What is NebulaGraph used for?

NebulaGraph is a distributed, horizontally scalable open-source graph database with an OpenCypher-compatible query language and Raft-based consistency. It is a good fit for knowledge graphs for AI applications, recommendation and social graph queries, and fraud and security analysis on connected data.

Is NebulaGraph open source?

Yes. NebulaGraph is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at vesoft-inc/nebula and is written mainly in C++.

Yes. NebulaGraph is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host NebulaGraph?

Yes. NebulaGraph can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is NebulaGraph an alternative to?

NebulaGraph is an open-source alternative to Amazon Neptune, Neo4j AuraDB and TigerGraph. Other open-source alternatives to Amazon Neptune include Dgraph, FalkorDB and Neo4j.

Is NebulaGraph actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to NebulaGraph was on 8 September 2026, and the latest release is v3.8.0, published on 17 May 2024. The project has 12k stars on GitHub.

NebulaGraph: open-source alternative to Amazon Neptune

About NebulaGraph

NebulaGraph, shown here as Nebula, is an open-source graph database designed to handle large volumes of connected data with low latency. It is distributed and scales out horizontally, and it is used for areas such as social networks, recommendation systems, knowledge graphs, security and fraud scenarios and AI.

Its architecture is symmetrically distributed with storage and computing separated, and it uses the Raft protocol for strong data consistency. Queries are written in a language compatible with openCypher, and role-based access control adds security. The project also provides different graph analytics algorithms, a set of tools for managing and monitoring a deployment, and topics that reference GraphRAG and knowledge graphs for AI.

NebulaGraph is written in C++ under the Apache 2.0 licence, so the source can be downloaded, modified and deployed as a back-end service. It can be built from source or tried in the cloud on AWS, and there is documentation, an FAQ and community discussions. It is part of the CNCF database landscape.

Key features

Distributed graph storage and querying
OpenCypher-compatible query language
Raft-based strong consistency
Storage and computing separation
Horizontal scalability across nodes
Role-based access control
Built-in graph analytics algorithms

Good fit for

→Knowledge graphs for AI applications
→Recommendation and social graph queries
→Fraud and security analysis on connected data

Built with: C++
Tags: graph-database; distributed; database; opencypher; raft; knowledge-graph; graphrag; scalable; cpp

NebulaGraph: questions and answers

What is NebulaGraph used for?: NebulaGraph is a distributed, horizontally scalable open-source graph database with an OpenCypher-compatible query language and Raft-based consistency. It is a good fit for knowledge graphs for AI applications, recommendation and social graph queries, and fraud and security analysis on connected data.
Is NebulaGraph open source?: Yes. NebulaGraph is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at vesoft-inc/nebula and is written mainly in C++.
Is NebulaGraph free?: Yes. NebulaGraph is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host NebulaGraph?: Yes. NebulaGraph can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is NebulaGraph an alternative to?: NebulaGraph is an open-source alternative to Amazon Neptune, Neo4j AuraDB and TigerGraph. Other open-source alternatives to Amazon Neptune include Dgraph, FalkorDB and Neo4j.
Is NebulaGraph actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to NebulaGraph was on 8 September 2026, and the latest release is v3.8.0, published on 17 May 2024. The project has 12k stars on GitHub.