Galactus DB vs Neo4j
Compatibility, measured performance, memory, licensing and how to move a Neo4j database across.
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Choosing a graph database.
Most graph databases can store nodes and relationships. They differ in how you query them, how they run and what they cost. These are the questions worth answering before you choose.
Galactus DB in one paragraph.
Galactus DB is a self-hosted property-graph database that speaks Cypher and Bolt. Graph algorithms, APOC utilities and vector, spatial and full-text indexes are built in. It runs as a single node from an 8 MB container image, works with the official Neo4j drivers and native drivers in seven languages, and the free Developer edition needs no account or licence key.
| Question | Why it matters | Galactus DB |
|---|---|---|
| Which query language? | Cypher reads as patterns and is the most widely taught property-graph language. Gremlin and SPARQL suit different models and tools. | Cypher, with documented coverage and limits. |
| Which drivers? | Your application language needs a maintained driver, and existing code may already use one. | The official Neo4j drivers over Bolt 4.4 and 5, and native drivers in seven languages. |
| How will it run? | A managed service, a cluster and a single self-hosted node have very different costs and failure modes. | Self-hosted, single node, on Linux AMD64 or ARM64. No replication or failover. |
| How large will the graph grow? | Some databases page the whole graph from disk; others keep structure in memory for speed. | Properties live on disk behind a bounded cache. Graph structure and indexes stay in memory. |
| How much of the work is writes? | Concurrent writers, durable commits and bulk loads stress a database differently. | Reads run together; one write executes at a time. Group commit shares disk syncs between writers. |
| Do you need graph analytics? | Centrality, communities and similarity are often why teams adopt a graph in the first place. | Built in: centrality, community detection, similarity, FastRP and pathfinding. |
| What will it cost? | Licence terms decide what you can run in production and what you pay as you grow. | Free Developer and Personal editions. Commercial is $400 per core, per instance, per year. |
Where Galactus DB fits.
- You want Cypher and Bolt on infrastructure you control.
- You are moving from Neo4j and want your drivers and most queries to keep working.
- Indexed lookups, short traversals and batch loads dominate the workload.
- You want graph algorithms and vector search without installing plugins.
- Memory and image size matter, such as on small servers or at the edge.
Where something else may fit better
- You need a replicated cluster or automatic failover.
- The graph is much larger than the memory you can give it.
- Many clients write at once and need parallel write execution.
- You need label- or property-level access control.
- You rely on a persistent graph catalogue or ML pipelines.
Comparisons.
Compatibility and limits
Exactly which Cypher, APOC, GDS and Bolt features are supported, and what is not.
Compatibility guideBenchmarks
Bulk loading, lookups, traversals, concurrency and memory, measured side by side.
Read the resultsQuestions
What is the best graph database?
It depends on the query language you want, how you deploy, how large the graph will grow and how much of the work is writes. Choose a property-graph database with Cypher if you want readable pattern queries and Neo4j-compatible drivers. Choose a replicated cluster if you need high availability today. Then measure the shortlist on your own queries and data.
When is Galactus DB a good choice?
When you want a self-hosted Cypher database that is small to run and quick for indexed reads, short traversals and batch loading, with graph algorithms built in rather than added as plugins. It suits graphs whose structure and indexes fit in memory, served from a single node.
When should I choose something else?
If you need a replicated cluster or automatic failover, a graph much larger than memory, parallel write execution, label- and property-level access control, or a persistent graph catalogue with ML pipelines. Galactus DB does not offer those today.
Measure it on your own workload.
The Developer edition is free and needs no account or licence key. Bring your queries, or a Neo4j dump, and see how they run.