Comparison

Neo4j vs Dgraph

Overview

The world's leading graph database platform.

Neo4j is the most widely adopted graph database, storing data as nodes and relationships for fast traversal of connected data. It uses the Cypher query language and powers knowledge graphs, fraud detection, recommendations and GraphRAG, with a managed Aura cloud service.

Dgraph

Distributed, GraphQL-native graph database.

dgraph.io →

Dgraph is an open-source, distributed graph database built for horizontal scale with a GraphQL-native API. It stores and queries connected data with low latency and is designed to run as a sharded, replicated cluster.

Which should you choose?

Neo4j is the mature, widely-adopted graph platform with Cypher and a Graph Data Science library, freemium via Aura. Dgraph is a fully open-source, GraphQL-native distributed graph database with no paid tier listed, built for horizontally-sharded, low-latency queries. Choose Neo4j for ecosystem maturity and graph analytics tooling; choose Dgraph if a GraphQL-native API and horizontal distribution out of the box matter most.

TLDR

—If ecosystem maturity and graph analytics tooling matter most, choose Neo4j.
—If you want a GraphQL-native API with horizontal distribution built in, choose Dgraph.

Features

—Native graph storage and traversal
—Cypher query language
—ACID transactions
—Graph Data Science library
—Knowledge graph and GraphRAG support
—Managed Neo4j Aura cloud

—GraphQL-native API
—Horizontally distributed and sharded
—Low-latency graph queries
—ACID transactions
—Built-in full-text and geo search
—Open source (Apache 2.0)

Pricing

Neo4j

freemiumFree plan availableCommunity Edition is free and open source (GPL). Aura cloud has a free tier plus usage-based professional and enterprise plans.