head to head · open source
LightRAG vs neo4j
LightRAG has 39,738 GitHub stars, 5,589 forks, 222 open issues and last shipped today. neo4j has 17,241 stars, 2,703 forks, 252 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. LightRAG leads on adoption by 130% (39,738 vs 17,241 stars). LightRAG is written in Python under MIT; neo4j is written in Java under GPL-3.0. LightRAG has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, neo4j 16%. LightRAG was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| LightRAG | neo4j | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 17K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LightRAG if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick neo4j if
- You want the neo4j feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and neo4j fits your workflow better
About LightRAG
LightRAG is a Python retrieval augmented generation framework, released under the MIT licence and presented in an EMNLP 2025 paper, that builds a knowledge graph over documents so that queries can be answered from both graph structure and vector similarity.
read the full LightRAG overview →
About neo4j
Neo4j is a Java graph database released under GPL 3.0 that stores data as nodes and relationships and queries it with Cypher, aimed at developers, data engineers, and platform teams building connected data applications who would otherwise model those relationships as tables and joins.
read the full neo4j overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LightRAG or neo4j more popular?
LightRAG has 39,738 GitHub stars and neo4j has 17,241. LightRAG has the larger community by that measure.
Are LightRAG and neo4j free?
Both are open source. LightRAG is licensed under MIT and neo4j under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between LightRAG and neo4j?
LightRAG is written in Python and neo4j in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, LightRAG or neo4j?
Choose LightRAG if you want the larger community (39,738 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose neo4j if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.