Introduction
Neo4j is the world’s leading graph database. Its architecture is designed for optimal management, storage and traversal of nodes and relationships. The database takes a property graph approach which is beneficial for both traversal performance and operations runtime. Neo4j offers dedicated memory management as well as memory efficient operations.
It is scalable and can be deployed as a standalone server or scaled out across multiple machines in a fault-tolerant cluster for production environments. Other features for production applications include hot backups and extensive monitoring.
Cypher is a declarative query language for graphs. Learn the details in the Cypher Manual. The recommended way of interacting with the database programmatically is either through the official drivers, or using the Java API.
Editions
There are two editions of Neo4j to choose from: Community Edition and Enterprise Edition:
Community Edition
The Community Edition is a fully functional edition of Neo4j, suitable for single instance deployments. It has full support for key Neo4j features, such as ACID compliance, Cypher, and programming APIs. It is ideal for learning Neo4j, for do-it-yourself projects, and for applications in small workgroups.
Enterprise Edition
The Enterprise Edition extends the functionality of Community Edition to include key features for performance and scalability, such as a clustering architecture for high availability and online backup functionality. Additional security features include role-based access control and LDAP support; for example, Active Directory. It is the choice for production systems with requirements for scale and availability, such as commercial solutions and critical internal solutions.
Feature details
| Edition | Community | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|
Property graph model |
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Native graph processing & storage |
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ACID transactions |
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Cypher graph query language |
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Neo4j Browser with syntax highlighting |
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Bolt binary protocol |
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Language drivers for C#, Java, JavaScript & Python |
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High-performance native API |
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High-performance caching |
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Cost-based query optimizer |
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Graph algorithms library to support AI initiatives |
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Fast writes via native label indexes |
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Composite indexes |
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Full-text node & relationship indexes |
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Slotted and Compiled Cypher runtimes |
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Property-existence constraints |
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Node Key schema constraints |
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Listing and terminating running queries |
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Auto-reuse of space |
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Role-based access control |
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Subgraph access control |
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Property-level security |
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LDAP and Active Directory integration |
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Kerberos security option |
| Edition | Community | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|
Causal Clustering for global scale applications |
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Multi-clustering |
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Enterprise lock manager accesses all cores on server |
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Intra-cluster encryption |
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Offline backups |
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Online backups |
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Encrypted backups |
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Rolling upgrades |
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Automatic cache warming |
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Routing and load balancing with Neo4j Drivers |
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Advanced monitoring |
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Graph size limitations |
34B nodes, 34B relationships, 68B properties |
No limit |
Bulk import tool |
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Bulk import tool, resumable |