FlureeDB
activeby Fluree, PBC · since 2017 · also known as Fluree, Fluree DB
Immutable RDF graph database with time travel, git-style branching, SPARQL, JSON-LD and Cypher.
Overview
Fluree DB is a ledger-style graph database: every transaction becomes an immutable, content-addressed commit, so any query can run against any past state, and a dataset can be branched, rebased and merged much like a Git repository. Data is RDF and can be queried with SPARQL, Fluree's JSON-LD query syntax or openCypher, with BM25 full-text, HNSW vector and geo search plus triple-level access policies built into the engine. Version 4.0 (April 2026) is a Rust rewrite of the original Clojure system and ships under BSL 1.1, with each release converting to Apache 2.0 four years after it ships; v5 is in alpha. Reach for it when provenance and history matter: auditable knowledge graphs, regulated data sharing, and persistent memory for AI agents.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +Every commit is immutable and queryable by transaction number, timestamp or commit ID
- +Git-style branch, rebase and merge workflows for datasets
- +One engine answers SPARQL, JSON-LD and openCypher with the same features
- +BM25, HNSW vector and geo search participate in joins and filters like any graph pattern
- +Triple-level access policies enforced inside the query engine
- +Reproducible vendor benchmarks against QLever, Virtuoso, Neo4j and others are published
Trade-offs
- −BSL license forbids offering it as a hosted database service to third parties
- −v4 is a 2026 rewrite, so client libraries, tooling and community answers are still thin
- −No horizontal sharding; scale-out means running separate ledgers
- −RDF modelling has a learning curve for teams used to property graphs or SQL
Great for
- +Auditable knowledge graphs with full history
- +Data provenance and compliance records
- +Long-term memory for AI coding agents and assistants
- +Semantic data integration with RDF and JSON-LD
- +Shared datasets that need branching and review before merge
Think twice for
- −High-volume relational OLTP
- −Teams that require an OSI-approved license today
- −Petabyte-scale analytics
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 12 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Medium · ≤ 10 TB
- Horizontal scaling
- None
- Multi-region
- No
- Transactions
- Full ACID
- Consistency
- Strong
- Schema
- Flexible
- Architecture
- Client server, Embedded, Serverless
- Query languages
- SPARQL, JSON-LD Query, openCypher
Vendor benchmarks load the full 21.5-billion-triple Wikidata dump on a single commodity server; no built-in sharding.
Deployment
Ecosystem
Alternatives to FlureeDB
Git-for-data document and knowledge-graph database with branches, diffs and time travel.
flureedb vs terminusdb →Immutable Datalog database from Nubank where every fact is timestamped and queries run in the app process.
flureedb vs datomic →Bitemporal SQL database on object storage that keeps every version of every row.
flureedb vs xtdb →Enterprise knowledge-graph platform: RDF store, reasoning and virtual graphs over your sources.
flureedb vs stardog →Standards-compliant RDF triplestore with reasoning, connectors and MCP support for GraphRAG.
flureedb vs ontotext-graphdb →Small, fast SPARQL database in Rust that embeds in Rust, Python and JavaScript or runs as a server.
flureedb vs oxigraph →FlureeDB FAQ
What is FlureeDB?
FlureeDB is a RDF / triple store database by Fluree, PBC, first released in 2017. Fluree DB is a ledger-style graph database: every transaction becomes an immutable, content-addressed commit, so any query can run against any past state, and a dataset can be branched, rebased and merged much like a Git repository. Data is RDF and can be queried with SPARQL, Fluree's JSON-LD query syntax or openCypher, with BM25 full-text, HNSW vector and geo search plus triple-level access policies built into the engine. Version 4.0 (April 2026) is a Rust rewrite of the original Clojure system and ships under BSL 1.1, with each release converting to Apache 2.0 four years after it ships; v5 is in alpha. Reach for it when provenance and history matter: auditable knowledge graphs, regulated data sharing, and persistent memory for AI agents.
Is FlureeDB open source?
Not in the OSI sense. FlureeDB is source-available: you can read the code, but the license restricts some uses, typically offering it as a competing managed service. License: Business Source License 1.1 (converts to Apache 2.0 after 4 years).
Does FlureeDB support ACID transactions?
Yes. FlureeDB supports full ACID transactions, with strong consistency.
Does FlureeDB scale horizontally?
FlureeDB does not scale horizontally; it runs on a single node, so you scale it up rather than out. It is comfortable at medium scale (≤ 10 TB).
How can I run FlureeDB?
You can self-host it, embed it in your application, use the vendor's managed cloud and run it serverless.
What is FlureeDB best for?
FlureeDB is a strong fit for auditable knowledge graphs with full history; data provenance and compliance records; and long-term memory for AI coding agents and assistants. Think twice for high-volume relational OLTP.
What are the best alternatives to FlureeDB?
Common alternatives to FlureeDB include TerminusDB, Datomic, XTDB, Stardog and Graphwise GraphDB (Ontotext). The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
How popular is FlureeDB?
FlureeDB ranks #388 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (5.3/100), and #10 among RDF / triple store databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.