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Databases · head to head

Dgraph vs Garden

Dgraph logo

Dgraph

Databases

Apache 2.0 distributed graph database written in Go, maintained by Hypermode, queried through GraphQL or its own DQL language.

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit DgraphFull review
Garden logo

Garden

Developer Tools

Kubernetes development and testing automation with shared caching, now owned by Incredibuild

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit GardenFull review

The short version

  • Garden is free; Dgraph starts at $39/mo.
  • Only Dgraph lists apache 2.0 licence; only Garden lists action graph.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dgraph and Garden actually diverge.

Attributes where Dgraph and Garden differ
AttributeDgraphGarden
Pricing modelFreemiumOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Self-hosted, WebLinux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted
CategoryDatabasesDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).

Not yet recorded: founded for Garden.

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Dgraph

  • Apache 2.0 licence
  • Generated GraphQL API
  • DQL query language
  • Predicate sharding
  • Raft replication
  • Distributed ACID transactions
  • Written in Go
  • Full-text and geo indexing

Only in Garden

  • Action graph
  • Shared result caching
  • Remote Kubernetes environments
  • In-cluster builds
  • Same config everywhere
  • Hot reload sync
  • Helm and Kustomize support
  • Templating

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Dgraph

  • An application whose core data is a graph, such as permissions, social connections or product relationships, where the frontend already consumes GraphQLnot Garden
  • A knowledge graph that outgrew a single machine and needs storage distributed across nodes without a per-core licence negotiationnot Garden
  • Recommendation or fraud-detection features that traverse several hops at request time, where a relational join chain has become the bottlenecknot Garden
  • Teams that want a graph database they can read, fork and self-host under a permissive licence rather than a source-available onenot Garden

Garden

  • A platform team whose integration test suite takes longer than the coffee break and needs caching to cut the loopnot Dgraph
  • An organisation with thirty or more services on Kubernetes where docker-compose no longer approximates productionnot Dgraph
  • Giving every developer an ephemeral namespace instead of queuing for one shared staging environmentnot Dgraph
  • Running the identical build and test definition locally and in CI so failures reproduce on a laptopnot Dgraph

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Dgraph

  • Sharding is by predicate, so a single very hot predicate lives entirely in one Raft group and cannot be split further; adding nodes does not relieve it and the fix is a data model change
  • Stewardship passed from Dgraph Labs to Hypermode after the original company stopped operating independently, so anyone building on it is betting on a second custodian rather than on the original team's roadmap
  • The GraphQL layer is generated and opinionated, so anything it does not express drops you into DQL, which is a second language your team must learn and which no other database speaks
  • The community is a fraction of Neo4j's, so operational answers, tuning experience, hiring and third-party tooling are all thinner, and unusual failure modes in a Zero and Alpha cluster leave you reading source rather than a forum
  • There is no portable graph standard to migrate to; Cypher, Gremlin and SPARQL are all different query models, so the schema and every query is a rewrite if you later leave, and that cost grows with the application

Garden

  • Incredibuild acquired Garden in November 2024 and the pricing page now redirects to documentation, so there is no public commercial offer and no published roadmap for a team betting a platform on it
  • It is tightly bound to Kubernetes, so teams running on ECS, Nomad, plain VMs or serverless get little from it and would need a different tool entirely
  • The YAML action graph is a real configuration surface: a large monorepo needs someone to own and maintain Garden config as a first-class artefact, which is a standing platform-engineering cost
  • Shared remote environments mean every developer needs cluster access and a cost allocation model, so cloud spend rises and namespace sprawl becomes a thing you have to police
  • Caching correctness depends on declaring dependencies accurately; an under-declared action will serve a stale cached pass and hide a genuine test failure, which is a hard class of bug to notice

Pricing, plan by plan

Dgraph

Free
  • CommunityFree
    • Native GraphQL
    • Graph queries
    • Full-text search
  • Cloud$39/mo
    • Managed service
    • Auto-scaling
    • Enterprise support

Garden

Free
  • Garden open sourceFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed CLI
    • Full action graph and caching
    • Self-managed clusters
  • Commercial tierOn request
    • Hosted caching and team features
    • Support and onboarding
    • Pricing no longer published since the Incredibuild acquisition

Which should you pick?

Choose Dgraph if

  • You need apache 2.0 licence.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Self-hosted, Web.
  • You also want generated graphql api.
Dgraph review

Choose Garden if

  • You need action graph.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
  • You also want shared result caching.
Garden review

Questions people ask

Is Dgraph or Garden better?
Neither clearly leads. Dgraph starts at Free and Garden at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dgraph or Garden?
Dgraph starts at Free and Garden at Free.
Does Dgraph or Garden run on more platforms?
Dgraph runs on Linux, macOS, Self-hosted, Web. Garden runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
Can I use Dgraph for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Dgraph best used for?
Dgraph is most often used for an application whose core data is a graph, such as permissions, social connections or product relationships, where the frontend already consumes graphql, a knowledge graph that outgrew a single machine and needs storage distributed across nodes without a per-core licence negotiation, recommendation or fraud-detection features that traverse several hops at request time, where a relational join chain has become the bottleneck, teams that want a graph database they can read, fork and self-host under a permissive licence rather than a source-available one. Of those, an application whose core data is a graph, such as permissions, social connections or product relationships, where the frontend already consumes graphql and a knowledge graph that outgrew a single machine and needs storage distributed across nodes without a per-core licence negotiation are not what Garden is typically brought in for.
What can Dgraph do that Garden cannot?
Dgraph covers Apache 2.0 licence, Generated GraphQL API, DQL query language, Predicate sharding. Garden covers Action graph, Shared result caching, Remote Kubernetes environments, In-cluster builds.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Dgraph: Is Dgraph open source?

Yes. The current repository is Apache 2.0, which is a permissive OSI licence, and the project is at v25 under Hypermode's maintenance.

Garden: Is Garden still maintained?

The open source project remains on GitHub under Incredibuild ownership, but the commercial pricing page redirects to the docs and there is no public paid offer.

Dgraph: Is it really GraphQL?

It serves a generated GraphQL API, which is real GraphQL for clients. Its native language, DQL, resembles GraphQL syntactically but is Dgraph's own language and is not the GraphQL specification.

Garden: Do I need Kubernetes?

Effectively yes. Garden is built around Kubernetes environments and offers little to teams on other runtimes.

Dgraph: How does it compare to Neo4j?

Neo4j has the larger ecosystem, Cypher, and far more operational precedent. Dgraph distributes storage across nodes by default and gives you a GraphQL endpoint without writing resolvers. The choice usually turns on whether you need horizontal scale and a GraphQL surface more than you need ecosystem depth.

Garden: Does it replace my CI system?

No. It runs inside GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or similar and speeds up what those pipelines execute.

Dgraph: What does a production cluster look like?

At minimum a set of Zero nodes for coordination and a replicated set of Alpha nodes for data, typically three of each for fault tolerance, which is a meaningfully larger operational footprint than a single graph server.

Garden: What is the actual saving?

It comes from skipping builds and tests whose inputs have not changed, so the benefit scales with how many services you have and how often only a few change.

Dgraph: Who maintains it now?

Hypermode. Dgraph Labs, the original company, no longer operates it, and that change of custodian is the main non-technical risk to weigh.

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