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Relational-Core Graph Analytics Querying graphs at SQL scale, and why the node/edge model is a performance tax, not a truer picture of connected data

arXiv · AI, language, vision and robotics · article · Sep 1, 2026 · UTC

A durable assumption holds that graph analytics requires a purpose-built graph engine, and that relational systems are ill-suited to connected data. We argue the opposite for the workloads enterprises actually run. A columnar relational engine fronted by a graph query language matches or exceeds native graph engines on analytical graph queries, and - decisively - scales past the point where in-memory graph engines fail. We further argue that the node/edge property graph is not a more faithful model of connected data but a re-encoding of relationships that already exist explicitly in relational

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