EdgeDB Has a Free Graph-Relational Database — SQL Power With Object Syntax

SQL is powerful but verbose. ORMs are convenient but limited. EdgeDB gives you a query language that feels like writing objects — with the power of PostgreSQL underneath.

What is EdgeDB?

EdgeDB is a database built on top of PostgreSQL that replaces SQL with EdgeQL — a modern query language that handles relationships, aggregations, and nested data naturally. It also auto-generates TypeScript types.

Why EdgeDB

1. EdgeQL vs SQL

-- SQL: Get users with their posts and comments count
SELECT u.id, u.name,
  (SELECT json_agg(json_build_object(
    'title', p.title,
    'comment_count', (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM comments c WHERE c.post_id = p.id)
  )) FROM posts p WHERE p.author_id = u.id) as posts
FROM users u WHERE u.name ILIKE '%alice%';

# EdgeQL: Same query
SELECT User {
  name,
  posts: {
    title,
    comment_count := count(.comments)
  }
} FILTER .name ILIKE '%alice%';

2. Schema as Code

# dbschema/default.esdl
module default {
  type User {
    required name: str;
    required email: str {
      constraint exclusive;
    };
    multi posts := .<author[IS Post];
    created_at: datetime {
      default := datetime_current();
    };
  }

  type Post {
    required title: str;
    required content: str;
    required author: User;
    multi comments: Comment;
    multi tags: str;
    published: bool {
      default := false;
    };
  }

  type Comment {
    required body: str;
    required author: User;
    created_at: datetime {
      default := datetime_current();
    };
  }
}

3. Auto-Generated TypeScript Client

npx @edgedb/generate edgeql-js

import e from './dbschema/edgeql-js';
import { createClient } from 'edgedb';

const client = createClient();

// Fully typed queries
const users = await e.select(e.User, (user) => ({
  name: true,
  email: true,
  posts: (post) => ({
    title: true,
    comment_count: e.count(post.comments),
    filter: e.op(post.published, '=', true),
  }),
  filter: e.op(user.name, 'ilike', '%alice%'),
})).run(client);

// users is typed as Array<{ name: string, email: string, posts: Array<{ title: string, comment_count: number }> }>

4. Built-in Auth

using extension auth;

module default {
  type User {
    required name: str;
    required identity: ext::auth::Identity;
  }
}

Email/password, OAuth, and magic links — built into the database.

5. Migrations

# Generate migration from schema changes
edgedb migration create

# Apply
edgedb migrate

# Squash migrations
edgedb migration squash

6. Built-in UI

edgedb ui
# Opens browser with:
# - Schema viewer
# - Data browser
# - Query editor with autocomplete
# - Migration history

EdgeDB vs PostgreSQL vs MongoDB

	EdgeDB	PostgreSQL	MongoDB
Query language	EdgeQL	SQL	MQL
Relationships	First-class	JOINs	$lookup
Schema	SDL (strict)	DDL (strict)	Schemaless
TypeScript types	Auto-generated	Manual / Prisma	Manual
Nested queries	Natural	Subqueries/CTEs	Aggregation pipeline
Auth	Built-in	Extension	Atlas only
Migrations	Auto-generated	Manual	N/A

Free Tier (EdgeDB Cloud)

Feature	Free
Instances	1
Compute	Shared
Storage	1GB
Bandwidth	5GB/month

Getting Started

# Install
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.edgedb.com | sh

# Create project
edgedb project init

# Start UI
edgedb ui

The Bottom Line

EdgeDB makes PostgreSQL feel modern. EdgeQL is SQL without the pain, auto-generated TypeScript types eliminate manual mapping, and built-in auth saves weeks of development.

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