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GrapheneDB vs Neo4j

GrapheneDB: Managed hosting for Neo4j Community Edition on dedicated cloud instances, with backups and replicas. Neo4j: The default property-graph database, with Cypher, a big ecosystem and a managed cloud.

key differences

  • Licensing: GrapheneDB is proprietary (Proprietary service (hosts GPLv3 Neo4j Community Edition)); Neo4j is open source (copyleft) (GPL-3.0 (Community) / commercial (Enterprise)).
  • Horizontal scaling is none in GrapheneDB and addon in Neo4j.
  • Only Neo4j has vector search, geospatial, change data capture, stored procedures, online schema changes.

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

choose neo4j for

  • +Fraud rings and entity resolution
  • +Real-time recommendations
  • +Knowledge graphs for GraphRAG
  • +Network and IT dependency mapping

best at · Traversal, Graph analytics, Knowledge graph

GrapheneDBManaged hosting for Neo4j Community Edition on dedicated cloud instances, with backups and replicas.
Neo4jThe default property-graph database, with Cypher, a big ecosystem and a managed cloud.
overview
Primary model
Graph
Graph
Also supports
–
Vector
Type
Managed service
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
GrapheneDB Labs
Neo4j, Inc.
First release
2013
2007
Latest version
–
2026.10.1 (Oct 2026)
License
ProprietaryProprietary service (hosts GPLv3 Neo4j Community Edition)
Open source (copyleft)GPL-3.0 (Community) / commercial (Enterprise)
Free tier
—
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
0.0
61.2
Rank
#748
#15
GitHub stars
–
17.4K
Stack Overflow questions
–
23K
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
None
Addon
Multi-region
Read replicas
Read replicas
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong, Causal
Schema
Flexible
Flexible
Architecture
Client server, Primary replica
Single node, Primary replica, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
—
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
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
Cypher
Cypher, GQL
Client languages
Java, JavaScript, Python, Go, C#
Java, JavaScript, Python, Go, .NET, Rust (community)
Best for
Traversal, Knowledge graph, OLTP
Traversal, Graph analytics, Knowledge graph, RAG
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

GrapheneDB vs Neo4j: FAQ

What is the difference between GrapheneDB and Neo4j?

GrapheneDB: Managed hosting for Neo4j Community Edition on dedicated cloud instances, with backups and replicas. Neo4j: The default property-graph database, with Cypher, a big ecosystem and a managed cloud. Licensing: GrapheneDB is proprietary (Proprietary service (hosts GPLv3 Neo4j Community Edition)); Neo4j is open source (copyleft) (GPL-3.0 (Community) / commercial (Enterprise)). Horizontal scaling is none in GrapheneDB and addon in Neo4j. Only Neo4j has vector search, geospatial, change data capture, stored procedures, online schema changes.

When should I choose GrapheneDB over Neo4j?

Choose GrapheneDB for production Neo4j apps on a budget; recommendation and social graphs for startups; and managed graph backends for knowledge-graph prototypes. Choose Neo4j for fraud rings and entity resolution; real-time recommendations; and knowledge graphs for GraphRAG.

Is GrapheneDB or Neo4j more popular?

Neo4j ranks #15 on the WhichDB Score (61.2/100) and GrapheneDB ranks #748 (0.0/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are GrapheneDB and Neo4j open source?

No. GrapheneDB is proprietary, closed-source software. Yes. Neo4j is open source. License: GPL-3.0 (Community) / commercial (Enterprise).