Search index: Search Option Comparison
Choosing which full-text search engine to use for a specific graph vendor is not always obvious.
For each graph vendor, this page will help you list your options and compare their pros and cons.
Column names definitions
| Feature | Definition |
|---|---|
| Onboarding | Does this search option require additional configuration, or can it be used out-of-the-box with the associated graph database? |
| Fast indexing | How fast is indexing? Note that this is a relative metric; while some search options may be faster than others, speed will depend on the complexity of your data model and your hardware limitations. |
| Automatic index sync | Are changes made to the graph DB propagated to the index automatically? |
| Search scalability | How well search queries perform for large graph databases? The actual upper limit on the performance of a given option will vary from vendor to vendor. |
| Advanced search | If advanced search features are available, such as numerical and date range search operators. |
Neo4j
| Search option | Onboarding | Fast indexing | Automatic index sync | Search scalability | Advanced search |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Embedded Elasticsearch | Plug-and-play | No | No | Will not scale beyond ~100M nodes | Yes (requires configuration) |
| External Elasticsearch (v7+) | Requires Elasticsearch installation and configuration | No | No | Yes (by adding hardware to Elasticsearch cluster) | Yes (requires configuration) |
| Neo4j Search (v4.0.2+) | Plug-and-play | Yes | Yes | Limited | No |
| Elasticsearch Incremental Indexing | Requires External Elasticsearch (versions compatible with Linkurious Enterprise) and Neo4j v4.0.2 and above | Yes (except the first full indexing) | Yes (requires configuration) | Yes (by adding hardware to Elasticsearch cluster) | Yes (requires configuration) |
Amazon Neptune
| Search option | Onboarding | Fast indexing | Automatic index sync | Search scalability | Advanced search |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Embedded Elasticsearch | Plug-and-play | No | No | Will not scale beyond ~100M nodes | Yes (requires configuration) |
| External Elasticsearch (v7+) | Requires Elasticsearch installation and configuration | No | No | Yes (by adding hardware to Elasticsearch cluster) | Yes (requires configuration) |
| OpenSearch for Amazon Neptune | Requires configuration in Amazon Neptune & OpenSearch | Yes | Yes | Yes (by adding resources in OpenSearch) | No |
Memgraph
| Search option | Onboarding | Fast indexing | Automatic index sync | Search scalability | Advanced search |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Embedded Elasticsearch | Plug-and-play | No | No | Will not scale beyond ~100M nodes | Yes (requires configuration) |
| External Elasticsearch (v7+) | Requires Elasticsearch installation and configuration | No | No | Yes (by adding hardware to Elasticsearch cluster) | Yes (requires configuration) |
Google Spanner
| Search option | Onboarding | Fast indexing | Automatic index sync | Search scalability | Advanced search |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Spanner Search | Requires manually creating the search indexes in the Spanner SQL database | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Cosmos DB
| Search option | Onboarding | Fast indexing | Automatic index sync | Search scalability | Advanced search |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AzureSearch | Requires AzureSearch setup (easy) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Embedded Elasticsearch | Plug-and-play | No | No | Will not scale beyond ~1M nodes (missing backpressure) | Yes (requires configuration) |
| External Elasticsearch (v7+) | Requires Elasticsearch installation and configuration | No | No | Will not scale beyond ~1M nodes (missing backpressure) | Yes (requires configuration) |