Lance Graph vs Neo4j
Both are property graph databases queried with openCypher. Lance Graph (2025-09, Apache-2.0, Rust) ranks #58 this month; Neo4j (2007, GPL-3.0, Java) ranks #1.
| Attribute | Lance Graph | Neo4j |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Rank | #58 | #1 |
| Score | 46.9 | 83.3 |
| GitHub stars | 176 | 17.2k |
| Popularity | 41.5 | 97.3 |
| Activity | 44.9 | 86.7 |
| Community | 61.3 | 90.2 |
| Research | — | 98.6 |
| Fundamentals | ||
| Description | A graph query engine built on the Lance columnar format, supporting multimodal knowledge graphs in serverless environments. | 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. |
| Vendor | LanceDB Inc | Neo4j Inc |
| Model | Property Graph | Property Graph |
| Kind | query-engine | database |
| Category | Emerging | Established |
| First released | 2025-09 | 2007 |
| Status | active | active |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Java |
| Query languages | SQL, openCypher | Cypher, GQL |
| gdotv support | no | yes |
Feature scores — not surveyed for Lance Graph
| Feature | Lance Graph | Neo4j |
|---|---|---|
| Community & Business | ||
| Active development | — | ✓ |
| Commercial support | — | ✓ |
| Live community | — | ✓ |
| 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 | — | ✓ |
| 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 | — | ✓ |
| Read committed transaction | — | ✓ |
| Transaction support | — | ✓ |
| Schema & Security | ||
| Constraints | — | ✓ |
| Schema support | — | ✓ |
| Secondary indexes | — | ✓ |
| Server side procedures | — | ✓ |
| Triggers | — | ✓ |
| Authentication | — | ✓ |
| Authorization | — | ✓ |
| Data encryption | — | · |
Links
- Lance Graph · website · github · full profile
- Neo4j · website · github · full profile