EU Sovereignty Score
EU sovereignDatabase & Data ManagementHeadquarters: BG

GraphDB: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

GraphDB is a graph database that stores data as RDF triples and queries it with SPARQL, the standard query language for linked data. It is developed by Ontotext and used to build knowledge graphs, manage ontologies and taxonomies, and connect data from many sources into one model. The product was formerly known as BigOWLIM. Since the October 2024 merger, GraphDB is a component of the Graphwise platform, alongside the PoolParty software from Semantic Web Company.

Ontotext AD is headquartered in Bulgaria. Its merger with the Austrian company Semantic Web Company created Graphwise, and both companies keep their separate legal entities. Because the company and the software are of European origin, GraphDB suits organisations that want knowledge-graph infrastructure under European jurisdiction. Licence terms for the free and commercial editions, and any hosting arrangements for cloud use, should be confirmed with the vendor before a project starts.

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Sovereignty score
71 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign
  • Jurisdiction SOV-2100
    Headquartered in the EU: European law applies
  • Data residency SOV-3100
    EU-only hosting
  • Cryptographic key sovereignty SOV-360
    Key management with a European vendor
  • Freedom from lock-in SOV-640
    Closed source: switching requires data migration
  • Source & runtime sovereignty SOV-4 · SOV-655
    Closed source, runtime with the vendor

SOV codes: the matching objective in the European Commission's Cloud Sovereignty Framework. Official source

How the score is calculated

Facts and evidence

Last checked October 10, 2026
HeadquartersBG (EU)Verified by hand
Sovereignty modelVendor-hosted (EU)Verified by hand
Data hostingEUVerified by hand
Open-sourceNoVerified by hand
GDPR-compliantNoVendor-stated
CategoryDatabase & Data Management
TypeProduct
Websiteontotext.com ↗

How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to GraphDB

The European alternatives to GraphDB come from our knowledge base of over 6,200 vendors. We only list vendors headquartered in the EU or the EEA; fully European-owned vendors rank before vendors with a foreign owner. For each alternative you see the country, the open-source status and a short description.

Score per alternative: 0 = high exposure, 100 = sovereign

13 European Database & Data Management vendors are in the catalogue. View the whole category · Submit an alternative · View category on the map

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Why digital sovereignty matters with GraphDB

GraphDB is headquartered in BG and therefore falls under European law: the GDPR, NIS2 and the Data Act. No foreign legislation can compel access to your data.

Data is hosted exclusively in the EU, so GraphDB scores best on data residency.

GraphDB is closed source and hosted by the vendor. The encryption keys and the runtime sit with the vendor and switching requires data migration. Ask about bring-your-own-key, export options and open standards.

What this means for your organisation depends on your whole stack and context. The free assessment weighs GraphDB together with your other vendors and gives a total score, a heatmap and the main risk drivers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best European alternative to GraphDB?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to GraphDB include Aiven, ArangoDB and DuckDB. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to GraphDB?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to GraphDB include DuckDB, Elastic, Firebird SQL, MariaDB and Meilisearch. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

Is GraphDB GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

GraphDB is headquartered in BG (EU) and hosts data in EU. That makes GraphDB an EU-sovereign choice in its own right; the EU alternatives on this page are comparable European tools.

Details and sources

Verified by handHeadquarters, owner, hosting locations and licence have been checked by us against public sources. Free of charge and for every vendor, not a paid label. Nothing in this knowledge base is taken over automatically. Last checked on October 10, 2026.

Sources

Public sources used in the latest check of this record.

Compliance evidence

The links below point to the vendor's own public documents. We only record what we found: a missing link means "not found publicly", not "not compliant".

No public compliance evidence has been recorded for this vendor yet. Do you know its DPA or subprocessor list? Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Digital sovereignty in Database & Data Management

Database & Data Management: Database systems, data warehousing, managed database services and data platforms. In this category the choice of vendor determines who has legal access to your data, where that data lives and how easily you can switch later.

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8 European alternatives to GraphDB — GDPR-compliant & EU-hosted · EU Sovereignty Score