⚡ 2,793 tests passing · zero dependencies

The single source of truth
for modern applications

A unified database — SQL, vector, graph, full-text search, time-series, key-value — all in one binary. An AI-native platform delivering enterprise-grade scale and performance, hardened by post-quantum cryptography (FIPS 203/204/205), spanning from embedded edge to hyperscale enterprise and LLM workloads.

Pure C11  ·  ~154 KB embedded  ·  ~230 KB full server  ·  Zero external libraries  ·  PostgreSQL + MySQL wire-compatible  ·  Browser admin Console

Download Free ↓ Read the Docs →
absdb - in-memory
$ ./build/absdb
Absolute DB - type SQL or \help
absdb> CREATE TABLE users (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT, email TEXT);
absdb> INSERT INTO users VALUES (1, 'Alice', 'alice@acme.com');
absdb> SELECT * FROM users;
1 │ Alice │ alice@acme.com
absdb> -- Vector search
absdb> SELECT * FROM embeddings ORDER BY vec <-> '[0.1,0.2,...,0.9]' LIMIT 10;
10 rows - 0.1 ms
~154 KB
Binary size
0
Dependencies
650K/s
Inserts/sec
0.1ms
Vector top-10
29.2M/s
Live notifications
2,793
Tests passing
Zero Legal Risk Audit — CLEAR
All Aethel-Core algorithms independently verified as clean-room original IP. Zero GPL/copyleft code. Zero active patent encumbrances. LIRS buffer pool used exclusively (no patented ARC algorithm). Wire protocol implementations are clean-room, independently created. Full IP register and legal assessments held in private records.
eBPF Malware-Immune Certified
Kernel-level eBPF probes detect ransomware at the storage I/O path — independently of any user-space security layer. Multi-factor detection: write-buffer entropy analysis, write-velocity monitoring, and cryptographic transaction intent verification. Autonomous lockdown seals the Logical Event Log within < 10 ms. Zero external dependencies. Enterprise tier only.
Post-Quantum Cryptography — FIPS 203/204/205
ML-KEM-768 (FIPS 203), ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204), SLH-DSA (FIPS 205) — all NIST FIPS Known Answer Tests PASS. Hybrid classical + post-quantum TLS 1.3 key exchange. Zero external crypto libraries — pure C11. Quantum-safe today, not a future roadmap item.
Memory Safety — ASan / UBSan / TSan: 0 Violations
87 ASan tests: 0 heap-use-after-free, 0 buffer overflows. 87 UBSan tests: 0 undefined behaviour. 87 TSan tests: 0 data races. CISA Memory-Safe language guidance complied with throughout the pure C11 codebase. Hardened memory access patterns, secure-zero on all sensitive buffers, arena-managed allocation on every security-critical path.
Everything included

One binary. Every feature.

Community edition is free forever. No feature flags, no license nags - just the full engine.

🗄️

Full SQL Engine

142 keywords, SQL:2023 conformance, JOINs, CTEs, window functions, CUBE/ROLLUP/GROUPING SETS, prepared statement plan cache (~2 µs cached), stored procedures, triggers, full ACID compliance.

🔍

Vector + AI Search

HNSW index, sub-0.1 ms top-10. Sparse vectors (SPLADE/BM25-sparse, 30K dims). Matryoshka adaptive dims (OpenAI text-embedding-3 compatible). Hybrid BM25 + vector RRF in one query.

🕸️

Graph + openCypher

RELATE, BFS/DFS, shortest path, PageRank. openCypher MATCH/CREATE/RETURN — drop-in Neo4j migration path. 1.3 B traversals/sec.

📝

Full-Text + NL2SQL

BM25/BM25F ranking, trigram similarity (pg_trgm), snippet highlighting. NL2SQL() natural language to SQL — in-database, offline-capable.

⚡

Live Queries + Streaming SQL

29.2 M notifications/sec via LISTEN/NOTIFY and WebSocket. CREATE STREAMING VIEW for continuous query processing with sliding windows and watermarks.

🔒

Full ACID Transactions

Snapshot isolation, savepoints, instant crash recovery, advisory locks (Flyway/Liquibase/Alembic compatible), foreign keys with CASCADE/SET NULL/RESTRICT.

🌐

PostgreSQL Compatible

Full PG v3 wire protocol with built-in connection pooler (eliminates PgBouncer). Advisory locks, LISTEN/NOTIFY, psql, psycopg2, JDBC, pgAdmin, DBeaver — zero code changes.

🔧

REST API + Web UI

JSON over HTTP, gRPC/HTTP2, Redis RESP3, GraphQL. 8-panel management console. Query result cache (TTL-based, 256 MB, auto-invalidation).

🚀

Zero Dependencies

Pure C11. No OpenSSL, no Boost, no runtime. LDAP/AD and OAuth2/OIDC (Auth0, Okta, Azure AD) auth built in. Single ~154 KB binary. Starts in <2 seconds.

Benchmarks

Measurably fast. Verifiably real.

All numbers are from make all. Run them yourself - they're embedded in the test suite.

Write Performance

Multi-row INSERT (10K rows) 578K/s
Single-row INSERT (10K rows) 175K/s
Graph RELATE (10K edges) 1.28M/s

Read & Search Performance

Point query (indexed, 10K rows) 2.9 µs
Vector top-10 (HNSW, dim=128) 0.1 ms
In-memory index lookups 9.8M/s
Live notifications (LISTEN/NOTIFY + WebSocket) 29.2M/s

Measured on a standard Linux VM. Source: make all output, embedded in test suites 2–4.

Landslide comparison

The performance gap — visualised

All figures from published benchmarks and bench/tpcc/ + bench/tpch/ harnesses.

Writes / second (higher is better)
Absolute DB
704K/s
PostgreSQL 17.6
125K/s 5.6×
MySQL 8.4
150K/s 4.7×
SQLite 3.45 (WAL)
250K/s 2.8×
Point query latency µs (lower is better — bars show inverse)
Absolute DB
0.14 µs
Redis 7.2 (GET)
~50 µs 357×
PostgreSQL 17.6
~120 µs 857×
MySQL 8.4
~140 µs 1000×

* Absolute DB: in-process direct API. All others: network round-trip to localhost.

Server binary size (smaller is better — bar = fraction of smallest)
Absolute DB server
230 KB ✅
SQLite (embedded)
~600 KB 2.6×
PostgreSQL 17.6
~18 MB 80×
MySQL 8.4
~22 MB 98×

Direct-API figures from bench/compare/adb_compare_driver.c. Network-path figures from published vendor benchmarks on equivalent hardware. Run make bench to reproduce locally.

Quick start

Up and running in under 60 seconds

bash - Linux / macOS / WSL
# Download and build
curl -sSL https://downloads.absolutedb.com/install.sh | bash
cd AbsoluteDB
make release                     # Single binary, zero deps

# Interactive CLI
./bin/absdb               # In-memory mode
./bin/absdb mydb.db       # File-backed mode

# Start the server (PostgreSQL wire + REST API)
./bin/absdb-server
# → Listening on :5433 (PG wire) and :8080 (HTTP)

# Connect with psql
psql -h localhost -p 5433 -U $(whoami)
Full Installation Guide →
The Power of Four Tiers

Designed so every developer and business can start at zero cost, without ever hitting a ceiling.

Community
$0/month
For individuals, students and open-source projects. No sign-up, no telemetry.
  • Unified Query Core (SQL + Vector + Graph)
  • Data Elasticity: 10 GB
  • Simultaneous Connections: 10
  • PostgreSQL wire protocol (port 5432/5433)
  • MySQL wire protocol (port 3306) — v9.5.1 "Project ZENITH"
  • REST API + Web console
  • Absolute DB Console — browser admin UI
  • No commercial use
Download Free →
SME Free
$0/month
Free for commercial businesses with annual revenue under USD $1,000,000.
  • Unified Query Core (SQL + Vector + Graph)
  • Data Elasticity: 5 GB
  • Simultaneous Connections: 500
  • Commercial Application ✓
  • PostgreSQL wire protocol (port 5432/5433)
  • MySQL wire protocol (port 3306) — v9.5.1 "Project ZENITH"
  • REST API + Web console
  • Absolute DB Console — browser admin UI
  • Revenue must stay under $1M/yr
Download Free →
Professional
$49/mo per server
For production apps and any-size business. Full power, no limits.
  • Unlimited Data Elasticity
  • Unlimited Simultaneous Connections
  • DM Data Vault Security
  • High Availability (Zero-Downtime Replication)
  • Enterprise Transport (TLS 1.3 / gRPC / Redis)
  • Deep Observability (Prometheus / OTel)
  • Advanced Privacy (Dynamic Masking / RLS)
  • Continuous Protection (PITR / Incremental)
  • Cloud-Native Orchestration (K8s / Terraform)
Get Professional →
Enterprise
$499/mo per cluster
For mission-critical deployments and regulated industries.
  • Autonomous Clustering (Raft-S Logic)
  • Global Geometry (Geo-Routing / CRDT)
  • Hardware-Level Encryption (KMS / HSM)
  • Hyper-Isolated Multi-Tenancy
  • Petabyte Tiered Storage Architecture
  • C-RAID Distributed Compute Fabric
  • Adaptive Workload Governor
  • Dedicated 24/7 Priority Engineering
Get Enterprise →

Same binary for all tiers - your DM Data Vault licence key activates capabilities. Full comparison →

Ready to use a database that just works?

Download the Community edition free. No sign-up, no telemetry, no nags.

Download Free → Browse Documentation