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DBMS > AlaSQL vs. Google Cloud Spanner vs. Lovefield vs. Neo4j

System Properties Comparison AlaSQL vs. Google Cloud Spanner vs. Lovefield vs. Neo4j

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameAlaSQL  Xexclude from comparisonGoogle Cloud Spanner  Xexclude from comparisonLovefield  Xexclude from comparisonNeo4j  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionJavaScript DBMS libraryA horizontally scalable, globally consistent, relational database service. It is the externalization of the core Google database that runs the biggest aspects of Google, like Ads and Google Play.Embeddable relational database for web apps written in pure JavaScriptScalable, ACID-compliant graph database designed with a high-performance distributed cluster architecture, available in self-hosted and cloud offerings
Primary database modelDocument store
Relational DBMS
Relational DBMSRelational DBMSGraph DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score0.46
Rank#260  Overall
#40  Document stores
#121  Relational DBMS
Score2.89
Rank#103  Overall
#52  Relational DBMS
Score0.29
Rank#293  Overall
#133  Relational DBMS
Score44.46
Rank#23  Overall
#1  Graph DBMS
Websitealasql.orgcloud.google.com/­spannergoogle.github.io/­lovefieldneo4j.com
Technical documentationgithub.com/­AlaSQL/­alasqlcloud.google.com/­spanner/­docsgithub.com/­google/­lovefield/­blob/­master/­docs/­spec_index.mdneo4j.com/­docs
DeveloperAndrey Gershun & Mathias R. WulffGoogleGoogleNeo4j, Inc.
Initial release2014201720142007
Current release2.1.12, February 20175.19, April 2024
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoMIT-LicensecommercialOpen Source infoApache 2.0Open Source infoGPL version3, commercial licenses available
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenoyesnono
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed.
Neo4j Aura: Neo4j’s fully managed cloud service: The zero-admin, always-on graph database for cloud developers.
Implementation languageJavaScriptJavaScriptJava, Scala
Server operating systemsserver-less, requires a JavaScript environment (browser, Node.js)hostedserver-less, requires a JavaScript environment (browser, Node.js) infotested with Chrome, Firefox, IE, SafariLinux infoCan also be used server-less as embedded Java database.
OS X
Solaris
Windows
Data schemeschema-freeyesyesschema-free and schema-optional
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or datenoyesyesyes
XML support infoSome form of processing data in XML format, e.g. support for XML data structures, and/or support for XPath, XQuery or XSLT.nonono
Secondary indexesnoyesyesyes infopluggable indexing subsystem, by default Apache Lucene
SQL infoSupport of SQLClose to SQL99, but no user access control, stored procedures and host language bindings.yes infoQuery statements complying to ANSI 2011SQL-like query language infovia JavaScript builder patternno
APIs and other access methodsJavaScript APIgRPC (using protocol buffers) API
JDBC infoAt present, JDBC supports read-only queries. No support for DDL or DML statements.
RESTful HTTP API
Bolt protocol
Cypher query language
Java API
Neo4j-OGM infoObject Graph Mapper
RESTful HTTP API
Spring Data Neo4j
TinkerPop 3
Supported programming languagesJavaScriptGo
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
Python
JavaScript.Net
Clojure
Elixir
Go
Groovy
Haskell
Java
JavaScript
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby
Scala
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresnononoyes infoUser defined Procedures and Functions
TriggersyesnoUsing read-only observersyes infovia event handler
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesnoneShardingnoneyes using Neo4j Fabric
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesnoneMulti-source replication with 3 replicas for regional instances.noneCausal Clustering using Raft protocol infoavailable in in Enterprise Version only
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsnoyes infousing Google Cloud Dataflownono
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemnoneImmediate ConsistencyCausal and Eventual Consistency configurable in Causal Cluster setup
Immediate Consistency in stand-alone mode
Foreign keys infoReferential integrityyesyes infoby using interleaved tables, this features focuses more on performance improvements than on referential integrityyesyes infoRelationships in graphs
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of datayes infoonly for local storage and DOM-storageACID infoStrict serializable isolationACIDACID
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyes infoby using IndexedDB, SQL.JS or proprietary FileStorageyesyes, by using IndexedDB or the cloud service Firebase Realtime Databaseyes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.yesnoyes infousing MemoryDB
User concepts infoAccess controlnoAccess rights for users, groups and roles based on Google Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM)noUsers, roles and permissions. Pluggable authentication with supported standards (LDAP, Active Directory, Kerberos)
More information provided by the system vendor
AlaSQLGoogle Cloud SpannerLovefieldNeo4j
Specific characteristicsNeo4j delivers graph technology that has been battle tested for performance and scale...
» more
Competitive advantagesNeo4j is the market leader, graph database category creator, and the most widely...
» more
Typical application scenariosReal-Time Recommendations Master Data Management Identity and Access Management Network...
» more
Key customersOver 800 commercial customers and over 4300 startups use Neo4j. Flagship customers...
» more
Market metricsNeo4j boasts the world's largest graph database ecosystem with more than 140 million...
» more
Licensing and pricing modelsGPL v3 license that can be used all the places where you might use MySQL. Neo4j Commercial...
» more
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and for displaying vendor-provided information such as key customers, competitive advantages and market metrics.

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