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Head-to-head · Knowledge Graph Software

GraphDB vs Ontop

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 5 checks side by side
Higher score GraphDB #11 in Knowledge Graph Software 7.9/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit GraphDB
Ontop #15 in Knowledge Graph Software 7.7/10 Open source ✓ 3 of 4 features Visit Ontop

GraphDB leads on 0 checks, Ontop on 0, and 5 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 5 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreGraphDB · 7.9/10
  • Free planonly GraphDB
  • Most featuresGraphDB · 4 of 4

GraphDB scores higher on our rubric for knowledge graph software: 7.9 against 7.7 out of 10; our editors rank them #11 and #15.

GraphDB is the better fit for teams needing a full-featured RDF knowledge graph. Ontop is the better fit for virtual knowledge graphs over relational databases.

  • GraphDB fits best

    Teams needing a full-featured RDF knowledge graph

  • Ontop fits best

    Virtual knowledge graphs over relational databases

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Side by side

Feature GraphDB 7.9/10 Visit ↗ Ontop 7.7/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 7.9 7.7
Ranking #11 in Knowledge Graph Software #15 in Knowledge Graph Software
Best for Teams needing a full-featured RDF knowledge graph Virtual knowledge graphs over relational databases
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free
Starting price — Open source
Free plan ✓ (best) Not checked yet
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted, Desktop Self-hosted
Platforms Web, Windows, macOS, Linux Windows, macOS, Linux
Support Community, Docs Community, Docs
Integrations 7 integrations 20 integrations
Built for Small business, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features GraphDB 4/4 · Ontop 3/4
Ontology modeling ✓ ✓
Semantic reasoning ✓ ✓
RDF/SPARQL support ✓ ✓
Graph visualization ✓ (best) Not checked yet
Specs
Import formats Turtle, Turtle-star, N-Triples, N-Quads, JSON-LD, NDJSON-LD, RDF/JSON, RDF/XML, TriX, TriG-star, BinaryRDF RDF/XML, Turtle, N-Triples, N-Quads, TriG, JSON-LD, R2RML, Ontop mapping format
Deployment Both Both
Query languages SPARQL SPARQL
Our review
Pros
  • RDF 1.1, SPARQL 1.1, RDF-Star, and SPARQL-Star support
  • Reasoning across RDFS, OWL profiles, and custom rulesets
  • Visualization, imports, connectors, and enterprise clustering
  • Translates SPARQL queries into SQL for existing relational sources
  • Supports RDFS, OWL 2 QL, R2RML, and native Ontop mappings
  • Connects with databases including PostgreSQL, Snowflake, and BigQuery
Cons
  • Enterprise pricing is custom
  • GraphDB Free uses a single-core license
  • Free edition provides community support
  • Requires relational databases and mapping work as its foundation
  • Its open-source model requires teams to manage deployment themselves
  • Its focus is semantic querying rather than a broad application suite
Our verdict

GraphDB is an RDF-based semantic graph database for organizations building and managing knowledge graphs. It is suited to teams that need RDF and SPARQL support alongside ontology-driven inference, consistency checking, custom reasoning…

Read the review →

Ontop is an open-source virtual knowledge graph system for teams that need to expose relational database content as RDF without moving the underlying data. It translates SPARQL queries over the virtual graph into SQL executed by relational…

Read the review →
  1. GraphDBKnowledge Graph Software 7.9Free plan
  2. OntopKnowledge Graph Software 7.7Open source

Strengths and trade-offs

  • GraphDB — where it wins

    • RDF 1.1, SPARQL 1.1, RDF-Star, and SPARQL-Star support
    • Reasoning across RDFS, OWL profiles, and custom rulesets
    • Visualization, imports, connectors, and enterprise clustering

    Where it doesn't

    • Enterprise pricing is custom
    • GraphDB Free uses a single-core license
    • Free edition provides community support

  • Ontop — where it wins

    • Translates SPARQL queries into SQL for existing relational sources
    • Supports RDFS, OWL 2 QL, R2RML, and native Ontop mappings
    • Connects with databases including PostgreSQL, Snowflake, and BigQuery

    Where it doesn't

    • Requires relational databases and mapping work as its foundation
    • Its open-source model requires teams to manage deployment themselves
    • Its focus is semantic querying rather than a broad application suite

All knowledge graph software comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update