB has secondary indexes, full-text search.
  • Amazon Neptune has a serverless option; GrapheneDB does not.

choose amazon-neptune for

  • +Identity graphs and customer 360 on AWS
  • +Fraud detection
  • +Knowledge graphs with SPARQL
  • +Security and network graphs

best at · Traversal, Knowledge graph, OLTP

choose graphenedb for

  • +Production Neo4j apps on a budget
  • +Recommendation and social graphs for startups
  • +Managed graph backends for knowledge-graph prototypes

best at · Traversal, Knowledge graph, OLTP

Amazon NeptuneAWS's managed graph database speaking Gremlin, openCypher and SPARQL on shared storage.
GrapheneDBManaged hosting for Neo4j Community Edition on dedicated cloud instances, with backups and replicas.
overview
Primary model
Graph
Graph
Also supports
RDF / Triple Store
–
Type
Managed service
Managed service
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Amazon Web Services
GrapheneDB Labs
First release
2017
2013
Latest version
1.4.8.1 (Oct 6, 2026)
–
License
ProprietaryProprietary (AWS service)
ProprietaryProprietary service (hosts GPLv3 Neo4j Community Edition)
Free tier
✓
—
popularity
WhichDB Score
15.2
0.0
Rank
#219
#748
GitHub stars
–
–
Stack Overflow questions
1K
–
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
None
None
Multi-region
Read replicas
Read replicas
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong, Eventual
Strong
Schema
Schemaless
Flexible
Architecture
Primary replica, Shared storage, Serverless
Client server, Primary replica
deployment
Self-hosted
—
—
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
✓
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS
AWS
capabilities
Transactions
✓
✓
Joins
—
—
Secondary indexes
—
✓
Full-text search
—
✓
Vector search
—
—
Geospatial
✓
—
JSON
—
—
Change data capture
✓
—
Triggers
—
—
Stored procedures
—
—
Materialized views
—
—
TTL / expiry
—
—
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
—
—
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
—
—
Encryption at rest
✓
✓
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
—
—
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
✓
—
Streaming ingest
—
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
Gremlin, openCypher, SPARQL
Cypher
Client languages
Java, Python, JavaScript, .NET, Go
Java, JavaScript, Python, Go, C#
Best for
Traversal, Knowledge graph, OLTP, RAG
Traversal, Knowledge graph, OLTP
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Amazon Neptune vs GrapheneDB: FAQ

What is the difference between Amazon Neptune and GrapheneDB?

Amazon Neptune: AWS's managed graph database speaking Gremlin, openCypher and SPARQL on shared storage. GrapheneDB: Managed hosting for Neo4j Community Edition on dedicated cloud instances, with backups and replicas. Amazon Neptune is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than GrapheneDB (≤ 10 TB). Only Amazon Neptune has geospatial, change data capture, online schema changes. Only GrapheneDB has secondary indexes, full-text search.

When should I choose Amazon Neptune over GrapheneDB?

Choose Amazon Neptune for identity graphs and customer 360 on AWS; fraud detection; and knowledge graphs with SPARQL. Choose GrapheneDB for production Neo4j apps on a budget; recommendation and social graphs for startups; and managed graph backends for knowledge-graph prototypes.

Is Amazon Neptune or GrapheneDB more popular?

Amazon Neptune ranks #219 on the WhichDB Score (15.2/100) and GrapheneDB ranks #748 (0.0/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Amazon Neptune and GrapheneDB open source?

No. Amazon Neptune is proprietary, closed-source software. No. GrapheneDB is proprietary, closed-source software.