Neo4j vs Google Cloud Spanner Graph
Both are property graph databases queried with GQL. Neo4j (2007, GPL-3.0, Java) ranks #1 this month; Google Cloud Spanner Graph (2024-08, Proprietary) ranks #39.
| Attribute |  Neo4j |  Google Cloud Spanner Graph |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Rank | #1 | #39 |
| Score | 78.8 | 51.7 |
| GitHub stars | 17k | — |
| Popularity | 93.8 | 59.8 |
| Activity | 82.8 | 49.5 |
| Community | 77.2 | 55.7 |
| Research | 98.6 | 50.4 |
| 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 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. |
| Vendor | Neo4j Inc | |
| Model | Property Graph | Property Graph |
| Kind | database | database |
| Category | Established | Enterprise |
| First released | 2007 | 2024-08 |
| Status | active | active |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Proprietary |
| Written in | Java | — |
| Query languages | Cypher, GQL | GQL, SQL/PGQ |
| gdotv support | yes | yes |
Feature scores — not surveyed for Google Cloud Spanner Graph
| Feature | Neo4j | Google Cloud Spanner Graph |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ✓ | — |
| 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
- Neo4j · website · github · full profile
- Google Cloud Spanner Graph · website · full profile