Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs Neo4j Graph Database comparison

Microsoft and Neo4j are both solutions in the NoSQL Databases category. Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.2, while Neo4j is ranked #9 with an average rating of 9.0. Microsoft holds a 2.9% mindshare in ND, compared to Neo4j’s 4.5% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Neo4j users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Read 85 Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB reviews

448 Views
160 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Neo4j Graph Database

Read 6 Neo4j Graph Database reviews

743 Views
528 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Neo4j Graph Database

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Neo4j Graph Database and Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB both compete in the domain of data management systems, each focusing on different priorities. Neo4j has the upper hand in relationship-focused graph analytics due to its native graph technology, while Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is better suited for scalable, multi-model data environments due to its multi-model support and global distribution capabilities.

Features: Neo4j Graph Database provides native graph storage, excellent graph processing capabilities, and the ability to handle complex data relationships with ease. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB offers multi-model database support, global distribution with low latency, and high availability, making it ideal for organizations needing diverse data model support and extensive geographic distribution.

Room for Improvement: Neo4j Graph Database could enhance its support for non-graph data models and improve its initial scalability options for broader applications. It would also benefit from expanding its global distribution capabilities. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB may require easier configuration settings to simplify integration, a more intuitive setup process to lower complexity for new users, and improved cost-management features to optimize expenses.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Neo4j Graph Database is straightforward to deploy, with strong documentation and an active community. Its graph-focused use cases benefit from specialized support. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is integrated well within the Azure ecosystem, offering robust global distribution support. Its complexity may pose challenges, but its enterprise-level support offers significant advantages for larger organizations needing extensive backing.

Pricing and ROI: Neo4j Graph Database presents lower setup costs, capturing ROI from graph-driven insights efficiently. Its strong ROI stems from the advanced understanding of data relationships. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB involves higher costs due to its global scalability and multi-model capabilities but promises higher returns for large-scale operations that leverage these features, providing value through enterprise-level scalability and responsiveness.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. Neo4j Graph Database Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB 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

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Ranking in NoSQL Databases

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Database as a Service (DBaaS) (6th), Managed NoSQL Databases (1st), Vector Databases (3rd)

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 April 2025, in the NoSQL Databases category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is 2.9%. The mindshare of Neo4j Graph Database is 4.5%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NoSQL Databases

Featured Reviews

MichaelJohn

Director | Data & AI at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Very efficient for application-facing scenarios

There are several areas for improvement. Firstly, having a local development emulator or simulator for Azure Cosmos DB would be beneficial. It would be very handy to have a Docker container that developers can use locally. Although, I know there is a free tier and so on and so forth, having a local environment would be nice. For example, SQL Server is very portable. You can even install it on your machine. That is the number one thing that is missing in Azure Cosmos DB. The second improvement area is the IDE of choice. That means how you interact with Azure Cosmos DB. For example, with SQL Server, you have SQL Server Management Studio. I know there is a little bit of support for Azure Cosmos DB in Azure Data Studio, but it is not heavily advertised or it does not feel like first-class citizen support. Developer experience or developer tooling is missing in terms of interacting with the database. Better developer tools or an IDE for interacting with Azure Cosmos DB would enhance the developer experience. Lastly, there is some mixed messaging about what Azure Cosmos DB is, given its multiple APIs. There are so many Azure Cosmos DB APIs available. There is NoSQL. There are MongoDB, Gremlin, and others. There is still some mixed messaging for others who are new to Azure Cosmos DB about what Azure Cosmos DB is. Is this like MongoDB, but then there is also MongoDB in Azure Cosmos DB? I know it well, and I know that the default one is just NoSQL, but others I have interacted with over the last ten years or so get confused.

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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

"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is a good solution for distributed application requirements. We can perform multi-modeling."

"Its wide support to the ecosystem is valuable. We can use this database with a lot of use cases, and that's one of the reasons why we prefer it. We have a lot of vendors, databases, and use cases, and wherever possible, we are trying to standardize databases. It is also secure."

"The product has a lot of useful features that are there and ready to use, it's also very easy to use."

"Cosmos DB is effective at handling large queries."

"The connectors, such as the MongoDB connector and the integration with SQL, are incredibly valuable."

"The solution is stable."

"Cosmos is a PaaS, so you don't need to worry about infrastructure and hosting. It has various APIs that allow it to integrate with other solutions. For example, we are using a MongoDB-compatible API for customers, which makes it easier for developers on the team who previously used MongoDB or are accustomed to the old document storage paradigm."

"Since it's a managed service, Azure backend handles scalability. From a user's perspective, we don't need to worry about scalability."

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB pros

"Creates the ability to visualize outputs."

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

"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."

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

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

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

Cons

"I do not have any specific suggestions for improvements at the moment. However, having more AI capabilities in the future would be beneficial."

"I would like to see Cosmos DB introduce a feature that would convert machine language to human-readable queries."

"Slight enhancements in integration interfaces, expanded dashboard functionalities, and broader use-case support would be beneficial."

"Better documentation on how to integrate with other components would be helpful because I was struggling with this."

"The main area of improvement is the cost, as the expense is high. Also, when writing processes into Cosmos, sometimes the threshold is met, which can be a problem if developers have not written the code properly, limiting calls to five thousand. These aspects need addressing."

"Our use case was a failure with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, and we do not have any other opportunity to use Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB."

"In Microsoft manufacturing, managers really need to know about the product."

"Currently, it doesn't support cross-container joins, forcing developers to retrieve data from each container separately and combine it using methods like LINQ queries."

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB cons

"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."

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

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

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

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

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Azure is a pay as you go subscription."

"It is cost-effective. They offer two pricing models. One is the serverless model and the other one is the vCore model that allows provisioning the resources as necessary. For our pilot projects, we can utilize the serverless model, monitor the usage, and adjust resources as needed."

"Cosmos DB is expensive, and the RU-based pricing model is confusing. Although they have a serverless layer, there are deficiencies in what I can define and assign to a database. Estimating infrastructure needs is not straightforward, making it challenging to manage costs."

"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is moderately priced, where it is neither expensive nor cheap."

"When we've budgeted for our resources, it's one of the more expensive ones, but it's still not very expensive per month."

"Cosmos DB gave us three accounts for $400. We pay according to the usage."

"The solution is a bit on the expensive side."

"The price of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB could be a bit lower."

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB pricing and cost advice

"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."

"The tool is not expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Legal Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Energy/Utilities Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

The initial setup is simple and straightforward. You can set up a Cosmos DB in a day, even configuring things like availability zones around the world.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

Its pricing is not bad. It is good. We have a contract with Microsoft to use their technology. In my opinion, Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is a good option for the total cost of ownership.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

I think Cosmos DB enhanced the benefits of NoSQL databases, offering query flexibility, partition management, and backup and restore options. These aspects are crucial, and perhaps improving the co...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

Amazon DynamoDB vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 6% of the time

Faiss vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 5% of the time

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MongoDB vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 14% of the time

SQL Server vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 13% of the time

Aerospike Database 7 vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 11% of the time

Cassandra vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 10% of the time

ScyllaDB vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 8% of the time

More Neo4j Graph Database Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

March 2025

Download Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB product report

Buyer's Guide

Neo4j Graph Database

March 2025

Download Neo4j Graph Database product report

Also Known As

Microsoft Azure DocumentDB, MS Azure Cosmos DB

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed, multi-model database service providing scalability, user-friendliness, and seamless integration, suitable for managing large volumes of structured and unstructured data across diverse applications.

Azure Cosmos DB is renowned for its scalability, stability, and ease of integration, offering robust support for multiple data models and APIs. Its capacity for handling unstructured data efficiently and providing real-time analytics makes it ideal for applications requiring high performance and global distribution. With features like automatic failover and integration with Microsoft products, users benefit from cost optimization and secure data handling. Enhancement opportunities include simplifying queries, improving documentation, and expanding backup and analytics functionalities.

What are the most important features of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

Scalability and Autoscaling: Efficiently handles growing data and user demands.
Multi-Model Support: Adapts to different data models seamlessly.
Global Distribution: Provides low-latency access across multiple regions.
Automatic Failover: Ensures high availability and reliability.
Integration with Microsoft Products: Offers seamless connectivity with Azure services.

What benefits should users look for in Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB reviews?

Performance and Speed: Exceptionally fast processing for real-time data analytics.
Cost Optimization: Tools for managing expenses effectively.
Secure Data Handling: Implements strong data security measures.
Flexible Data Ingestion: Supports diverse data ingestion methods.

Azure Cosmos DB is frequently used in sectors like web, mobile, IoT, and analytics. It supports applications as a key-value store, processes real-time data, and enables global scalability with low-latency access. Its big data management capabilities and integration with Azure services enhance its utility across industries.

Microsoft

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

TomTom, KPMG Australia, Bosch, ASOS, Mercedes Benz, NBA, Zero Friction, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Kinectify

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

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. Neo4j Graph Database

April 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. Neo4j Graph Database

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