Graph Databases: The Storage Layer, Execution Engine Layer, and Frontend Layer 🌟

February 10, 2026 · View on GitHub

Surveys, Summary and Tutorials

  1. Demystifying Graph Databases: Analysis and Taxonomy of Data Organization, System Designs, and Graph Queries (ACM Computing Surveys 2019) [Paper]
  • A very good overview of graph databases with clear illustrations! Strongly recommended for beginners.
  1. The journey of GraphScope [Link]

Overall System Archtecture

  1. GraphScope Flex: LEGO-like Graph Computing Stack (SIGMOD 2024)
  2. ByteGraph: A High-Performance Distributed Graph Database in ByteDance (VLDB 2022) [Paper]

The Storage Layer

  1. GraphAr: An Efficient Storage Scheme for Graph Data in Data Lakes (VLDB 2025) [Paper]
  • on-disk, immutable graph
  • LPG in datalake, based on Parquet/ORC.
  1. LiveGraph: A Transactional Graph Storage System with Purely Sequential Adjacency List Scans (VLDB 2020)
  2. Groot: Persistent Graph Store [Link]
  • on-disk, mutable graph
  • A distributed graph store built on top of the popular RocksDB key-value store. It adopts a row-oriented design to support frequent small updates to the graph. Each row is tagged with a snapshot ID as its version.
  1. Vineyard
  • in-memory
  1. GART: Bridging the Gap between Relational OLTP and Graph-based OLAP (ATC 2024)
  • in-memory, mutable graph
  • An in-memory system that extends hybrid transactional/analytical processing (HTAP) systems to support graph analytical processing (GAP).
  1. Columnar Storage and List-based Processing for Graph Database Management Systems (VLDB 2020) [Github (you can refer to the presentation video)]
  • in-memory, immutable graph, adjancency list and CSR?
  1. GraphOne: A Data Store for Real-time Analytics on Evolving Graphs (FAST 2019) [Paper]
  • in-memory, mutable graph
  1. GraphChi: Large-Scale Graph Computation on Just a PC (OSDI 2012) [Paper] hot!
  • on-disk, mutable graph
  1. GraphCSR: A Degree-Equalized CSR Format for Large-scale Graph Processing (VLDB 2025) [Paper]
  • in-memory, immutable graph, CSR

Interface

  1. GRIN [Github]

The Computing Layer

  1. A1: A Distributed In-Memory Graph Database (Micorsoft, SIGMOD 2020) [Paper]

The Graph Data Science Engine/Library/Plugin of each GraphDB

  1. Neo4j Graph Data Science lib [Link]
  2. GraphScope GAE （Graph Analytical Engine）[Link]
  3. TigerGraph Graph Data Science lib [Link]