What is TerminusDB used for?

TerminusDB is a version-controlled document and graph database that works like git for structured data, with commits, diffs, branching, and time-travel queries. It is a good fit for versioned system of record for structured data, collaborative knowledge graphs and auditable financial or industrial data.

Is TerminusDB open source?

Yes. TerminusDB is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at terminusdb/terminusdb and is written mainly in Prolog.

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

Can I self-host TerminusDB?

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

What are some alternatives to TerminusDB?

Similar open-source tools in the Databases category include Dgraph, Neo4j and SurrealDB. SaaS products in the same category include Amazon Neptune, MarkLogic and Neo4j AuraDB.

Is TerminusDB actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to TerminusDB was on 13 September 2026, and the latest release is v12.0.7, published on 10 August 2026. The project has 3.4k stars on GitHub.

TerminusDB: open-source databases

About TerminusDB

TerminusDB is an open-source distributed database that applies a git-style collaboration model to data. It stores JSON and JSON-LD documents and links them into a knowledge graph, and it is designed to act as a system of record where changes are tracked, reviewable, and queryable. It is released under the Apache-2.0 license.

Every update is a commit, so you can compare states with diffs, push, pull, and clone data between nodes, and query the database as it looked at any earlier commit. Data can be reached through a document REST API, GraphQL, or WOQL, its own logic-based query language that supports path queries and a datalog-style engine.

Version 12 adds high-precision decimal arithmetic and temporal reasoning aimed at industrial and financial uses, and the project now has new maintainers and an enterprise edition. TerminusDB can be run on your own infrastructure, and it is also tagged as a headless CMS, so it suits teams that need auditable, versioned structured data or a collaborative data backend.

Key features

Commit history for every data change
Diff and patch between database states
Push, pull, and clone between nodes
Time-travel queries at any commit
JSON documents linked in a knowledge graph
REST API, GraphQL, and WOQL query access
High-precision decimal and temporal reasoning

Good fit for

→Versioned system of record for structured data
→Collaborative knowledge graphs
→Auditable financial or industrial data

Built with: Prolog
Tags: database; graph-database; knowledge-graph; version-control; document-database; graphql; headless-cms; self-hosted

TerminusDB: questions and answers

What is TerminusDB used for?: TerminusDB is a version-controlled document and graph database that works like git for structured data, with commits, diffs, branching, and time-travel queries. It is a good fit for versioned system of record for structured data, collaborative knowledge graphs and auditable financial or industrial data.
Is TerminusDB open source?: Yes. TerminusDB is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at terminusdb/terminusdb and is written mainly in Prolog.
Is TerminusDB free?: Yes. TerminusDB is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host TerminusDB?: Yes. TerminusDB can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What are some alternatives to TerminusDB?: Similar open-source tools in the Databases category include Dgraph, Neo4j and SurrealDB. SaaS products in the same category include Amazon Neptune, MarkLogic and Neo4j AuraDB.
Is TerminusDB actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to TerminusDB was on 13 September 2026, and the latest release is v12.0.7, published on 10 August 2026. The project has 3.4k stars on GitHub.