Gremlin graph databases compared
Graph databases that support the Gremlin traversal language.
17 active gremlin graph databases are in the catalogue. They are written mostly in Java and C++, 12 are open source, and 6 carry survey feature scores. Titan, DataStax Enterprise, BlazeGraph are no longer active and listed separately below.
| Attribute | OrientDB | JanusGraph | ArcadeDB | Cosmos DB | Neptune | Apache HugeGraph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||||||
| Rank | #8 | #10 | #11 | #13 | #15 | #43 |
| Score | 60.1 | 58.6 | 57.5 | 56.5 | 54.9 | 44.6 |
| GitHub stars | 5k | 5.9k | 1.2k | — | — | 3.2k |
| Popularity | 81.5 | 73.4 | 51.9 | 49.5 | 58.0 | 58.0 |
| Activity | 55.9 | 65.3 | 76.0 | 49.3 | 60.1 | 49.6 |
| Community | 39.4 | 39.5 | 52.4 | 58.2 | 50.9 | 33.3 |
| Research | 59.9 | 47.0 | 40.2 | 81.9 | 45.2 | 26.7 |
| Fundamentals | ||||||
| Description | A distributed multi-model database combining graph and document models with TinkerPop support. Features sharding for horizontal scaling and ACID transactions. | An open-source distributed property graph database forked from the Titan codebase. Supports pluggable storage backends (Cassandra, HBase, BerkeleyDB) with ACID transactions and native TinkerPop integration. | A multi-model database inspired by OrientDB, supporting graphs, documents, key-value, time-series, and search. Uses RAFT-based replication for high availability. | 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 TinkerPop 3-compliant property graph database with a pluggable storage layer supporting RocksDB, Cassandra, and HBase. Uses edge-cut partitioning for distributed graph processing. |
| Vendor | OrientDB Community | The Linux Foundation | ArcadeDB | Microsoft | Amazon Web Services | Apache Software Foundation |
| Model | Multiple | Property Graph | Multiple | Multiple | Multiple | Property Graph |
| Kind | database | database | database | database | database | database |
| Category | Enterprise | Established | Growing | Enterprise | Enterprise | Established |
| First released | 2010 | 2017-04 | 2021-09 | 2014-08 | 2017-11 | 2018-08 |
| Status | active | active | active | active | active | active |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java | Java | C++ | C++ | Java |
| Query languages | SQL, Gremlin | Gremlin | SQL, openCypher, Gremlin, GraphQL | Gremlin, SQL | Gremlin, SPARQL, openCypher | Gremlin, openCypher |
| gdotv support | no | yes | yes | yes | yes | no |
Feature scores 33 of 46 rows differ
| Feature | OrientDB | JanusGraph | ArcadeDB | Cosmos DB | Neptune | Apache HugeGraph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community & Business | ||||||
| Active development | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Commercial support | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · |
| Live community | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Open Source | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | · | ✓ |
| Pricing | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · |
| Trendiness | 0.25 | 0.5 | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Deployment | ||||||
| Containerization | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 | · | ✓ |
| 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 | · | · | · | 0.5 | · | ✓ |
| Data Distribution | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ | · | ✓ |
| High-Availability | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Query Distribution | 0.5 | · | · | ✓ | 0.5 | ✓ |
| Replication support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Developer Experience | ||||||
| Data types defined | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Logging/Auditing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Object-Graph Mapper | · | · | · | ✓ | · | ✓ |
| Reactive programming | · | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · |
| Documentation up-to-date | 0.5 | 0.75 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Binary protocol | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLI | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| GUI | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Data Model | ||||||
| Multi-database | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | · |
| Graph-native data | · | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ |
| REST API | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Query Language | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Transactions | ||||||
| Granular locking | · | 0.5 | · | · | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multiple isolation levels | ✓ | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 |
| Read committed transaction | ✓ | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Transaction support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Schema & Security | ||||||
| Constraints | · | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ | · |
| Schema support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | 0.5 | ✓ |
| Secondary indexes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Server side procedures | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | · | · |
| Triggers | ✓ | 0.5 | ✓ | ✓ | · | · |
| Authentication | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Authorization | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Data encryption | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · |
All 17 engines
| Name | Vendor | Model | Category | GitHub stars | License | Written in | Query languages | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TinkerGraph | Apache TinkerPop | Property Graph | Established | 2.2k | Apache-2.0 | Java | Gremlin | #19 |
| YouTrackDB | JetBrains | Property Graph | Emerging | 443 | Apache-2.0 | Java | Gremlin, SQL | #27 |
| Grafeo | GrafeoDB | Multiple | Emerging | 828 | Apache-2.0 | Rust | GQL, openCypher, SPARQL, Gremlin, GraphQL, SQL/PGQ | #34 |
| Quine | thatDot | Property Graph | Emerging | 366 | MIT + Commons Clause | Scala | openCypher, Gremlin | #54 |
| PuppyGraph | PuppyQuery Inc | Property Graph | Growing | — | Proprietary | — | Gremlin, openCypher | #55 |
| Aerospike Graph | Aerospike | Property Graph | Enterprise | 1.4k | Apache-2.0 | Java | Gremlin | #59 |
| GraphScope | Alibaba | Property Graph | Growing | 3.6k | Apache-2.0 | C++ | Gremlin, openCypher | #65 |
| RushDB | RushDB | Property Graph | Emerging | 326 | Apache-2.0 | Rust | Custom API, SQL, Cypher, Gremlin | #106 |
| Bitsy | LambdaZen | Property Graph | Emerging | 151 | Apache-2.0 | Java | Gremlin | #117 |
| CodeMix Graph | Codemix | Property Graph | Emerging | 111 | MIT | TypeScript | Gremlin, openCypher | #129 |
| Huawei Graph Engine Service | Huawei Cloud | Property Graph | Enterprise | — | Proprietary | C++ | Gremlin, openCypher | — |
No longer active
- Titan — No releases since 1.0 in September 2015. Development continued as JanusGraph.
- DataStax Enterprise — IBM withdrew DSE 6.x from sale in October 2025; support runs to December 2027.
- BlazeGraph — Last release in 2019. Project largely dormant, though still used by Wikidata.
- HGraphDB — No human development activity since 2024
- ByteGraph — ByteDance internal system. Not publicly available.
- G-Tran — Academic research prototype. No active development.
- ChronoGraph — Last meaningful commit several years ago. Minimal community.
- IBM System G — IBM discontinued System G. No longer available.