Index-free Adjacency
The core storage mechanism of native graph databases, in which each node directly stores pointers to adjacent nodes in physical storage; traversing edges requires no lookup in a global index, making the cost of multi-hop queries proportional to the size of the subgraph visited.
Timeline (last 90 days)
The root of the performance gap is index-free adjacency: in a graph database each node points directly to its neighbors, so traversing along edges only requires pointer hops, and the cost depends on the actual size of the graph visited rather than the size of the whole table.
Native graph databases (such as Neo4j) use "index-free adjacency" technology, making the time complexity of graph traversal operations independent of the overall data volume and dependent only on local connection density.
All Facts (2)
The root of the performance gap is index-free adjacency: in a graph database each node points directly to its neighbors, so traversing along edges only requires pointer hops, and the cost depends on the actual size of the graph visited rather than the size of the whole table.
50%UnverifiedNative graph databases (such as Neo4j) use "index-free adjacency" technology, making the time complexity of graph traversal operations independent of the overall data volume and dependent only on local connection density.
50%