FaunaDB vs Neptune
Both are multiple databases. FaunaDB (2016, Apache-2.0, Scala) ranks #84 this month; Neptune (2017-11, Proprietary, C++) ranks #4. They differ on 19 of 46 surveyed features.
| Attribute | FaunaDB | Neptune |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Rank | #84 | #4 |
| Score | 41.4 | 65.5 |
| GitHub stars | — | — |
| Popularity | 37.5 | 81.2 |
| Activity | — | 95.5 |
| Community | 35.3 | 53.7 |
| Research | 49.6 | 58.4 |
| Fundamentals | ||
| Description | A distributed multi-model database with document and graph capabilities, accessed via its custom Fauna Query Language (FQL). Supported ACID transactions and global distribution. Service was shut down in 2025. | 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). |
| Vendor | Fauna Inc | Amazon Web Services |
| Model | Multiple | Multiple |
| Kind | database | database |
| Category | Emerging | Enterprise |
| First released | 2016 | 2017-11 |
| Status | deprecated — Service shut down in 2025. | active |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary |
| Written in | Scala | C++ |
| Query languages | FQL, GraphQL | Gremlin, SPARQL, openCypher |
| gdotv support | no | yes |
Feature scores 19 of 46 rows differ
| Feature | FaunaDB | Neptune |
|---|---|---|
| Community & Business | ||
| Active development | · | ✓ |
| Commercial support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live community | · | ✓ |
| Open Source | 0.5 | · |
| Pricing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Trendiness | ✓ | ✓ |
| Deployment | ||
| Containerization | ✓ | · |
| Work as dedicated instance | ✓ | ✓ |
| Work as embedded | · | · |
| Testing in-memory version | · | · |
| Platform | ||
| Operating on Linux | ✓ | ✓ |
| Operating on Windows | · | · |
| SaaS offering | ✓ | ✓ |
| Operations | ||
| Automatic updates | · | ✓ |
| Client side caching | · | ✓ |
| Data versioning support | ✓ | · |
| Live backups | ✓ | ✓ |
| Distribution | ||
| Cluster Re-balancing | · | · |
| Data Distribution | ✓ | · |
| High-Availability | ✓ | ✓ |
| Query Distribution | ✓ | 0.5 |
| Replication support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Developer Experience | ||
| Data types defined | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Logging/Auditing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Object-Graph Mapper | · | · |
| Reactive programming | · | ✓ |
| Documentation up-to-date | ✓ | ✓ |
| Binary protocol | · | ✓ |
| CLI | ✓ | ✓ |
| GUI | · | ✓ |
| Data Model | ||
| Multi-database | · | · |
| Graph-native data | ✓ | ✓ |
| REST API | · | ✓ |
| Query Language | ✓ | ✓ |
| Transactions | ||
| Granular locking | · | ✓ |
| Multiple isolation levels | · | ✓ |
| Read committed transaction | · | ✓ |
| Transaction support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Schema & Security | ||
| Constraints | ✓ | ✓ |
| Schema support | ✓ | 0.5 |
| Secondary indexes | ✓ | ✓ |
| Server side procedures | ✓ | · |
| Triggers | · | · |
| Authentication | ✓ | ✓ |
| Authorization | ✓ | ✓ |
| Data encryption | · | ✓ |
Links
- FaunaDB · website · full profile
- Neptune · website · full profile