GQL graph databases compared

Graph databases that implement the ISO GQL standard query language.

18 active gql graph databases are in the catalogue. They are written mostly in Java and Rust, 9 are open source, and 3 carry survey feature scores.

Attribute	Neo4j #1 = Leader	SurrealDB #8 ▲1 Leader	Google Cloud Spanner Graph #33 ▼1 Strong	Grafeo #52 ▲23 Growing	Google Cloud BigQuery Graph #65 ▼15 Growing	Ultipa Graph v5 #79 ▼3 Growing
At a glance
Rank	#1	#8	#33	#52	#65	#79
Score	88.8	65.8	51.0	47.2	44.4	41.3
GitHub stars	17.3k	33.1k	—	798	—	—
Popularity	98.6	74.2	50.2	52.9	54.1	40.7
Activity	86.5	63.3	49.9	53.2	49.9	55.1
Community	73.8	66.7	53.8	56.0	33.4	30.3
Research	98.7	52.2	50.0	61.7	50.0	50.0
Fundamentals
Description	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.	A multi-model database written in Rust that combines document, graph, and relational paradigms. Uses inter-document record links for graph traversals, with ACID transactions and row-level permissions.	A graph layer within Google Cloud Spanner that enables property graph queries over relational data using GQL and SQL/PGQ. Inherits Spanner's global distribution, strong consistency, and ACID transactions.	An embeddable graph database supporting both property graph and RDF data models with in-memory or persistent storage. Features ACID transactions via MVCC, vector search with HNSW indexing, and a cost-based query optimizer.	A graph layer within Google Cloud BigQuery that runs property graph queries over warehouse tables using GQL, without a separate graph store. Property graphs are defined as views over existing tables and queried at analytical scale.	A distributed property graph database implemented in C++ with a storage-compute-coupled architecture for large-scale graph processing. Supports ISO GQL and the native UQL query language, with sharding, replication, graph algorithms, and RESTful access.
Vendor	Neo4j Inc	SurrealDB	Google	GrafeoDB	Google	Ultipa
Model	Property Graph	Multiple	Property Graph	Multiple	Property Graph	Property Graph
Kind	database	database	database	database	database	database
Category	Established	Growing	Enterprise	Emerging	Enterprise	Growing
First released	2007	2022-07	2024-08	2026-01	2026-04	—
Status	active	active	active	active	active	active
License	GPL-3.0	BUSL-1.1	Proprietary	Apache-2.0	Proprietary	Proprietary
Written in	Java	Rust	C++	Rust	C++	C++
Query languages	Cypher, GQL	SurrealQL, GraphQL, GQL	GQL, SQL/PGQ	GQL, openCypher, SPARQL, Gremlin, GraphQL, SQL/PGQ	GQL, SQL/PGQ	GQL, UQL
gdotv support	yes	no	yes	no	yes	yes