HelixDB

license

Apache-2.0(OSI)

source

public

core features withheld

no

Apache-2.0 license body confirmed. The repository is public and builds the whole product, and the README describes no paid tier, enterprise edition or license-gated build beside it, so source is public and the core ungated. Helix Cloud is a managed deployment offered beside the self-run server.

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HelixDB/helix-db/main/LICENSE recorded 2026-09-30

  LICENSE file is the Apache-2.0 text: "Apache License" and "Version 2.0, January 2004" and "TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION".

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HelixDB/helix-db/main/README.md recorded 2026-09-30

  README opens with "HelixDB is an open-source (Apache 2.0) graph database with native vector search and BM25" and offers a local CLI install and embedded mode; searched the body for enterprise, paid tier and license key: none.

HelixDB ships as a Rust binary and CLI rather than through any package registry, so GitHub stars are the only adoption signal available. A star reflects interest rather than confirmed use, so it cannot show how many deployments are actually running HelixDB.

• https://api.github.com/repos/HelixDB/helix-db recorded 2026-08-18

  Repo metadata - stargazers_count = 5,798 - for HelixDB/helix-db.

HelixDB combines graph traversal, vector search and BM25 full-text search in one transactional engine built on object storage, and runs as a local server or embedded. Its writer-and-reader-node scaling is described only for the managed Helix Cloud, and it is younger and narrower in operational features than platforms such as Vespa, so it covers less of the same persist-index-retrieve path.

• https://docs.helix-db.com/database/helix-cloud/start-here/architecture recorded 2026-09-30

  Architecture page states "Helix Cloud runs as a single writer node and multiple reader nodes behind a routing gateway."

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HelixDB/helix-db/main/README.md recorded 2026-09-30

  README describes the product as "Store entities, relationships, embeddings," and shows "Approximate nearest-neighbor search, prefiltered by graph traversal." beside BM25 keyword search, plus "Local data lives in memory by default".