Why choose NebulaGraph database for a recommendation system

The adoption of graph databases among enterprises is accelerating. Why, you might ask?  Simply put, companies are realizing that these innovative NoSQL databases hold the key to unlocking previously unimaginable opportunities on a grand scale. It’s akin to a miner discovering a vein of gold in an unexplored mountain range. As the popularity increases, the options also increase – and this is a good thing. 

In terms of numbers, G2’s listing of the best graph databases in the world, where NebulaGraph is also listed among the very best, now stands at 62 players. Please note that this is only G2’s listing based on their criteria for the best in the market. Otherwise the number is more than this, towards the 100 mark. Clearly the market is growing fast, and we expect new players to continue joining as more companies use them.  

But when it comes to choosing the right database platform,sometimes it comes down to use cases: what solution are you planning to build, or what problem are you trying to solve? Starting your search journey with the “what” will help you narrow down to the most suitable option for your use case.  

Talking of use cases, one of the most popular especially in online business is recommendation engines, and chances are you are here because you are searching for the best database solution to build a recommendation system for your company. 

You’ve made the first correct decision, which is to settle on using a graph database. Now, the next question is: which graph database? 

In this article, we explore why NebulaGraph is the best database for a recommendation system.

NebulaGraph in brief

NebulaGraph is an open source graph database designed to handle ultra large-scale graphs while maintaining millisecond-level latency. 

Nebula already has over 9000 stars on Github and is now being used by big brands including Tencent, Wechat, Meituan, China Mobile, and Oppo among many others. 

Why choose NebulaGraph for your recommendation system

Let’s start with what really inspired the ‘birth’ of NebulaGraph. 

You’ll be happy to learn that the creation of NebulaGraph was inspired by the need to unleash the immense power of connected data that is continuously growing. And when we come to think about it, “continuously growing data” is at the heart of any recommendation tool. 

Take the example of an online retail store. Customers are continuously purchasing different products. Each time a customer makes a purchase, their purchase data increases. 

Same to something like watching movies. Everytime a user of a platform like Netflix watches a new movie, that data is growing. The more the data grows, the more the interconnectedness expands. 

NebulaGraph excels in making sense out of this enormous data that is constantly growing, and this is a fundamental factor that makes it a favorite for recommendation systems.

That’s not all. Here are more compelling reasons to help you choose NebulaGraph for any recommendation system:   

1. Processing power

NebulaGraph is twice as fast as its closest competitors. In terms of the size of data sets it can handle, it can process twice the size the other graph databases can manage. 

To put this into perspective, imagine you’re running a large e-commerce platform that serves millions of customers worldwide. In order to provide personalized recommendations to each of your customers, you need to process massive amounts of data on a daily basis.

With NebulaGraph’s lightning-fast processing speed, you can handle these vast amounts of data in record time. This means that your recommendation tool can quickly sift through massive amounts of data, identifying patterns and trends that would take other databases twice as long to analyze. This allows you to provide your customers with precise recommendations in real-time and increase sales.

Among all the databases available, NebulaGraph stands out as the only one with the capability to store and process billions of data points that are interconnected by trillions of relationships.

2. Scalability

NebulaGraph uses the shared-nothing architecture, which gives superior scalability. 

Whether you’re serving thousands or millions of customers, NebulaGraph can handle the increased workload with ease. This means that your recommendation engine will continue to perform at a high level, even as your business expands and your data sets grow.

3. Recovery and business continuity

With NebulaGraph, you can recover from an outage quickly without so much disruption to your recommendation system. This means that your system can continue to run seamlessly, even during a crisis.

Most importantly, your data will always be available. The Backup & Restore feature supports one-click backup and restoration.

4. Security

Data security is paramount for any business in this day and age. 

Customers trust you with their personal information, and a data breach could have devastating consequences for your business.

NebulaGraph supports secure data transmission through SSL encryption between clients, the Graph service, the Meta service, and the Storage service. All data is protected at rest and in transit.

Final remarks

The significance of a recommendation system for any online business in today’s digital world can’t be overstated.

In fact, a substantial proportion of purchases on giant online marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and eBay are fueled by recommendations. 

As far back as 2013, Mckinsey revealed that recommendations accounted for up to 35% of Amazon purchases. Considering this data was from nearly a decade ago, one can only wonder about the current percentage. 

This underlines the immense influence of a robust recommendation system, and NebulaGraph will deliver precisely that – a robust recommendation system! 

NebulaGraph’s native graph storage capability means that data is traversed in real-time, no matter how complex the correlations are. You are able to instantly process the real-time user information and rely on it to make recommendations that match the users’ preferences. The ability to do this in real-time is a powerful strength that NebulaGraph brings.