It seems like a _strongly typed_ graph database, which is significant. The lack of enforced typing has made me scared of graph databases in the past, so this feels significant to me as a potential user. Granted, maybe there are strongly typed graph databases, and I just don't know about them, or misinterpreted what I've read about existing graph databases.

I don't think their intent is to distance themselves from the term. Right there in the post, they're mentioning that the object-relational universe they're talking about is essentially a property graph. However, it doesn't seem like it's built to mirror a traditional graph database.

If you are basing this on the idea that something that can store a graph is a graph database, I'm not sure that definition really holds up.

It has been argued -- for example by Neo4j, which is one of the leading graph databases -- that index-free adjacency is an essential feature for any real graph database, or as they put it, "Index-free adjacency is the key differentiatior of native graph processing." https://neo4j.com/blog/why-graph-databases-are-the-future/

By my reading, this system doesn't feature index-free adjacency as it uses relational tables as the substrate for edges. Thus EdgeDB won't be especially well suited type of graph traversals and queries that people actually select graph databases for. Which seems like a compelling reason not to identify it as a graph database.

Why do you believe there should be a desire to distance oneself from a graph database? Graph databases are great when used correctly.

> EdgeDB is not a graph database: the data is stored and queried using relational database techniques and requires a strict schema.

I feel like they make a pretty good case as to why this isn't a graph database, though I wonder if you might expand on your reasoning?

I agree. I don’t really know why it’s not considered a graph database. My understanding is that graph databases are about how relationships between data are represented, not that it’s schemaless.

It’s definetly not a graph database, if it‘s based on postgresql - no index free adjecency as provided by real graphdbs like neo4j