Couchbase vs Neo4j Graph Database comparison

Couchbase and Neo4j are both solutions in the NoSQL Databases category. Couchbase is ranked #6 with an average rating of 7.8, while Neo4j is ranked #9 with an average rating of 9.0. Couchbase holds a 10.1% mindshare in ND, compared to Neo4j’s 4.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Couchbase users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Neo4j users who would recommend it.

Couchbase

Read 15 Couchbase reviews

2,139 Views
1,418 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Neo4j Graph Database

Read 6 Neo4j Graph Database reviews

716 Views
503 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Couchbase

Neo4j Graph Database

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 7, 2025

Neo4j Graph Database and Couchbase are competing in the NoSQL database market. Neo4j holds the upper hand in ease of use and managing data relationships, while Couchbase excels in performance and scalability, beneficial for larger datasets.

Features:Neo4j focuses on graph processing capabilities, highlighting its strength in managing data connections and executing complex network analyses. It supports a variety of data types and provides simpler queries compared to traditional databases. Its solution includes an interface called Bloom, enhancing its user interactions. Couchbase's distributed architecture offers superior caching and multiple database paradigm support within a single product. It provides dynamic API integration, advanced search features, and handles high-demand operations efficiently. Couchbase's document indexing and query language support a wide range of storage and retrieval tasks.

Room for Improvement:Neo4j could benefit from enhancements in scaling capabilities to match its competitors' performance levels for larger datasets. Improvements in advanced caching to accelerate retrieval times could also be advantageous. Some users suggest optimizing UI for a more intuitive user experience. Couchbase may need to simplify its configuration processes for beginner users and optimize its interface to support more intuitive navigation. Addressing occasional latency issues in extremely high-load environments could also improve user satisfaction.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:Couchbase offers a versatile deployment model that supports cloud and on-prem environments, accompanied by comprehensive customer service. Its solution configuration is considered user-friendly for experienced users. Neo4j has a less complex deployment process, facilitating easier initial integration for organizations. It provides solid support to assist users effectively, making the transition less daunting.

Pricing and ROI:Neo4j typically comes with a higher setup cost but provides significant ROI for applications that rely on detailed relationship insights, such as fraud detection and recommendation systems. Couchbase, on the other hand, offers competitive pricing, focusing on reducing long-term operational costs through efficient data management. Its cost-effectiveness appeals to businesses needing extensive data operations with moderate initial expenses.

To learn more, read our detailed Couchbase vs. Neo4j Graph Database Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Couchbase vs. Neo4j Graph Database

April 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Couchbase

Ranking in NoSQL Databases

6th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Neo4j Graph Database

Ranking in NoSQL Databases

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the NoSQL Databases category, the mindshare of Couchbase is 10.1%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Neo4j Graph Database is 4.9%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NoSQL Databases

Featured Reviews

Ravi_Singh

Manager at Tesco

Supports multiple data models and offers AI capabilities

With some of the operations, we used to face some challenges with scalability. Although it worked pretty well, in some scenarios, we noticed issues where the replications and the sharding were not happening correctly. In recent versions, we also faced some issues in terms of enabling advanced operations like FTS and vectors. Although it works pretty well, in some places, we do face challenges, especially on a heavy scale. I think all issues are being addressed in the latest version of Couchbase. The resources are not that good for Couchbase. The tool's documentation is pretty extensive, but if you go for any kind of courses or tutorials, there are very limited resources available. It also becomes a little bit challenging for new people to get onboard into it. MongoDB and other such open-source database tools perform really well as they're really widely adopted, and they have resources available to get you onboarded pretty quickly. I think that we do face some challenges with Couchbase, but luckily, we have the tool's enterprise version solution, so we get all the support from the product team.

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Raju Tsn

VP odfTechnology at Enterpi Software Solutions Private Limited

Delivers superior search and data aggregation capabilities

Neo4j helps with advanced search needs, providing good search results and aggregates compared to MongoDB. Aggregating with MongoDB can be difficult; however, with Neo4j, it's easier. Aggregating data, backing up, and creating new clusters are user-friendly from the back end. In DevOps web deployment, we noticed no database issues. We created Docker instances and set them up efficiently, managing databases up to 50 gigabytes.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable features are the ease of application and the merging of data."

"It can scale horizontally, and we are looking to expand our capacity."

"Investing in Couchbase has significantly lowered our operational costs and increased throughput, reducing costs by half and supporting around five times the non-peak user volume during peak hours."

"It is highly available for support and does not impact our operations significantly during failures."

"The valuable features of Couchbase are the many documents and index types, and they made a lot of features available enabling us to use it as a complete solution for our needs."

"The most valuable features of Couchbase include the key-value storage due to its speed and the multi-master capability, which provides more speed and scalability compared to master-slave databases."

"I can input any kind of document into the solution and it is integrated using a dynamic API. This has been the most valuable aspect of using this solution."

"The main advantages were associated with it being a no SQL database. It helped us send out metrics or rewards to multiple players in our game at a very low latency."

More Couchbase pros

"As a graph database, I am surprised at their performance and response time."

"Enables people to understand what the business problem is and how the technology helps."

"For now, the tool doesn't break down or stop, so it is quite stable."

"It is good for search-based tasks, providing solid search results and aggregate results."

"Creates the ability to visualize outputs."

"The solution's best feature is how it differs from traditional SQL databases. It's hard to map people and find those near me in SQL, which requires long, complex queries. Neo4j Graph Database makes this easier with simpler queries. It also supports more data types, like JSON, which SQL doesn't."

Cons

"The scripting language for this solution could be improved. A big selling point is that they're like SQL server but there is still quite a lot of missing functionality."

"Although it worked pretty well, in some scenarios, we noticed issues where the replications and the sharding were not happening correctly."

"The performance could be quicker and better, especially in the querying process."

"We would like to have a better management of Kubernetes with the free, open source version of Couchbase. We don't have any major complaints other than that."

"The platform's grouping features need improvement."

"The main problem has been with integration with the services."

"I have tried multiple libraries in a demo they provide and it works fine, but when it merges with libraries, it creates a problem."

"Needs some capacity planning to deal with too much memory, CPUs and displays."

More Couchbase cons

"For me, when the tool was deployed on an on-premises model, it was a little bit difficult the first time."

"The tool could improve by having more resources, especially for Golang, which we use. It lacks good basic libraries and doesn't have an ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) tool, which many NoSQL databases have. We thought about building an ORM for the Neo4j Graph Database but are too busy."

"So far, we have not had any issues and are happy with the product in general."

"There are concerns about performance and whether the tool can necessarily scale to provide the solution."

"The only problem is that the community is quite small."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of this solution is better than some of the other competitors."

"It can range between 25,000 to 40,000 Euros per year depending on company requirements."

"The licensing cost of Couchbase is quite expensive compared to other databases."

"We estimate that it's not very expensive, however, the pricing that you can get from the account managers, e.g. the public pricing, could be a bit expensive."

"It seems very reasonable. It's a lot cheaper than Redis, but we've got an enterprise license. So, it's about normal. It's not outrageous in price as far as we've seen. From Couchbase, there's no additional fee as far as I'm aware, but when you're integrating, there's an additional fee because a lot of times, they don't have an integration stack."

"I wouldn't say Couchbase offers good value for money."

"I would rate this solution a nine out of ten for pricing as it is affordable."

"The tool is not expensive."

"The solution is open source so that you can use it for free. They also offer an enterprise version with its billing. If your company is earning well, I suggest using the enterprise version. Otherwise, you can deploy it on your own cloud and pay based on usage."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Energy/Utilities Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Couchbase?

I would like Couchbase to provide more functionality via the UI, as some operations, such as time-based scaling, currently require using the API. While I find Couchbase's feature set to be generall...

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What is your primary use case for Couchbase?

Our primary use case for Couchbase is related to the iGaming industry, particularly for high-performance reads and writes to meet our SLA for high volumes. We have a particular use case where there...

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What advice do you have for others considering Couchbase?

Couchbase, especially under high load conditions, is imperative for providing a great user experience due to its stability and scalability, which reduces costs and scales efficiently. I rate Couchb...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Neo4j?

The solution is open source so that you can use it for free. They also offer an enterprise version with its billing. If your company is earning well, I suggest using the enterprise version. Otherwi...

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What needs improvement with Neo4j Graph Database?

The only problem is that the community is quite small.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Neo4j Graph Database?

We have used Neo4j in microservices. In one of the microservices, we used Neo4j since we have some requirements similar to MongoDB plus Elasticsearch. It performs both functions. Instead of doing t...

See all answers

Comparisons

MongoDB vs Couchbase

Compared 33% of the time

Cassandra vs Couchbase

Compared 27% of the time

ScyllaDB vs Couchbase

Compared 21% of the time

Redis vs Couchbase

Compared 10% of the time

Aerospike Database 7 vs Couchbase

Compared 4% of the time

More Couchbase Competitors

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 16% of the time

SQL Server vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 13% of the time

MongoDB vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 12% of the time

Aerospike Database 7 vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 10% of the time

Cassandra vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 10% of the time

More Neo4j Graph Database Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Couchbase

May 2025

Download Couchbase product report

Buyer's Guide

Neo4j Graph Database

April 2025

Download Neo4j Graph Database product report

Overview

Couchbase is a versatile database solution for healthcare, automation, e-commerce, gaming, caching, and analytics. It supports 920 nodes and 420 clusters, making it scalable and extensible. Its valuable features include multiple database paradigms, low latency, dynamic API integration, Sync Gateway for mobile apps, and a user-friendly interface.

Couchbase has helped organizations with low latency metrics, large user updates, and cost-effective caching. Its built-in data replication and disaster recovery features make it a complete solution for various needs.

Couchbase

Neo4j is the graph database solution allowing the analysis of complex relationships and patterns in data, leading to better decision-making and improved business processes. The graph database offers easy data integration from multiple sources, providing a more comprehensive view.

The most valuable aspect of a graph database is its performance and response time, as it does not use the join function and only has nodes and raw data. Overall, Neo4j, as a global first-ranking solution, has helped organizations become more efficient and effective in data analysis and decision-making processes.

Neo4j

Sample Customers

Amadeus, Cisco, Comcast, LinkedIn, GE

Walmart, Telenor, Wazoku, Adidas, Cerved, GameSys, eBay, Schleich, ICIJ, die Bayerisch, Megree, InfoJobs, LinkedIn

Buyer's Guide

Couchbase vs. Neo4j Graph Database

April 2025

Free Report: Couchbase vs. Neo4j Graph Database

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