head to head · open source
drawDB vs neo4j
drawDB has 39,572 GitHub stars, 3,248 forks, 241 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. neo4j has 17,241 stars, 2,703 forks, 252 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. drawDB leads on adoption by 130% (39,572 vs 17,241 stars). drawDB is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; neo4j is written in Java under GPL-3.0. drawDB has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, neo4j 16%. drawDB was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (database), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| drawDB | neo4j | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 17K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick drawDB if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- 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 drawDB
drawDB is a free, open source, browser based database entity relationship diagram (ERD) editor and SQL generator for developers, data modellers, and teams who need to design database schemas and turn them into SQL scripts without creating an account.
read the full drawDB 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 drawDB or neo4j more popular?
drawDB has 39,572 GitHub stars and neo4j has 17,241. drawDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are drawDB and neo4j free?
Both are open source. drawDB is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and neo4j under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between drawDB and neo4j?
drawDB is written in JavaScript 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, drawDB or neo4j?
Choose drawDB if you want the larger community (39,572 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose neo4j if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.