LadybugDB
activeby LadybugDB developers (sponsored by Ladybug Memory) · since 2025 · also known as Ladybug, lbug
Community-maintained continuation of Kùzu: embedded columnar graph database with Cypher.
Overview
LadybugDB is the actively maintained fork of Kùzu, created when Kùzu's repository was archived after Apple agreed to acquire its company in October 2025. It keeps the same design: an embedded, in-process property-graph database with columnar disk storage, CSR adjacency indexes, vectorized and factorized execution, serializable ACID transactions, Cypher, and native full-text and vector indexes, plus WebAssembly bindings. It remains MIT licensed and ships frequent releases (0.22.0 in October 2026), sponsored by Ladybug Memory. It is the natural choice for Kùzu users and anyone wanting a DuckDB-style graph database inside their app.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +Maintained continuation of Kùzu with a compatible Cypher dialect
- +Columnar storage and factorized execution make multi-hop analytics fast in-process
- +Native full-text and vector indexes for local GraphRAG
- +MIT license and zero-ops embedding, including WebAssembly
Trade-offs
- −Young project with a small maintainer base
- −Embedded only: no built-in client-server mode or replication
- −Strict schema (node and rel tables) must be declared up front
Great for
- +Embedded graph analytics in Python notebooks
- +Local GraphRAG and agent memory
- +Migrating from archived Kùzu
- +In-browser graph exploration via WebAssembly
Think twice for
- −Multi-user OLTP servers
- −Distributed graphs
- −RDF/SPARQL workloads
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 7 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Medium · ≤ 10 TB
- Horizontal scaling
- None
- Multi-region
- No
- Transactions
- Full ACID
- Consistency
- Strong
- Schema
- Strict
- Architecture
- Embedded
- Query languages
- Cypher
Single process; disk-based columnar storage handles graphs larger than memory.
Deployment
Ecosystem
Alternatives to LadybugDB
Embedded columnar property-graph database with Cypher; archived in 2025 after Apple acquired the team.
ladybugdb vs kuzu →In-process columnar SQL database: the SQLite of analytics, running inside your app or notebook.
ladybugdb vs duckdb →In-memory, Cypher-compatible graph database in C++ for streaming and real-time graph workloads.
ladybugdb vs memgraph →Low-latency graph database using sparse matrices, the maintained successor to RedisGraph.
ladybugdb vs falkordb →The default property-graph database, with Cypher, a big ecosystem and a managed cloud.
ladybugdb vs neo4j →Embedded Datalog database blending relational, graph and vector queries; dormant since 2024.
ladybugdb vs cozodb →LadybugDB FAQ
What is LadybugDB?
LadybugDB is a graph database by LadybugDB developers (sponsored by Ladybug Memory), first released in 2025. LadybugDB is the actively maintained fork of Kùzu, created when Kùzu's repository was archived after Apple agreed to acquire its company in October 2025. It keeps the same design: an embedded, in-process property-graph database with columnar disk storage, CSR adjacency indexes, vectorized and factorized execution, serializable ACID transactions, Cypher, and native full-text and vector indexes, plus WebAssembly bindings. It remains MIT licensed and ships frequent releases (0.22.0 in October 2026), sponsored by Ladybug Memory. It is the natural choice for Kùzu users and anyone wanting a DuckDB-style graph database inside their app.
Is LadybugDB open source?
Yes. LadybugDB is open source. License: MIT License.
Does LadybugDB support ACID transactions?
Yes. LadybugDB supports full ACID transactions, with strong consistency.
Does LadybugDB scale horizontally?
LadybugDB 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 LadybugDB?
You can self-host it and embed it in your application.
What is LadybugDB best for?
LadybugDB is a strong fit for embedded graph analytics in Python notebooks; local GraphRAG and agent memory; and migrating from archived Kùzu. Think twice for multi-user OLTP servers.
What are the best alternatives to LadybugDB?
Common alternatives to LadybugDB include Kùzu, DuckDB, Memgraph, FalkorDB and Neo4j. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
How popular is LadybugDB?
LadybugDB ranks #153 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (20.7/100), and #13 among graph databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.