Database Backends for Brick#

In this section, we provide an incomplete list of available commercial and open-source databases which support Brick features.

Feature List#

  • RDF model storage: does the database support the storage of RDF models (this should be yes for all of the below databases)

  • SPARQL support: does the database support the execution of SPARQL queries? The relevant standards are:

  • Reasoning/Inference: does the database support reasoning and inference on stored RDF models? Relevant features are:

    • what inference is supported: OWL-DL, OWL-RL, RDFS, OWL-Full, SHACL-AF

    • manual or automatic: is reasoning performed as a manual or batch processing task

  • SHACL support: does the database support the validation of RDF models using SHACL shapes?

  • Multiple Graphs: does the database support the storage of multiple graphs, and can those graphs be updated/queried independently?

  • Scaling and Performance: what are the scaling and performance properties of the database? This includes horizontal scaling capabilities, query performance and storage requirements

Database List#

Info

If there is a missing database or our documentation is incomplete, please file an issue

HodDB#

HodDB is an open-source, high-performance, research-quality query processor

Links:

Features:

  • RDF model storage: HodDB supports the storage of RDF models on a local filesystem, using BadgerDB

  • SPARQL support: HodDB supports a subset of SPARQL 1.1, including property path queries and UNION (specifically not inserts). See the HodDB papers for a more precise list. HodDB also does not support the SPARQL API protocol, and instead requries use of a specific GRPC-based API

  • Reasoning/Inference: HodDB supports some basic inference — namely handling OWL inverse and transitive properties.

  • SHACL support: HodDB does not support SHACL

  • Multiple Graphs: HodDB supports the storage of multiple graphs which can be queried separately

  • Scaling and Performance: Due to the restricted query and update model, HodDB provides excellent SPARQL query performance on graphs up to a few hundred thousand nodes. HodDB currently does not support distributed storage

Allegrograph#

Allegrograph is a proprietary, commercial graph database supporting RDF and related technologies. Allegrograph also provides a free version with limited features

Links:

Features:

  • RDF model storage: The paid version of Allegograph supports horizontally scalable storage of RDF models; the base version stores RDF models on a single node

  • SPARQL support: Allegrograph supports full SPARQL 1.1

  • Reasoning/Inference: Allegrograph supports both OWL-RL and RDFS languages

  • SHACL support: Allegrograph supports SHACL validation but does not seem to support SHACL advanced features such as inference

  • Multiple Graphs: unknown

  • Scaling and Performance: Allegrograph demonstrates good performance on graphs typical of Brick

Oxigraph#

Apache Jena#

Blazegraph#

TopBraid#