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Virtuoso

A multi-model database supporting relational, RDF, and property graph data. Supports horizontal scaling, SPARQL and SQL queries. Available in open-source and proprietary enterprise editions.

Visit website GitHub 976 stars

Elsewhere

Overall rank
#43
First released
1998
License
GPL-2.0
Built with
C

Details

Vendor
OpenLink Software
Type
Multiple
Category
Enterprise
License
GPL-2.0
Language
C
Query Languages
SQLSPARQL
Protocols
SPARQL ProtocolJDBC/ODBC

Feature scores

Community & Business

Active development
✓
Updated within last 3 months
Commercial support
✓
Paid support available
Live community
✓
>75% of issues addressed
Open Source
✓
Open source license
Pricing
✓
Pricing publicly available
Trendiness
0%
Declining trend

Deployment

Containerization
✓
Docker image available
Work as dedicated instance
✓
Can run as standalone server
Work as embedded
0%
Standalone only
Testing in-memory version
0%
No in-memory option

Platform

Operating on Linux
✓
Linux officially supported
Operating on Windows
✓
Windows officially supported
SaaS offering
✓
Cloud service available

Operations

Automatic updates
0%
Manual updates only
Client side caching
0%
No client-side caching
Data versioning support
0%
No versioning
Live backups
✓
Hot backup supported

Distribution

Cluster Re-balancing
0%
No auto-rebalancing
Data Distribution
✓
Data sharding supported
High-Availability
0%
No HA support
Query Distribution
✓
Distributed query execution
Replication support
✓
Replication available

Developer Experience

Data types defined
0%
Single data type (strings)
Logging/Auditing
✓
Event logging supported
Object-Graph Mapper
0%
No object mapper
Reactive programming
0%
No reactive programming
Documentation up-to-date
50%
Docs exist but outdated
Binary protocol
0%
Text-based protocols only
CLI
✓
Command-line interface
GUI
✓
Visual interface available

Data Model

Multi-database
✓
Multi-model database
Graph-native data
0%
Graph abstraction layer
REST API
✓
REST endpoint available
Query Language
✓
Standard query language (Cypher/Gremlin)

Transactions

Granular locking
✓
Object-level locking
Multiple isolation levels
✓
Multiple isolation levels
Read committed transaction
✓
Read committed available
Transaction support
✓
ACID transactions

Schema & Security

Constraints
✓
Full constraint support
Schema support
0%
Schema-less
Secondary indexes
✓
Secondary indexes supported
Server side procedures
✓
Stored procedures supported
Triggers
✓
Event triggers supported
Authentication
✓
Authentication supported
Authorization
✓
Role-based access control
Data encryption
0%
No encryption
Sources 5 references

Protocols SPARQL Protocol, JDBC/ODBC

SPARQL Protocol served over HTTP at /sparql; JDBC and ODBC drivers also allow SPARQL and SQL access. Draft's separate 'HTTP/REST' tag not independently confirmed beyond the SPARQL HTTP endpoint itself.

  • Virtuoso uses the pre-assigned endpoints "/sparql" and "/SPARQL" as the defaults for exposing its REST based SPARQL Web Services.
    16.2.3. SPARQL Web Services & APIs · reviewed 2026-08-02
  • The Virtuoso Drivers for JDBC are available in "jar" file formats for JDBC 1.x, JDBC 2.x and JDBC 3.x specifications.
    7.4. Virtuoso Driver for JDBC · reviewed 2026-08-02

License GPL-2.0

Confirmed by the LICENSE file itself; matches the current catalogue value.

  • Note that the only valid version of the GPL license as far as this project is concerned is the original GNU General Public License Version 2, dated June 1991.
    LICENSE · reviewed 2026-08-02

Released 1998

OpenLink's own project history confirms the first Virtuoso release shipped in 1998; matches the current catalogue value.

  • Thus, in the fall of 1998 the first release of the Virtuoso VDBMS Engine was unveiled.
    History of Virtuoso · reviewed 2026-08-02

Language C

OpenLink's own FAQ confirms built-in engine functions are written in C; corroborated by GitHub's language breakdown (C is the dominant language at 49%). Matches the current catalogue value.