Eclipse RDF4J is a modular Java framework for applications that work with RDF data. It provides tools to parse, store, query and reason over that data, with SPARQL 1.1 query and update support. Its API can connect to remote RDF repositories as well as local ones. Supported formats include RDF/XML, Turtle, N-Triples, N-Quads, JSON-LD, TriG and TriX. Storage choices include a transactional in-memory store with optional disk persistence and a transactional Native Store aimed at medium-sized datasets around 100 million triples. Extensions cover full-text search, RDFS inferencing, rule-based reasoning, SHACL and SPIN validation, and geospatial queries. The SDK packages libraries, Server, Workbench, Console and Javadoc API; Workbench includes a web-based SPARQL editor. RDF4J is available through Maven artifacts, an SDK zip or onejar. It is open source under the Eclipse Distribution License 1.0 and costs 0.00 USD per free. The latest stable release, 6.1.0, requires Java 25 or newer.
Who it is for
RDF4J suits Java developers building applications with RDF, Linked Data, SPARQL endpoints or Semantic Web data. Its core databases are mainly intended for small to medium-sized datasets.
What is good
- SPARQL 1.1 query and update support.
- Reads and writes a range of RDF formats.
- Offers transactional in-memory and Native Store options.
- Extensions add reasoning, validation and geospatial queries.
- Workbench includes a web-based SPARQL editor.
What to know first
- Latest stable release requires Java 25 or newer.
- Core databases target small to medium-sized datasets.
Verdict
RDF4J brings RDF storage, querying and reasoning tools together in a Java framework, with several storage options and a broad format list. Check its Java requirement and dataset guidance against your project before choosing it.
Eclipse RDF4J plans and pricing
All plansCompared on graph databases
- Deployment options
- self-hosted
- SPARQL support
- sparql 1.2
- Reasoning support
- Yes
- RDF-star support
- Yes
- Federated queries
- Yes
- Supported RDF formats
- RDF/XML, Turtle, N-Triples, N-Quads, JSON-LD, TriG, TriX
