What it is
Neo4j AuraDB is the fully managed cloud version of the Neo4j graph database, run by Neo4j, Inc. You create a database in a web console and connect to it with the same drivers and Cypher queries you would use with a self-hosted Neo4j. The company handles the servers, patching and upgrades. It runs on the major public clouds, including AWS.
AuraDB comes in several tiers. The free tier needs no credit card and suits small projects and demos, with limits on size and no built-in backups. A free instance is paused after a stretch with no activity. Paid tiers add more capacity, automatic backups and support aimed at production workloads.
How I use it
- The relaunched family tree app at familytree.mervinc.com stores its graph in AuraDB Free: members are nodes, and PARENT_OF, SPOUSE_OF and SIBLING_OF are edges.
- The Node and Express API runs on AWS Lambda behind CloudFront and talks to AuraDB with the official neo4j-driver and Cypher.
- AuraDB Free pauses after 72 hours idle, so a daily scheduled query keeps it awake.
- Free has no built-in backups, so a nightly scheduled job exports the whole graph to S3.
- Viewers only see their own branch, up to four steps plus spouses, enforced in the Cypher query itself. The public demo is a fictional family on a view-only account.
AuraDB is the right tool when an app needs a real graph database but does not have the traffic to justify a server running all day. My family tree app ran Neo4j on an always-on EC2 instance until October 2026, and I shut it down for cost. Moving the graph to AuraDB Free let me bring the app back on 2026-10-12 with no database server of my own to pay for.
Questions
Can you run a graph database app without paying for a server?
Yes, at small scale. My family tree app runs its API on AWS Lambda and its graph on Neo4j AuraDB Free. A daily query stops the free instance pausing and a nightly job exports the graph to S3, since the free tier has no backups.
Is AuraDB Free suitable for production?
For a demo or a small personal app, it works with care. It pauses when idle and has no built-in backups, so I added a keep-awake query and nightly exports. A business system should use a paid tier.