DB-EnginesextremeDB - solve IoT connectivity disruptionsEnglish
Deutsch
Knowledge Base of Relational and NoSQL Database Management Systemsprovided by Redgate Software

DBMS > Google Cloud Spanner vs. Neo4j

System Properties Comparison Google Cloud Spanner vs. Neo4j

Please select another system to include it in the comparison.

Our visitors often compare Google Cloud Spanner and Neo4j with PostgreSQL, GraphDB and Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB.

Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameGoogle Cloud Spanner  Xexclude from comparisonNeo4j  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionA 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.Scalable, ACID-compliant graph database designed with a high-performance distributed cluster architecture, available in self-hosted and cloud offerings
Primary database modelRelational DBMSGraph DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score2.56
Rank#97  Overall
#50  Relational DBMS
Score47.91
Rank#20  Overall
#1  Graph DBMS
Websitecloud.google.com/­spannerneo4j.com
Technical documentationcloud.google.com/­spanner/­docsneo4j.com/­docs
DeveloperGoogleNeo4j, Inc.
Initial release20172007
Current release5.23, August 2024
License infoCommercial or Open SourcecommercialOpen Source infoGPL version3, commercial licenses available
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud serviceyesno
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed.
Implementation languageJava, Scala
Server operating systemshostedLinux infoCan also be used server-less as embedded Java database.
OS X
Solaris
Windows
Data schemeyesschema-free and schema-optional
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyes
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.no
Secondary indexesyesyes infopluggable indexing subsystem, by default Apache Lucene
SQL infoSupport of SQLyes infoQuery statements complying to ANSI 2011no
APIs and other access methodsgRPC (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 languagesGo
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
Python
.Net
Clojure
Elixir
Go
Groovy
Haskell
Java
JavaScript
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby
Scala
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresnoyes infoUser defined Procedures and Functions
Triggersnoyes infovia event handler
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesShardingyes using Neo4j Fabric
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesMulti-source replication with 3 replicas for regional instances.Causal Clustering using Raft protocol infoavailable in in Enterprise Version only
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsyes infousing Google Cloud Dataflowno
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemImmediate ConsistencyCausal and Eventual Consistency configurable in Causal Cluster setup
Immediate Consistency in stand-alone mode
Foreign keys infoReferential integrityyes infoby using interleaved tables, this features focuses more on performance improvements than on referential integrityyes infoRelationships in graphs
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of dataACID infoStrict serializable isolationACID
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.no
User concepts infoAccess controlAccess rights for users, groups and roles based on Google Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM)Users, roles and permissions. Pluggable authentication with supported standards (LDAP, Active Directory, Kerberos)
More information provided by the system vendor
Google Cloud SpannerNeo4j
News

Simplify Modern Application Development With GraphQL on Neo4j AuraDB
30 April 2025

Text2Cypher: The Impact of Difficult Example Selection
29 April 2025

This Week in Neo4j: MCP, Snowflake, GenAI, GraphRAG and more
26 April 2025

Is a Knowledge Graph a Graph Database?
25 April 2025

Transform Static Risk Assessment Into a Dynamic Data-Driven Strategy
22 April 2025

We invite representatives of system vendors to contact us for updating and extending the system information,
and for displaying vendor-provided information such as key customers, competitive advantages and market metrics.

Related products and services

We invite representatives of vendors of related products to contact us for presenting information about their offerings here.

More resources
Google Cloud SpannerNeo4j
DB-Engines blog posts

Applying Graph Analytics to Game of Thrones
12 June 2019, Amy Hodler & Mark Needham, Neo4j (guest author)

MySQL, PostgreSQL and Redis are the winners of the March ranking
2 March 2016, Paul Andlinger

The openCypher Project: Help Shape the SQL for Graphs
22 December 2015, Emil Eifrem (guest author)

show all

Recent citations in the news

Google Cloud Introduces HDD Tier for Spanner Database, Cutting Cold Storage Costs by 80%
22 March 2025, infoq.com

New features make Google's Spanner a database for AI
1 August 2024, TechTarget

Google Cloud Spanner gets dual-region configuration option
23 July 2024, InfoWorld

Google Cloud expands its database portfolio with new AI capabilities
1 August 2024, TechCrunch

Google Releases Spanner Graph into General Availability
19 February 2025, infoq.com

provided by Google News

How Neo4j Uses Graph Technology With LLMs to Replace SaaS Applications
29 April 2025, Analytics India Magazine

Data Science Firm Neo4j Reportedly Prepping IPO
19 November 2024, PYMNTS.com

Neo4j Surpasses $200M in Revenue, Accelerates Leadership in GenAI-Driven Graph Technology
19 November 2024, PR Newswire

Discover Graph Databases with Neo4j and PHP
7 November 2024, SitePoint

Database startup Neo4j embraces AI to supercharge growth
19 November 2024, TechCrunch

provided by Google News



Share this page

Featured Products

RaimaDB logo

RaimaDB, embedded database for mission-critical applications. When performance, footprint and reliability matters.
Try RaimaDB for free.

SingleStore logo

The data platform to build your intelligent applications.
Try it free.

Datastax Astra logo

Bring all your data to Generative AI applications with vector search enabled by the most scalable
vector database available.
Try for Free

Neo4j logo

See for yourself how a graph database can make your life easier.
Use Neo4j online for free.

Milvus logo

Vector database designed for GenAI, fully equipped for enterprise implementation.
Try Managed Milvus for Free

Present your product here