DBMS > JanusGraph vs. Neo4j

System Properties Comparison JanusGraph vs. Neo4j

Please select another system to include it in the comparison.

Our visitors often compare JanusGraph and Neo4j with NebulaGraph, ArangoDB and TinkerGraph.

Editorial information provided by DB-Engines

Name

Description

A Graph DBMS optimized for distributed clusters

It was forked from the latest code base of Titan in January 2017

Scalable, ACID-compliant graph database designed with a high-performance distributed cluster architecture, available in self-hosted and cloud offerings

Primary database model

Graph DBMS

DB-Engines Ranking measures the popularity of database management systems
Trend Chart

Score	1.78
Rank	#127	Overall
	#10	Graph DBMS

Score	47.91
Rank	#20	Overall
	#1	Graph DBMS

Website

janusgraph.org

neo4j.com

Technical documentation

docs.janusgraph.org

neo4j.com/docs

Developer

Linux Foundation; originally developed as Titan by Aurelius

Neo4j, Inc.

Initial release

2017

2007

Current release

1.0.0, October 2023

5.23, August 2024

License

Commercial or Open Source

Open Source

Apache 2.0

Open Source

GPL version3, commercial licenses available

Cloud-based only

Only available as a cloud service

DBaaS offerings (sponsored links)

Database as a Service

Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed.

Implementation language

Java

Java, Scala

Server operating systems

Linux
OS X
Unix
Windows

Linux

Can also be used server-less as embedded Java database.
OS X
Solaris
Windows

Data scheme

yes

schema-free and schema-optional

Typing

predefined data types such as float or date

yes

XML support

Some form of processing data in XML format, e.g. support for XML data structures, and/or support for XPath, XQuery or XSLT.

Secondary indexes

yes

pluggable indexing subsystem, by default Apache Lucene

SQL

Support of SQL

APIs and other access methods

Java API
TinkerPop Blueprints
TinkerPop Frames
TinkerPop Gremlin
TinkerPop Rexster

Bolt protocol
Cypher query language
Java API
Neo4j-OGM

Object Graph Mapper
RESTful HTTP API
Spring Data Neo4j
TinkerPop 3

Supported programming languages

Clojure
Java
Python

.Net
Clojure
Elixir
Go
Groovy
Haskell
Java
JavaScript
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby
Scala

Server-side scripts

Stored procedures

yes

User defined Procedures and Functions

Triggers

yes

via event handler

Partitioning methods

Methods for storing different data on different nodes

yes

depending on the used storage backend (e.g. Cassandra, HBase, BerkeleyDB)

yes using Neo4j Fabric

Replication methods

Methods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodes

yes

Causal Clustering using Raft protocol

available in in Enterprise Version only

MapReduce

Offers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methods

yes

via Faunus, a graph analytics engine

Consistency concepts

Methods to ensure consistency in a distributed system

Eventual Consistency
Immediate Consistency

Causal and Eventual Consistency configurable in Causal Cluster setup
Immediate Consistency in stand-alone mode

Foreign keys

Referential integrity

yes

Relationships in graphs

yes

Relationships in graphs

Transaction concepts

Support to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of data

ACID

Concurrency

Support for concurrent manipulation of data

yes

Durability

Support for making data persistent

yes

Supports various storage backends: Cassandra, HBase, Berkeley DB, Akiban, Hazelcast

yes

User concepts

Access control

User authentification and security via Rexster Graph Server

Users, roles and permissions. Pluggable authentication with supported standards (LDAP, Active Directory, Kerberos)

More information provided by the system vendor

News

Mahabharata 2.0: From Scrolls to Soundwaves (Part 4)
19 May 2025

Announcing the Neo4j Graph Workload for Microsoft Fabric
15 May 2025

Run Cypher From Java
13 May 2025

Integrating Neo4j With LangChain4j for GraphRAG Vector Stores and Retrievers
12 May 2025

This Week in Neo4j: NODES, Knowledge Graph, Graph Analytics, MCP and more
10 May 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

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

Database Deep Dives: JanusGraph
8 August 2019, IBM

Update Nordstrom Builds Flexible Backend Ops with Kubernetes, Spark and JanusGraph
28 March 2022, InApps Technology

The year of the graph: Getting graphic, going native, reshaping the landscape
8 January 2018, ZDNET

Advantages of graph databases: Easier data modeling, analytics
23 January 2019, TechTarget

Building a Graph Database on AWS Using Amazon DynamoDB and Titan
22 October 2015, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

provided by Google News

NASA jettisons Neo4j database for Memgraph citing costs
7 May 2025, theregister.com

GraphRAG With Python And Neoj
20 May 2025, i-programmer.info

Neo4j Brings Graph Analytics to Any Data Platform
14 May 2025, CDOTrends

Neo4j goes serverless, bringing graph analytics to any data source
7 May 2025, SiliconANGLE

Neo4j Launches Industry's First Graph Analytics Offering For Any Data Platform
7 May 2025, PR Newswire

provided by Google News

Share this page