Follow up on the latest improvements and updates.

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March 26, 2025

new

AuraDB Professional

AuraDB Free

Data Importer

Import

New in Neo4j AuraDB: Direct Import from Cloud Data Warehouses

We’re making it easier to bring your data into Neo4j AuraDB! The Import Service now supports direct connections to Snowflake alongside existing CSV and relational database imports. BigQuery and Databricks support will be coming next.
A new AI-powered schema analysis helps infer primary and foreign keys—even when they’re not explicitly defined—automating graph model generation. This means faster, more seamless imports from your enterprise data ecosystem.
Get started today in the Aura Console under Import Service. Read more in the blog post.

March 25, 2025

new

improved

AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud

AuraDB Professional

AuraDB Free

AuraDS Professional

AuraDS Enterprise

AuraDB Business Critical

Neo4j Aura Database March Release Update

The Neo4j Aura March release has started to roll out, commencing on AuraDB Free and progressing to higher tiers later.

Some highlights include:

dbms.components() will return ‘5.27.0’ in the column versions. This is to support existing client applications that rely on the previous version format.
When dbms.cypher.lenient_create_relationship is set to true, MERGE clauses will not fail with Neo.TransientError.Transaction.Outdated.
Includes a new error handling mode for CALL IN TRANSACTIONS: ON ERROR RETRY.

Fixes

Fixes a bug with relationship traversal cursor pooling that could cause an ExpandInto operator to generate an incorrect relationship match in certain rare queries when executing on a block format database.
Fixes a issue where X1 page does not exist for node -1 errors appearing after node deletion.
Fixes a issue where …DELETE n RETURN n could fail in some scenarios.
Fixes a issue where we returned true instead of the actual property value for some specific WHERE clauses.
Fixes a issue where serialization of an empty list inside another list would cause an index out of bounds exception.
Fixes a bug with Dynamic Relationship Types where the first type would be inadvertently cached and reused for all rows.

Please refer to the Aura Release Notes for more information on any of the changes.

March 24, 2025

new

AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud

AuraDB Business Critical

Mark Instances as Production

We've recently introduced a new feature in the Aura Console: Admins can now mark a database instance as production in AuraDB Business Critical and AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud.
With our new Console experience now the default, we want to highlight this capability to help you manage your mission critical instances more effectively.
Key Benefit
: Production-marked instances are the last to receive Aura database instance version updates, allowing you to monitor potential impacts on less critical instances first.
For more details, please see our Aura Documentation 
Thanks,
The Aura Team

March 13, 2025

new

AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud

AuraDB Professional

AuraDB Business Critical

Custom Endpoints

We have enabled a new feature Custom Endpoints
 for AuraDB.
Custom endpoints can be used for database management and migration.
If you are an AuraDB user with the Project Admin role, you can create custom endpoints for your instances directly from the console. This allows you to establish connection to a database instance using this endpoint instead of the <dbid>.
For more information please see our product documentation.
Please note that this capability will be integrated into forthcoming enhanced AuraDB v4 to vLatest Migration Readiness Tooling and Guidance,  so no action required from users right now. 

February 26, 2025

new

improved

AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud

AuraDB Professional

AuraDB Free

AuraDS Professional

AuraDS Enterprise

AuraDB Business Critical

Neo4j Aura Database February 2025 Release Update

The Neo4j Aura February release has started to roll out, commencing on AuraDB Free and progressing to higher tiers later.

Some highlights include:

dbms.components() will return ‘5.27-aura’ in the column versions to maintain compatibility with existing client applications.
Optimized memory consumption for eagerness analysis in Cypher when handling unions.
Status descriptions for notifications now include the database name for unrecognized labels (01N50), relationship types (01N51), and properties (01N52).
NotSystemDatabaseException is now split into two exceptions:
NotSystemDatabaseException
, which is thrown when system-only queries are run on a non-system database, and
DisallowedOnSystemException
, which is thrown when non-system queries are run on the system database.

Fixes

Server: Resolved an issue with populating multiple index types on the same schema from concurrent transactions.
Cypher: Fixed java.lang.NoSuchFieldError: v0_tokenManager error when returning full nodes or relationships in some queries.

Please refer to the Aura Release Notes for more information on any of the changes.

February 18, 2025

new

AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud

AuraDB Professional

AuraDB Free

New Console

AuraDB Business Critical

Dark mode now available

You can now access a new theme switcher via your avatar menu in the console's global header. Here you can choose between light, dark, or use your system default.
We really appreciate all the feedback and requests on this feature. We also took some time improve the avatar menu, we hope you like it. 

February 13, 2025

new

Graph Analytics Now Available on AuraDB Professional

We’re excited to introduce Graph Analytics on AuraDB Professional—bringing the power of Neo4j Graph algorithms to your database without requiring separate infrastructure like AuraDS.

What’s New?

With the Graph Analytics plugin, you can now:

Run parallelized graph algorithms directly within AuraDB Professional, including centrality, ranking and many others
Use machine learning pipelines to predict missing relationships
Enable or disable the plugin as needed for flexibility

How It Works

Available for AuraDB Professional instances running Neo4j 5+ with at least 4GB memory
Works across all supported cloud providers and regions
No additional cost—just enable the plugin and start analyzing!

Key Considerations

When Graph Analytics is active, memory is shared between analytical and transactional workloads
Rolling updates clear all projections, and backups do not include projections (unlike AuraDS)

Get Started

💡 Already using AuraDB Professional? Try out the Graph Analytics plugin today! Simply enable the Graph Analytics setting when creating an instance or via the Configure menu
📖 Check out the documentation for further details.

January 29, 2025

new

AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud

AuraDB Professional

AuraDB Free

AuraDS Professional

AuraDS Enterprise

AuraDB Business Critical

Neo4j Aura Database January 2025 Release Update

The Neo4j Aura January release has started to roll out, commencing on AuraDB Free and progressing to higher tiers later. This is our first release using our new Calendar Version scheme.

Some highlights include:

Index Creation: Default index provider is now always used, as index providers no longer control index behavior (since version 5.0).
Protocol Update: Introduced Bolt 5.8.

Fixes

Resolved double-indexing of dense relationships, detectable during consistency checks.
Fixed issues with removing the last indexed property from dense relationships, which could fail during recovery or clustering.
Addressed transaction safety in DDL operations.
Corrected warnings related to Java Compressed Object Pointers in 32-48GB heaps.
Fixed a collect function bug that failed to preserve order in specific cases under parallel runtime.

Please refer to the Aura Release notes for more information on the changes.

January 27, 2025

new

AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud

AuraDB Professional

AuraDB Free

AuraDS Professional

AuraDS Enterprise

AuraDB Business Critical

Aura API rate limiting January update - extension

On 4 December 2024 we advised everyone that, starting 27 Jan 2025, we will adjust the rate limiting for the Aura API /oauth/token endpoint, which is used to obtain authorization tokens. 
We will be delaying this change to ensure that all Aura API users have sufficient time to implement the necessary updates. We will contacting users ahead of time to confirm details and also communicating here too.
Since each authorization token remains valid for one hour, we recommend optimizing your API usage by following these steps:
Retrieve the token once per hour: As tokens remain valid for an hour, reduce the frequency of token requests and reuse the same token for multiple API calls.
Implement token caching: Store the token securely within your system to reuse it for subsequent requests during its validity period, minimizing unnecessary calls to the endpoint.
If you need additional guidance or help, please reach out to Neo4j Aura Support. Our priority is to ensure fair and equitable access to our APIs for all customers.
Rate limiting for other API endpoints will remain unchanged at this time. 
Thank you, 
The Aura Team

January 24, 2025

new

AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud

AuraDB Professional

AuraDB Free

AuraDS Professional

AuraDS Enterprise

AuraDB Business Critical

Important Update: Calendar Versioning & Cypher 25

Calendar Versioning
Starting in January 2025, Neo4j is adopting a calendar-based versioning format (e.g., 2025.01), replacing traditional semantic versioning after the release of version 5 LTS. As an Aura customer, you’re already automatically on the latest version, and will now see the latest Calendar version in your database details.  No action is required as a result of this message.
There is no change for customers using version 4; however, we advise migrating to the latest version to take advantage of great new features, such as Parallel Runtime for 10x faster query performance, Block Format, Differential Backups, and more.
Cypher 5 and Cypher 25: More Choice, Same Simplicity
When an Aura instance is upgraded to the latest version, Cypher Language Version 5, the Cypher Language in Neo4j 5.x, remains the default.  When Cypher Version 25 is released this year, it will be available in all database instances on the latest release. All Aura customers on latest Calendar Version will be able to optionally:
Choose between Cypher 5 or Cypher 25 for queries, regardless of the database version.
Explore new Cypher features without altering your existing applications.
Change the default version of Cypher for the database.
The Cypher API compatibility layer ensures seamless transitions and lets you adopt new capabilities at your pace.
These enhancements will roll out soon, keeping Aura at the forefront of graph database technology.
Thank you
The Neo4j Team
FAQ
What is calendar-based versioning, and why is it being introduced?
Calendar-based versioning replaces traditional semantic versioning. Future Neo4j releases will follow the format of YYYY.MM.Patch (e.g., 2025.01.00). This approach simplifies how Aura handles Fully Managed upgrades, ensuring frequent access to new features, and eliminating the need for disruptive major version migrations.  More details on why calendar-based versioning is being introduced are provided in the blog post, Neo4j Takes the Lead: Transforming Graph Database Management With Cypher API Versioning and Database Calendar Versioning.
Are there any changes to how upgrades work?
No. Aura does not have any scheduled maintenance windows. It is designed to be always on and available, with all corrections, fixes, and upgrades automatically applied in the background.
Releases for the Neo4j database are also deployed when they become available. Operations are non-disruptive, and you shouldn’t experience any downtime as a result.
Will this change impact me as an Aura API user?
The Aura API will continue to accept version 5 requests. Requests using version 5 will create instances with the Latest Calendar Version.
What about deprecation of features?
Neo4j has a customer-focused deprecation policy: Features will only be deprecated if an alternative is available. Deprecated features remain supported with at least 12 months’ notice before removal.
How will the Cypher API compatibility layer help?
The compatibility layer allows you to specify the default Cypher version for your database or individual queries. This ensures that adopting new Cypher versions like 25 can happen gradually, without disrupting existing applications or workflows.
Do I need to migrate my queries from Cypher 5 to Cypher 25?
Eventually, but Cypher 5 will be supported unchanged (apart from resolving defects and security issues) for several years. We are committed to at least a year's notice before any withdrawal of a Cypher version. Cypher 25 starts as a copy of Cypher 5, with some deprecated features removed. It will then get additive features in the coming years.

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