AuraDB Fundamentals ›Introduction to Neo4j Aura
AuraDB Tiers

AuraDB Fundamentals

Introduction to Neo4j Aura

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AuraDB Tiers

AuraDB Tiers

You have learned that AuraDB is Neo4j’s managed graph database service. Before you create an instance, you need to choose a tier.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

  • Understand the four AuraDB tiers and their target use cases

  • Compare features across tiers (storage, backups, availability)

  • Select the right tier for your project

Choosing the right tier

AuraDB offers four tiers, each designed for different stages of development:

  • Free — Learning and experimentation

  • Professional — Production apps with moderate requirements

  • Business Critical — Enterprise apps requiring high availability

  • Virtual Dedicated Cloud — Strict compliance and security needs

The diagram shows how capabilities scale across tiers.

AuraDB tier comparison showing features by tier

AuraDB Free

AuraDB Free is designed for learning and experimentation.

  • Limits: Up to 200,000 nodes and 400,000 relationships

  • Cloud provider: GCP (us-central1 only)

  • Backups: On-demand snapshots only

  • Auto-pause: After 72 hours of inactivity

This tier provides a zero-cost way to learn Neo4j and prototype small applications.

AuraDB Professional

AuraDB Professional is designed for production applications with moderate requirements.

  • Storage: Flexible sizing based on your needs

  • Cloud provider: AWS, GCP, or Azure (multiple regions)

  • Backups: Daily snapshots, retained for 7 days

  • Pause control: Manual pause/resume

Use Professional when you need more storage, cloud provider choice, and daily backups, but don’t require high availability.

AuraDB Business Critical

AuraDB Business Critical is designed for enterprise applications requiring high availability.

You can use Aura Business Critical when you need guaranteed uptime, role-based access control, single sign-on, and hourly backups.

Use Business Critical when downtime is not acceptable for your application.

AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud

AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud (VDC) is designed for applications with strict compliance and security requirements.

  • Infrastructure: Dedicated, isolated environment

  • Security: Customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK), Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) isolation

  • Backups: Hourly snapshots, retained for 60 days

  • Support: 24x7 premium support

You can use Aura Virtual Dedicated Cloud when you need dedicated infrastructure, customer-managed encryption keys, and Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) isolation.

For a detailed comparison of all tiers, see the Neo4j Aura pricing page and the instance creation documentation.

Check your understanding

Understanding Tier Features

Which Aura tier provides multi-availability zone cluster architecture for high availability?

  • ❏ Aura Free

  • ❏ Aura Professional

  • ✓ Aura Business Critical

  • ❏ Aura Virtual Dedicated Cloud

Hint

High availability with automatic failover requires a cluster architecture spread across multiple availability zones.

Solution

Aura Business Critical provides multi-availability zone cluster architecture for maximum reliability and automatic failover.

Each tier serves different needs:

  • Aura Free: Experimentation and learning (single instance, limited resources)

  • Aura Professional: Production applications with moderate requirements (single instance, flexible sizing)

  • Aura Business Critical: Enterprise applications requiring high availability (multi-Availability Zone cluster)

  • Aura Virtual Dedicated Cloud: Strict compliance and security requirements (dedicated infrastructure)

Choose the tier that matches your specific requirements.

What’s next

In the next lesson, you’ll sign up for Neo4j Aura and set up an AuraDB instance.

Free trial available

AuraDB Professional, Business Critical, and Virtual Dedicated Cloud tiers include a free trial period (7 days, extendable by an additional 7 days) so you can explore all capabilities before committing.

Summary

In this lesson, you learned:

  • AuraDB Free — For learning and experimentation (up to 200K nodes)

  • AuraDB Professional — For production apps with flexible sizing and daily backups

  • AuraDB Business Critical — For enterprise apps requiring 99.95% uptime SLA

  • AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud — For strict compliance with dedicated infrastructure

In the next lesson, you’ll sign up for Neo4j Aura and create your first AuraDB instance.

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