RDFox vs Virtuoso Universal Server
RDFox
oxfordsemantic.techVirtuoso Universal Server
virtuoso.openlinksw.comSide by side
| Figure | RDFox | Virtuoso Universal Server |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $8.33/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 7 |
| Spec score · RDF Databases | 8.5 (#3) | 8.4 (#5) |
| Spec score · Knowledge Graph Software | 8.4 (#10) | 8.5 (#9) |
| Company | Oxford Semantic Technologies is an Oxford University spin-out acquired by Samsung Electronics in 2024. | OpenLink Software is a privately held company founded in 1992. |
| Deployment | RDFox can run on a single machine or as a cluster distributing processing across multiple machines. | The open-source edition provides installers for Linux, macOS, and Windows, Docker instructions, and source builds for those operating systems. |
| Documentation depth | The documentation includes user guides, REST and Java API references, Javadoc, shell instructions, operations manuals, high availability and Docker deployment chapters. | Official documentation includes manuals and wiki material for Virtuoso, the open-source edition, the Virtuoso Authentication Layer, and Java provider APIs. |
| Founded | 2017 | 1992 |
| Product | RDFox is a main-memory, scalable centralized data store for RDF graph data queried with SPARQL 1.1. | Virtuoso is a multi-model DBMS and HTTP-based application server that provides access to disparate data sources. |
| Rating on Capterra | 0.0 out of 5 from 0 reviews | 3.5 out of 5 from 2 reviews |
| Rating on G2 | 4.8 out of 5 from 14 reviews | 4.3 out of 5 from 4 reviews |
| Rating on GetApp | 0 out of 5 from 0 reviews | 3.5 out of 5 from 2 reviews |
| Security | RDFox v7.0 added encryption at rest and client-certificate authentication using mutual TLS for endpoint and remote-shell requests. | The maker describes fine-grained attribute-based access controls and lists encryption at rest as a commercial feature. |
| Security controls | Documentation covers access control, HTTPS endpoint configuration, logging, encrypted persisted data options and high-availability operations. | The server supports SQL role-based security, column/table/view/procedure permissions, and row-level policy functions. |
| Support | Oxford Semantic Technologies says it aims to reply to contact messages within two working days and provides an RDFox Community Slack channel. | Commercial support can include bug fixes, feature enhancements, performance tuning, and consulting, with specifics depending on the agreement. |
| What it does | RDFox is an in-memory RDF triplestore and semantic reasoning engine that queries graph data with SPARQL. | Virtuoso combines data-access middleware, a multi-model database, data integration, data virtualization, knowledge-graph functions, and an HTTP application server. |
Plans
RDFox
- Free evaluationFree
- RDFox free evaluation licenseFree
- AWS Marketplace RDFoxPriced on request
- RDFox commercial licensePriced on request
Virtuoso Universal Server
- Personal$99.99 a year
- Personal$99.99, paid once
- Developer$199 a year
- Developer$199, paid once
- Project$499, paid once
- Project$499 a year
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
RDFox
RDFox is a main-memory data store for centralized RDF graphs, queried with SPARQL 1.1. It represents rules and ontological axioms with Datalog, OWL 2 and SWRL, and updates rule consequences as data changes; it can process 2–3 million new-fact inferences per second. Its supported knowledge-graph technologies include RDF, SPARQL 1.1, Datalog, SWRL, OWL 2 RL and SHACL. Java applications can connect through a native API, or RDFox can run as a standalone server through a REST API. Import and export formats include CSV, JSON, N-Triples, Turtle, TriG and OWL 2 Functional-Style Syntax. It can replicate knowledge and data changes across servers to maintain service during an outage, and deployments are described for cloud, on-premises, on-device and edge use. RDFox runs on Linux, macOS and Windows. Security features include encryption at rest, mutual-TLS client-certificate authentication and OpenID Connect single sign-on. Pricing is on request; the free 30-day evaluation license is restricted to evaluation and non-commercial use.
Virtuoso Universal Server
Virtuoso Universal Server is a multi-model database management system and HTTP-based application server for working with data from different sources. It supports relational SQL data, RDF, SPARQL, XML, JSON, and web services. A virtualization layer lets users query multiple sources through a unified database view, with connections through HTTP, ODBC, and JDBC. Listed standards include SQL, SPARQL, GraphQL, and RDF. The product has open-source and commercial licenses; the open-source version is under GPL. Commercial licensing adds advanced security, custom reasoning and inference, high-availability replication, and professional support. The maker describes fine-grained attribute-based access controls and lists encryption at rest as a commercial feature. Deployment options include Linux/Unix, Docker, Windows, and macOS installations, as well as on-premises/BYOL, AWS, and Azure. The maker lists data integration, governance, knowledge management, data productization, and AI-driven customer support as typical uses. Personal, Developer, and Project workstation licenses cost $99.99 as a one-time purchase, $199, paid once, and $499, paid once, respectively. OpenLink Software, the privately held maker, was founded in 1992.