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JanusGraph VS NetworkX

Compare JanusGraph VS NetworkX and see what are their differences

JanusGraph logo JanusGraph

JanusGraph is a scalable graph database optimized for storing and querying graphs.

NetworkX logo NetworkX

NetworkX is a Python language software package for the creation, manipulation, and study of the...
  • JanusGraph Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-29
  • NetworkX Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-14

JanusGraph features and specs

  • Scalability
    JanusGraph is designed to support large-scale graph data processing, allowing it to handle huge graphs distributed across multiple machines effectively.
  • Compatibility
    It is compatible with various storage backends (like HBase, Apache Cassandra, and Google Bigtable) and indexing backends (such as Elasticsearch and Solr), providing flexibility in integration.
  • APIs and Queries
    JanusGraph supports the TinkerPop stack, enabling developers to use powerful graph traversal language Gremlin for query operations.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, JanusGraph benefits from community contributions and offers transparency and extensibility to users.
  • Transaction Support
    It provides ACID transactions, ensuring reliability and consistency in graph operations.

Possible disadvantages of JanusGraph

  • Complexity
    The configuration and optimization of JanusGraph can be complex due to its support for multiple backends and the various configurations required for different setups.
  • Performance Variability
    Performance can vary significantly depending on the chosen backend datastore and its configuration, requiring careful consideration and tuning.
  • Operational Overhead
    Managing the infrastructure, especially when using distributed storage solutions, can introduce significant operational overhead.
  • Community and Support
    While it is open source, the community is not as vast or active as some other database technologies, which may limit available support and resources.
  • Resource Intensity
    Running JanusGraph with large datasets and multiple distributed nodes can require substantial resources, both in terms of hardware and maintenance.

NetworkX features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    NetworkX provides a simple and intuitive API that makes it easy for both novices and experienced users to create, manipulate, and study the structure and dynamics of complex networks.
  • Comprehensive Documentation
    The library is well-documented with a vast number of examples and tutorials, aiding users in understanding and applying the features effectively.
  • Rich Functionality
    NetworkX offers numerous built-in functions to analyze network properties, perform algorithms like shortest path and clustering, and handle various graph types such as directed, undirected, and multigraphs.
  • Integration with Python Ecosystem
    Being a Python library, NetworkX integrates seamlessly with other scientific computing libraries like NumPy, SciPy, and Matplotlib, allowing for extensive data analysis and visualization.
  • Active Community
    NetworkX's active community of users and developers means continuous improvements and updates, as well as a wealth of shared knowledge and code to draw upon.

Possible disadvantages of NetworkX

  • Performance Limitations
    NetworkX may suffer from performance issues with extremely large graphs due to its in-memory data storage and Python's inherent single-threaded execution, making it less suitable for handling very large-scale networks.
  • Lack of Parallel Processing
    NetworkX does not natively support parallel processing within its operations, which can be a drawback when working with complex computations or very large graphs.
  • Memory Consumption
    Graphs and network data structures in NetworkX may consume a substantial amount of memory, especially with large datasets, potentially leading to inefficiencies.
  • Visualization Limitations
    While NetworkX provides basic plotting capabilities, for more advanced and interactive visualizations, additional libraries like Matplotlib or Plotly might be needed.
  • Scalability Constraints
    The library is not designed to work efficiently with very large networks compared to other frameworks specialized for scalability, such as Graph-tool or igraph.

JanusGraph videos

Ted Wilmes on the state of JanusGraph 2018

More videos:

  • Review - Incorporating JanusGraph into your Scylla Ecosystem

NetworkX videos

Directed Network Analysis - Simulating a Social Network Using Networkx in Python - Tutorial 28

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to JanusGraph and NetworkX)
NoSQL Databases
58 58%
42% 42
Graph Databases
49 49%
51% 51
Databases
53 53%
47% 47
Big Data
35 35%
65% 65

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NetworkX seems to be a lot more popular than JanusGraph. While we know about 35 links to NetworkX, we've tracked only 2 mentions of JanusGraph. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

JanusGraph mentions (2)

  • Graph Databases vs Relational Databases: What and why?
    First, you need to choose a specific graph database platform to work with, such as Neo4j, OrientDB, JanusGraph, Arangodb or Amazon Neptune. Once you have selected a platform, you can then start working with graph data using the platform's query language. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • QOMPLX: Using Scylla with JanusGraph for Cybersecurity
    QOMPLX partnered with the graph database experts at Expero to implement their system with JanusGraph, which uses Scylla as an underlying fast and scalable storage layer. We had the privilege to learn from their use case at Scylla Summit this January, which we share with you today. Source: about 4 years ago

NetworkX mentions (35)

  • Representing Graphs in PostgreSQL
    If you are interested in the subject, also take a look at NetworkDisk[1] which enable users of NetworkX[2] which maps graphs to databases. [1] https://networkdisk.inria.fr/ [2] https://networkx.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Build the dependency graph of your BigQuery pipelines at no cost: a Python implementation
    In the project we used Python lib networkx and a DiGraph object (Direct Graph). To detect a table reference in a Query, we use sqlglot, a SQL parser (among other things) that works well with Bigquery. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Custom libraries and utility tools for challenges
    If you program in Python, can use NetworkX for that. But it's probably a good idea to implement the basic algorithms yourself at least one time. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Google open-sources their graph mining library
    For those wanting to play with graphs and ML I was browsing the arangodb docs recently and I saw that it includes integrations to various graph libraries and machine learning frameworks [1]. I also saw a few jupyter notebooks dealing with machine learning from graphs [2]. Integrations include: * NetworkX -- https://networkx.org/ * DeepGraphLibrary -- https://www.dgl.ai/ * cuGraph (Rapids.ai Graph) --... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • org-roam-pygraph: Build a graph of your org-roam collection for use in Python
    Org-roam-ui is a great interactive visualization tool, but its main use is visualization. The hope of this library is that it could be part of a larger graph analysis pipeline. The demo provides an example graph visualization, but what you choose to do with the resulting graph certainly isn't limited to that. See for example networkx. Source: about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing JanusGraph and NetworkX, you can also consider the following products

neo4j - Meet Neo4j: The graph database platform powering today's mission-critical enterprise applications, including artificial intelligence, fraud detection and recommendations.

Apache TinkerPop - Apache TinkerPop is a graph computing framework for both graph databases (OLTP) and graph analytic systems (OLAP).

Azure Cosmos DB - NoSQL JSON database for rapid, iterative app development.

RedisGraph - A high-performance graph database implemented as a Redis module.

ArangoDB - A distributed open-source database with a flexible data model for documents, graphs, and key-values.

OrientDB - OrientDB - The World's First Distributed Multi-Model NoSQL Database with a Graph Database Engine.