head to head · open source
neo4j vs Apache Druid
neo4j has 17,241 GitHub stars, 2,703 forks, 252 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Apache Druid has 14,054 stars, 3,789 forks, 784 open issues and last shipped yesterday. neo4j leads on adoption by 23% (17,241 vs 14,054 stars). neo4j is written in Java under GPL-3.0; Apache Druid is written in Java under Apache-2.0. neo4j has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Apache Druid 27%. Apache Druid 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
| neo4j | Apache Druid | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 14K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-10 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 3.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick neo4j if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Apache Druid if
- You want the Apache Druid feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Apache Druid fits your workflow better
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 →
About Apache Druid
Apache Druid is a high performance, open source real time analytics database written in Java and licensed under Apache 2.0, built for teams that need sub second OLAP queries and fast ingest for UIs, operational queries, and high concurrency workloads.
read the full Apache Druid overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is neo4j or Apache Druid more popular?
neo4j has 17,241 GitHub stars and Apache Druid has 14,054. neo4j has the larger community by that measure.
Are neo4j and Apache Druid free?
Both are open source. neo4j is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Apache Druid under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between neo4j and Apache Druid?
neo4j is written in Java and Apache Druid 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, neo4j or Apache Druid?
Choose neo4j if you want the larger community (17,241 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Apache Druid if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.