Open source Cypher graph databases compared
Graph databases that speak Cypher or openCypher under an open-source license.
27 active open source cypher graph databases are in the catalogue. They are written mostly in Java and C++, 27 are open source, and 5 carry survey feature scores. Kuzu, KatanaGraph, PandaDB are no longer active and listed separately below.
| Attribute | Neo4j | ArcadeDB | LadybugDB | AgensGraph | Apache HugeGraph | BangDB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||||||
| Rank | #1 | #9 | #11 | #34 | #45 | #132 |
| Score | 88.8 | 65.4 | 62.2 | 50.5 | 48.7 | 22.1 |
| GitHub stars | 17.3k | 1.2k | 1.8k | 1.5k | 3.2k | 59 |
| Popularity | 98.6 | 54.7 | 63.6 | 54.4 | 60.2 | 34.8 |
| Activity | 86.5 | 76.8 | 70.6 | 63.5 | 51.0 | 31.6 |
| Community | 73.8 | 59.0 | 57.6 | 30.3 | 31.3 | 30.3 |
| Research | 98.7 | 74.7 | 50.0 | 50.0 | 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 inspired by OrientDB, supporting graphs, documents, key-value, time-series, and search. Uses RAFT-based replication for high availability. | A community fork of Kuzu. An embedded columnar property graph database for analytical workloads, with openCypher support, vector indices, and full-text search. | A multi-model graph database built on PostgreSQL, supporting property graphs with JSON properties. Enables hybrid openCypher and SQL query processing on the same data. | 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. | An embeddable multi-model database supporting key-value, documents, and graphs. Integrates graph queries with a streaming engine and complex event processing (CEP) for pattern and anomaly detection. |
| Vendor | Neo4j Inc | ArcadeDB | LadybugDB | SKAI Worldwide | Apache Software Foundation | BangDB |
| Model | Property Graph | Multiple | Property Graph | Property Graph | Property Graph | Other |
| Kind | database | database | embedded | extension | database | embedded |
| Category | Established | Growing | Growing | Growing | Established | Emerging |
| First released | 2007 | 2021-09 | 2025-11 | 2016-11 | 2018-08 | 2012 |
| Status | active | active | active | active | active | active |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 | MIT | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Java | Java | C++ | C | Java | C++ |
| Query languages | Cypher, GQL | SQL, openCypher, Gremlin, GraphQL | openCypher | openCypher, SQL | Gremlin, openCypher | openCypher |
| gdotv support | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
Feature scores 28 of 46 rows differ
| Feature | Neo4j | ArcadeDB | LadybugDB | AgensGraph | Apache HugeGraph | BangDB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community & Business | ||||||
| Active development | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Commercial support | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | · | ✓ |
| Live community | ✓ | ✓ | — | 0.75 | ✓ | · |
| 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 | 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 | ✓ | ✓ | — | 0.5 | 0.5 | · |
| Read committed transaction | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | · |
| Transaction support | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Schema & Security | ||||||
| Constraints | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | · | 0.5 |
| Schema support | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Secondary indexes | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Server side procedures | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | · | · |
| Triggers | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | · | 0.5 |
| Authentication | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Authorization | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Data encryption | · | ✓ | — | · | · | · |
All 27 engines
| Name | Vendor | Model | Category | GitHub stars | License | Written in | Query languages | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apache AGE | Apache Software Foundation | Property Graph | Established | 4.9k | Apache-2.0 | C | openCypher, SQL | #15 |
| GFQL | Graphistry | Property Graph | Growing | 2.6k | BSD-3-Clause | Python | GFQL, openCypher | #20 |
| NeuG | Alibaba | Property Graph | Emerging | 168 | Apache-2.0 | C++ | openCypher | #40 |
| NornicDB | orneryd | Property Graph | Emerging | 894 | MIT | Go | openCypher, GraphQL | #41 |
| GraphScope | Alibaba | Property Graph | Growing | 3.6k | Apache-2.0 | C++ | Gremlin, openCypher | #49 |
| Grafeo | GrafeoDB | Multiple | Emerging | 798 | Apache-2.0 | Rust | GQL, openCypher, SPARQL, Gremlin, GraphQL, SQL/PGQ | #52 |
| Lance Graph | LanceDB Inc | Property Graph | Emerging | 181 | Apache-2.0 | Rust | SQL, openCypher | #56 |
| TuGraph | Ant Group | Property Graph | Established | 1.8k | Apache-2.0 | C++ | openCypher, GQL | #70 |
| RyuGraph | Predictable Labs | Property Graph | Emerging | 146 | MIT | C++ | openCypher | #95 |
| YugabyteDB MAGE | Yugabyte | Property Graph | Emerging | 10.6k | Apache-2.0 | C | openCypher, SQL | #97 |
| Bighorn | Kineviz | Property Graph | Emerging | 134 | MIT | C++ | openCypher | #102 |
| GraphQLite | Colliery IO | Property Graph | Emerging | 503 | MIT | C | openCypher | #105 |
| LatticeDB | Jeff Hajewski | Property Graph | Emerging | 731 | MIT | Zig | Cypher | #110 |
| TurboLynx | POSTECH (DSLab) | Property Graph | Emerging | 25 | MIT | C++ | openCypher | #122 |
| KGLite | Kristian dF Kollsgård | Property Graph | Emerging | 50 | MIT | Rust | openCypher, Custom API | #126 |
| ONgDB | Graph Foundation | Property Graph | Emerging | 439 | GPL-3.0 OR AGPL-3.0 | Java | Cypher | #130 |
| AstraeaDB | AstraeaDB | Property Graph | Emerging | 6 | MIT | Rust | GQL, Cypher | #141 |
| CodeMix Graph | Codemix | Property Graph | Emerging | 111 | MIT | TypeScript | Gremlin, openCypher | #143 |
| oxilite | Volodymyr Pavlyshyn | RDF | Emerging | 52 | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | Rust | SPARQL, openCypher | #151 |
| DozerDB | Graph Foundation | Property Graph | Emerging | 144 | GPL-3.0 | Java | Cypher | #154 |
| pg_ladybug | LadybugDB | Property Graph | Emerging | 5 | PostgreSQL | C | openCypher, SQL | #156 |
No longer active
- Kuzu — Acquired by Apple in October 2025. Repository archived. Continued as LadybugDB and Bighorn forks.
- KatanaGraph — Katana Graph shut down in 2023. GitHub repositories archived.
- PandaDB — No development activity since 2022
- Graphflow — Research prototype from University of Waterloo. Succeeded by Kuzu.