What Dgraph Labs does

Dgraph Labs builds Dgraph, an open-source distributed graph database designed to store and query highly connected data at terabyte scale in real time. The core technology is written in Go and stacks Badger (a Go-native key-value store) under a Raft-consensus replication layer, with a Zero control plane that handles cluster membership, UID assignment, timestamp allocation and automatic rebalancing. Its defining architectural choice is predicate-based sharding — each predicate (relationship type) is assigned to an Alpha group — which the company describes as a meaningful departure from node-sharded graph databases. The product surface includes DQL (Dgraph's GraphQL-inspired query language), a built-in GraphQL API, a Lambda server for custom JavaScript/TypeScript resolvers, the Ratel web UI for visualization and cluster management, and the Badger storage engine. Enterprise features — binary backups with point-in-time recovery, multi-tenancy, encryption at rest and in transit — are gated behind a commercial license.

The go-to-market is community-led and open-source-first: distribution via Docker Hub, binary downloads, source builds and Helm charts; a 52.2K-star GitHub repository; structured learning paths for developers, data engineers and administrators; and integrations with Prometheus, Grafana, S3, MinIO, Azure Blob, GCS, HashiCorp Vault, Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS CloudWatch. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; the freemium open-source core is paired with subscription enterprise licenses. Following its October 2025 acquisition by France-based Istari Digital, Dgraph Labs now operates as a US-based subsidiary inside an AI and data-fabric infrastructure platform, with the parent citing AI workloads as the strategic rationale for the deal. Total disclosed equity funding prior to the acquisition was approximately $20.45M across rounds in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023, with investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Blackbird, Airtree, Redpoint, Uncorrelated Ventures and Venrock.

Name

Dgraph Labs

Legal name

Dgraph

Website

https://dgraph.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Dgraph Labs develops Dgraph, an open-source distributed graph database built in Go with predicate-based sharding and Raft consensus for real-time, terabyte-scale workloads. It is distributed via Docker, Helm and binaries under a freemium model with enterprise license upsells, and was acquired by Istari Digital in October 2025.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Graph Database

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) Platforms (HDAEAAAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Data Platforms & Modern Data Stack Services (Lakehouse, DW, MDM) (BPAEAHAC)

Keywords

• Distributed graph database
• Open source database
• Graph data platform
• Real-time graph queries
• GraphQL backend

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Enterprise License: Commercial enterprise licenses with advanced features including binary backups, point-in-time recovery, multi-tenancy, and encryption. The company was acquired by Istari Digital in October 2025 indicating commercial operations.
2. Open Source Community: Open-source core product freely available with basic features. Community engagement through GitHub, documentation, and tutorials drives adoption and potential enterprise conversion.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Dgraph Labs develops and distributes Dgraph, an open-source, distributed graph database designed for real-time, horizontally scalable workloads on highly connected data at terabyte-scale. The platform exposes both a property-graph interface via its proprietary DQL and a native GraphQL API, and ships with Ratel UI, Dgraph Lambda, Bulk Loader, and the Dgraph CLI as integrated components, with a commercial enterprise license unlocking features such as binary backups, point-in-time recovery, multi-tenancy, and encryption.

Product overview

Dgraph Labs offers Dgraph as a unified distributed graph database platform with multiple integrated components. The core product is the Dgraph Database — a distributed graph database using predicate-based sharding and Raft consensus for horizontal scalability and high availability. Supporting the core database are Ratel UI (web-based visualization and cluster management), Dgraph Lambda (JavaScript/TypeScript custom GraphQL resolvers), and Badger (underlying Go-based key-value storage). Users interact via DQL (Dgraph Query Language) or the built-in GraphQL API. Enterprise features include Binary Backups for point-in-time recovery to S3/MinIO, while the Dgraph CLI provides comprehensive cluster management tools. All components are available via Docker, Helm charts for Kubernetes, or direct binary installation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dgraph Database An open-source distributed graph database designed for modern applications working with highly connected data. Provides horizontal scalability, high availability, low-latency real-time query performance at terabyte-scale using predicate-based sharding and Raft consensus; exposes both a property-graph interface via DQL and a native GraphQL API.
• Ratel UI An open-source web-based GUI for Dgraph that handles cluster connection management, DQL query execution with result visualization, schema management, cluster node monitoring, and backup operations. Aimed at developers, data engineers, and DBAs administering Dgraph clusters.
• Badger A fast, open-source embeddable key-value database written in pure Go. Distributed as a standalone project that can be used independently and also powers the storage layer of the Dgraph graph database.

Quantifiable outcome

• Handles graphs with billions of nodes and triples while maintaining low-latency query performance
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

Feature9 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• TigerGraph: TigerGraph is a native graph database built for massive scale and analytics workloads with its GSQL query language. It is directly comparable to Dgraph in targeting enterprise customers that need real-time analytics on highly connected data at scale.
• Neo4j: Neo4j is the leading native graph database, offering property graph and Cypher query language. It is Dgraph's most direct competitor, targeting the same developer and enterprise use cases (fraud detection, knowledge graphs, recommendations) with both open-source and managed Aura cloud offerings.
• ArangoDB: ArangoDB is a multi-model database supporting graph, document, and key-value models with AQL query language. It competes with Dgraph in the open-source multi-model space and offers both community and enterprise editions.
• Stardog: Stardog is a knowledge graph platform built on RDF and SPARQL with enterprise features for data virtualization and semantic reasoning. It competes with Dgraph in the enterprise knowledge graph use case, particularly for data fabric and unified data access.
• Memgraph: Memgraph is an in-memory graph database built for real-time analytics and streaming workloads. It is comparable to Dgraph in the graph database category, focusing on low-latency query performance and Cypher compatibility.

Emerging players

• Cayley: Cayley is an open-source graph database inspired by Google's Knowledge Graph, written in Go. It overlaps with Dgraph as an open-source graph database option but has a smaller community footprint and more limited commercial offering.
• JanusGraph: JanusGraph is an open-source, distributed graph database under The Linux Foundation that supports various storage backends (Cassandra, HBase, Bigtable). It overlaps with Dgraph in open-source graph deployments but is more typically deployed on big-data infrastructure.

Broad incumbents

• Amazon Neptune: Amazon Neptune is AWS's managed graph database service supporting property graph (Gremlin) and RDF (SPARQL). It competes with Dgraph primarily in cloud-first enterprise deployments where AWS bundling and managed service SLAs drive selection.
• DataStax Astra DB: DataStax Astra DB is a managed cloud database built on Apache Cassandra with graph capabilities and is broadly comparable to Dgraph's enterprise distribution and managed service ambitions, though its core is a wide-column store rather than native graph.
• Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB: Azure Cosmos DB offers graph capabilities via the Gremlin API as part of a globally distributed multi-model database. It competes with Dgraph in enterprises standardized on Microsoft Azure and seeking managed graph capabilities within a broader data platform.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/dgraph-io/dgraph
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dgraph-labs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors12 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dgraph Labs