Gaffer vs Neo4j
Gaffer is a other database; Neo4j is a property graph database. Gaffer (2015-12, Apache-2.0, Java) ranks #66 this month; Neo4j (2007, GPL-3.0, Java) ranks #1. They differ on 25 of 46 surveyed features.
| Attribute | Gaffer | Neo4j |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Rank | #66 | #1 |
| Score | 44.4 | 88.8 |
| GitHub stars | 1.8k | 17.3k |
| Popularity | 57.9 | 98.6 |
| Activity | 42.8 | 86.5 |
| Community | 30.3 | 73.8 |
| Research | — | 98.7 |
| Fundamentals | ||
| Description | A graph database framework with pluggable storage backends (Accumulo, HBase, Parquet). Developed by GCHQ for large-scale graph analysis with built-in timestamp management. | A property graph database that stores data as fixed-size records in linked lists for index-free adjacency traversal. Offers community and commercial editions with an extensive graph algorithms library. |
| Vendor | GCHQ | Neo4j Inc |
| Model | Other | Property Graph |
| Kind | query-engine | database |
| Category | Established | Established |
| First released | 2015-12 | 2007 |
| Status | deprecated — Repository archived by GCHQ; last change June 2025. | active |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Query languages | Custom API | Cypher, GQL |
| gdotv support | no | yes |
Feature scores 25 of 46 rows differ
| Feature | Gaffer | Neo4j |
|---|---|---|
| Community & Business | ||
| Active development | ✓ | ✓ |
| Commercial support | · | ✓ |
| Live community | · | ✓ |
| Open Source | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing | · | 0.5 |
| 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 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Replication support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Developer Experience | ||
| Data types defined | 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 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Secondary indexes | · | ✓ |
| Server side procedures | · | ✓ |
| Triggers | · | ✓ |
| Authentication | ✓ | ✓ |
| Authorization | ✓ | ✓ |
| Data encryption | · | · |
Links
- Gaffer · website · github · full profile
- Neo4j · website · github · full profile