C++ graph databases compared
Graph databases implemented in C++.
32 active c++ graph databases are in the catalogue. They are written mostly in C++, 14 are open source, and 13 carry survey feature scores. Kuzu, KatanaGraph, Bighorn are no longer active and listed separately below.
| Attribute | ArangoDB | Memgraph | Cosmos DB | Neptune | TigerGraph | NebulaGraph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||||||
| Rank | #2 | #3 | #13 | #15 | #20 | #32 |
| Score | 69.9 | 67.1 | 56.5 | 54.9 | 52.0 | 47.7 |
| GitHub stars | 14.3k | 4.6k | — | — | — | 12.5k |
| Popularity | 89.2 | 70.7 | 49.5 | 58.0 | 44.6 | 72.8 |
| Activity | 71.1 | 82.3 | 49.3 | 60.1 | 62.7 | 35.5 |
| Community | 42.5 | 58.7 | 58.2 | 50.9 | 50.5 | 42.6 |
| Research | 74.4 | 43.4 | 81.9 | 45.2 | 48.0 | 30.2 |
| Fundamentals | ||||||
| Description | A multi-model database supporting graphs, key-value pairs, and documents in a unified JSON-based data model, stored in a RocksDB-based engine. Since version 3.12 the server no longer runs graph algorithms itself (the Pregel system was removed); they run in separate Graph Analytics Engines on the Arango platform. | An in-memory property graph database with ACID transactions and strong consistency. Includes the MAGE library of graph algorithms and supports real-time streaming ingestion. | A globally distributed multi-model database service on Microsoft Azure with property graph support through the Apache Gremlin API. Offers multi-region replication and multiple consistency models. | A fully managed graph database service from AWS supporting both property graph and RDF models. Available as Neptune Database (for transactional workloads) and Neptune Analytics (for analytical queries). | A distributed property graph database (formerly GraphSQL) built for massively parallel processing and graph analytics. Uses the SQL-like GSQL query language and supports ACID transactions. Available in developer, cloud, and enterprise editions. | A distributed property graph database with separated storage and computation layers, enabling horizontal scaling. Uses a custom SQL-like query language (nGQL) and supports ACID transactions. |
| Vendor | ArangoDB Inc | Memgraph | Microsoft | Amazon Web Services | TigerGraph | Vesoft |
| Model | Multiple | Property Graph | Multiple | Multiple | Property Graph | Property Graph |
| Kind | database | database | database | database | database | database |
| Category | Enterprise | Enterprise | Enterprise | Enterprise | Established | Established |
| First released | 2012-03 | 2020-05 | 2014-08 | 2017-11 | 2017-09 | 2019-05 |
| Status | active | active | active | active | active | active |
| License | BUSL-1.1 | BUSL-1.1 | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C++ | C++ | C++ | C++ | C++ |
| Query languages | AQL | openCypher | Gremlin, SQL | Gremlin, SPARQL, openCypher | GSQL | nGQL |
| gdotv support | no | yes | yes | yes | no | no |
Feature scores 36 of 46 rows differ
| Feature | ArangoDB | Memgraph | Cosmos DB | Neptune | TigerGraph | NebulaGraph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community & Business | ||||||
| Active development | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Commercial support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live community | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | ✓ | 0.5 | ✓ |
| Open Source | ✓ | · | · | · | · | ✓ |
| Pricing | · | · | ✓ | ✓ | · | · |
| Trendiness | 0.25 | 0.25 | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 | · |
| Deployment | ||||||
| Containerization | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 | · | ✓ | ✓ |
| Work as dedicated instance | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Work as embedded | · | · | · | · | · | · |
| Testing in-memory version | · | 0.75 | ✓ | · | 0.5 | · |
| Platform | ||||||
| Operating on Linux | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Operating on Windows | 0.5 | 0.5 | ✓ | · | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| SaaS offering | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | 0.5 |
| Operations | ||||||
| Automatic updates | · | · | ✓ | ✓ | · | · |
| Client side caching | · | · | · | ✓ | · | · |
| Data versioning support | · | · | · | · | · | · |
| Live backups | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Distribution | ||||||
| Cluster Re-balancing | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 | · | · | ✓ |
| Data Distribution | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ |
| High-Availability | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Query Distribution | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Replication support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 | ✓ |
| Developer Experience | ||||||
| Data types defined | ✓ | · | · | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Logging/Auditing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 | ✓ |
| Object-Graph Mapper | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | · | · |
| Reactive programming | · | · | ✓ | ✓ | · | · |
| Documentation up-to-date | ✓ | 0.75 | ✓ | ✓ | 0.75 | ✓ |
| Binary protocol | · | ✓ | · | ✓ | · | ✓ |
| CLI | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| GUI | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Data Model | ||||||
| Multi-database | ✓ | · | ✓ | · | ✓ | · |
| Graph-native data | · | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| REST API | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 |
| Query Language | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · |
| Transactions | ||||||
| Granular locking | · | · | · | ✓ | · | · |
| Multiple isolation levels | · | · | ✓ | ✓ | · | · |
| Read committed transaction | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 | ✓ |
| Transaction support | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Schema & Security | ||||||
| Constraints | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ | · | · |
| Schema support | 0.5 | 0.75 | · | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Secondary indexes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ |
| Server side procedures | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ |
| Triggers | · | ✓ | ✓ | · | · | ✓ |
| Authentication | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Authorization | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Data encryption | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · |
All 32 engines
| Name | Vendor | Model | Category | GitHub stars | License | Written in | Query languages | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QLever | University of Freiburg | RDF | Emerging | 937 | Apache-2.0 | C++ | SPARQL | #6 |
| LadybugDB | LadybugDB | Property Graph | Growing | 1.9k | MIT | C++ | openCypher | #12 |
| MarkLogic | Progress Software | Multiple | Enterprise | — | Proprietary | C++ | SPARQL, XQuery, SQL | #36 |
| TuringDB | Turing Biosystems | Property Graph | Emerging | 188 | BUSL-1.1 | C++ | openCypher | #38 |
| SAP Hana | SAP | Multiple | Enterprise | — | Proprietary | C++ | SQL, openCypher, GraphScript | #39 |
| Google Cloud Spanner Graph | Property Graph | Enterprise | — | Proprietary | C++ | GQL, SQL/PGQ | #45 | |
| DuckPGQ | CWI Database Architectures Group | Property Graph | Emerging | 513 | MIT | C++ | SQL/PGQ | #47 |
| Google Cloud BigQuery Graph | Property Graph | Enterprise | — | Proprietary | C++ | GQL, SQL/PGQ | #48 | |
| RDFox | Samsung | RDF | Enterprise | — | Proprietary | C++ | SPARQL | #50 |
| Kinetica | Kinetica | Multiple | Established | — | Proprietary | C++ | SQL | #52 |
| gStore | Peking University | RDF | Emerging | 842 | BSD-3-Clause | C++ | SPARQL | #61 |
| GraphScope | Alibaba | Property Graph | Growing | 3.6k | Apache-2.0 | C++ | Gremlin, openCypher | #65 |
| NeuG | Alibaba | Property Graph | Emerging | 176 | Apache-2.0 | C++ | openCypher | #68 |
| TuGraph | Ant Group | Property Graph | Established | 1.8k | Apache-2.0 | C++ | openCypher, GQL | #74 |
| Sparksee | Sparsity Technologies | Property Graph | Established | — | Proprietary | C++ | openCypher | #76 |
| MillenniumDB | IMFD Chile | Multiple | Emerging | 267 | GPL-2.0 | C++ | GQL, SPARQL | #81 |
| Ultipa Graph v5 | Ultipa | Property Graph | Growing | — | Proprietary | C++ | GQL, UQL | #82 |
| Rapidminer Graph Lakehouse | Siemens | RDF | Enterprise | — | Proprietary | C++ | SPARQL, openCypher | #93 |
| RyuGraph | Predictable Labs | Property Graph | Emerging | 148 | MIT | C++ | openCypher | #101 |
| TurboLynx | POSTECH (DSLab) | Property Graph | Emerging | 38 | MIT | C++ | openCypher | #102 |
| Duck RDF | Dan Bennett | RDF | Emerging | 45 | MIT | C++ | SPARQL | #105 |
| Tentris | DICE Research Group, Paderborn University | RDF | Emerging | — | Proprietary | C++ | SPARQL | #132 |
| DuckGQL | Rahul Iyer | Property Graph | Emerging | 53 | MIT | C++ | GQL | #142 |
| BangDB | BangDB | Other | Emerging | 59 | BSD-3-Clause | C++ | openCypher | #144 |
| Huawei Graph Engine Service | Huawei Cloud | Property Graph | Enterprise | — | Proprietary | C++ | Gremlin, openCypher | — |
| TAO | Meta | Other | Established | — | Proprietary | C++ | TAO API | — |
No longer active
- Kuzu — Acquired by Apple in October 2025. Repository archived. Continued as LadybugDB and Bighorn forks.
- KatanaGraph — Katana Graph shut down in 2023. GitHub repositories archived.
- Bighorn — Repository archived on GitHub; last pushed in August 2026.
- Weaver — Academic research prototype. No active development.
- Parliament — Last release v2.8.1 in June 2022. Limited recent activity.
- ZipG — Academic research prototype from AMPLab Berkeley. No active development.
- ByteGraph — ByteDance internal system. Not publicly available.
- Cray Graph Engine — Discontinued after HPE acquired Cray in 2019. Product was not carried forward.
- G-Tran — Academic research prototype. No active development.
- LiveGraph — Academic research prototype. No active development.
- IBM System G — IBM discontinued System G. No longer available.
- Objectivity/DB — Objectivity Inc ceased operations in late 2023.