Summary of New Product Release Policy


With the release of Neo4j version 5, Neo4j has adopted a delivery model to align Neo4j Enterprise Edition with Neo4j AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud and updated the Neo4j Product & Support Terms accordingly. Subject to applying the Current Release, customers receive Product Support for Major Releases for five (5) years following a Major Release generally available (GA) announcement, through a series of Minor Releases that provide features and fixes for a period of 18 months following the GA announcement and an additional 42 months when the Long Term Service (LTS) release is announced after which Minor Release contains only bug fixes.

At the time of publication, each Minor release is designated as the Current Release until the next Minor Release. A Hotfix Release will be produced between Minor Releases in exceptional cases, e.g. High Severity Security fix, and as the most recent publication will be designated as the Current Release until the next Minor Release. In order to receive new bug fixes and feature enhancements, customers must apply the Current Release. However, Customers who have installed a Major Version Release, or a subsequent Minor Release, but are not on the Current Release are under no obligation to upgrade to contact Neo4j Customer Support.

Additional details for all Supported Versions of Neo4j are available here. All other commitments remain broadly the same, please review details below.

A copy of the Neo4j Product & Support Terms that applied to all releases prior to Neo4j 5.x is available here.

A valid Neo4j Enterprise Subscription with Neo4j affords the customer’s authorized support technical representatives access to Product Support (including Major, Minor and Hotfix Releases of the Software), Customer Support and documentation updates regardless of the installed version and as set forth below.

Product Support


Supporting and patching is intended for stable, generally available (GA) releases of the Neo4j software that have undergone Neo4j’s full release testing (“Software”).

(1) Current Release

The most recent version of Neo4j, whether a Major, Minor or Hotfix Version Release, is designated as the Current Release. All new bug fixes and feature enhancements will be incorporated to produce the next Minor Release which is then designated as the Current Release.

(2) Major Version Release

A new Major Version Release of the Software that contains breaking changes, functional enhancements and extensions, fixes for high and medium severity security fixes and severity 1 bug fixes; designated by Neo4j by means of a change in the digit to the left of the first decimal point (e.g. Enterprise Edition 4.0 >> Enterprise Edition 5.0). A Major Release is designated as the Current Release until the first Minor Release.

(3) Minor (Frequent) Release

A Minor Release is a frequent release of the Software that may introduce a limited amount of new features, security fixes addressing items with critical to medium security ratings on the National Vulnerability Database and/or bug fixes for customer reported issues since the previous Minor Release. A Minor Release is designated by Neo4j by means of a change in the digit to the right of the first decimal point (e.g., Enterprise Edition 5.1 >>Enterprise Edition 5.2). Each Minor Release is designated as the Current Release until the next Minor Release. In order to receive new code fixes and feature enhancements, customers must apply the latest Current Release.

(4) Hotfix Release

A Hotfix Release is a generally available release that Neo4j deems is required under certain circumstances between Minor Releases of the Software, including, but not limited to, maintenance corrections only for security vulnerabilities with a critical rating on the National Vulnerability Database and/or bug fixes that are required for all customers. Hotfix Releases are designated by Neo4j by means of a change in the digit to the right of the second decimal point (e.g. Enterprise Edition 5.1.0 >> Enterprise Edition 5.1.1). Hotfixes will be designated as the Current Release until the next Minor Release. In order to receive new code fixes, customers must apply the latest Current Release.

(5) Long Term Service Release (LTSR)

At the end of the Major Release cycle, Neo4j will release the last set of new features and designate a Minor Release as the LTS Release which shall be enhanced with Minor Releases until the published End of Support date. The most recent Minor Release after the LTS announcement will be designated as the Current Release. In order to receive new code fixes, customers must apply the latest Current Release.

Upgrade Considerations: Product Support vs Support Services

Customers who have installed a Major Version Release, or a subsequent Minor Release, but are not on the Current Release are under no obligation to upgrade to contact Neo4j Customer Support. (Customer) Support Services are defined by the Support Services Level described in the Order Form and are not dependent on the installed Software product version. However, please note that all new code fixes will be incorporated with the Current Release, to produce the next Minor Release, and will not be backported to prior releases. Where possible, Customer Support will provide customers experiencing a known issue with workarounds. Neo4j cannot guarantee a workaround will be available in all situations and highly recommends customers to upgrade to the Current Release to receive all current code fixes. To simplify the upgrade process for customers, Neo4j 5.x, and above, has been designed with an any version to any version architecture within each Major Version Release.

A list of currently supported Software versions can be found here.

Upgrade Compatibility


Neo4j will use commercially reasonable efforts designed to ensure all features and functions remain compatible between Minor Releases within the same Major Release, and that upgrades are available from any Minor Release to any subsequent Minor Release without the need to apply an intermediary Minor Release. Neo4j will advise customers when an exception is required and an intermediary Minor Release must be applied in order to upgrade. Neo4j may remove or modify features between Major Releases of the Software, may mark features as DEPRECATED but will not remove features in Minor Releases. APIs and features indicated in code or documentation as DEPRECATED are the most likely to be removed or modified. APIs and features marked as DEPRECATED in any Minor Release of the Software are still supported within that Major Release, and will typically be removed in the subsequent Major Release of the Software.

Definitions of Support


Product Support

  • Product Support in the form of incremental Software updates may be provided in the form of an API-compatible Minor or Hotfix Release, or as otherwise specified by Neo4j Support.
  • Access to Software updates and documented processes for upgrading between supported releases of the Software.
  • Development of compatible updates to the Software, where commercially reasonable, for the purpose of addressing critical rated security fixes, Severity 1 and Severity 2 bug fixes identified in the Software release until the End of Support from the Minor Release designated as the LTS Release of the Software.
  • Major and Minor Release Notes – Available on Neo4j.com. Details of the issue(s) are available via the changelog on Github.

Customer Support

  • Current Support Offerings – Available to both new and existing customers effective Jun 17, 2024
    • Signature – Support access 24×7 for Severity 1 & 2 and 24×5 for Severity 3 & 4 issues
    • Global – Support access 24×7 for Severity 1 and 24×5 for Severity 2, 3 & 4 issues
    • Regional – Support access 24×7 for Severity 1 and 9×5 (local business hours) for Severity 2, 3 & 4 issues
    • Essential – Support access 9×5 (local business hours) for all issue severities
  • Deprecated Offerings – No longer available for new customers effective Jun 17, 2024 but supported for the Term of an existing Neo4j Software Subscription which has not yet expired or has not yet been terminated:
    • Platinum – Support access 24×7 basis for all issue severities
    • Premium – Support access 24×7 for Severity 1 and 10×5 (local business hours) for Severity 2, 3 & 4 issues
    • Enterprise (Aura) – Support access 24×7 for Severity 1 and 10×5 (local business hours) for Severity 2, 3 & 4 issues
    • Standard – Support access 10×5 (local business hours) for all issue severities
  • Local Business Hours (“LBH”) – 9:00am to 6:00pm in the customer defined time zone, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. LBH applies to customers who select the Regional or Essential support package and is designated by the customer during the onboarding process. The business time zone must be the same for all authorized support contacts from the same customer Project (and/or as defined in the applicable Order Form).
  • Location of Customer Support – Engineers are geographically dispersed to better meet our customers’ global support needs.
  • Requests for technical support – Logged and managed in the Neo4j Customer Portal which is available at support.neo4j.com. All new, pending and resolved cases relating to the customer project will be visible in this system to all of the authorized technical contacts(s).
  • General issues and resolutions will be available through the community issue tracking systems, publicly available on github.com.

Customer Support Severity Definitions


Severity level is assigned during case creation. Severity assignment will be validated with the customer by a Neo4j Customer Support Engineer and is based on the technical and business impact of the issue as outlined below. Neo4j Customer Support, at their sole discretion, may upgrade or downgrade the severity of the case depending on developments during the case flow process. For example, if available, a temporary resolution may be provided to mitigate the material impact of a given problem resulting in the reduction of the severity of a case. Severity levels will also be adjusted downward if the customer does not engage in like-effort.

Severity 1

Production use of the Software is stopped or so severely impacted that the user of the Software cannot reasonably continue work. The user of the Software is experiencing a complete loss of service. The operation is mission critical to the business and the situation is an emergency.

A Severity 1 service request has one or more of the following characteristics:

    • Data corrupted
    • A critical documented function is not available
    • System hangs indefinitely, causing unacceptable or indefinite delays for resources or response
    • System crashes, and crashes repeatedly after restart attempts

Severity 1 classification must not be used for any service request relating to embedded deployments of Software, unless the customer can clearly demonstrate that the issue originates in the Software. Once a Severity 1 case is received Neo4j will use commercially reasonable efforts to review the case details and severity level, to facilitate the severity level qualification and/or gather additional information to begin analyzing relevant logs (if available) within the Service Level Target set forth below. The Service Level Targets are the maximum time period by which Neo4j commits to being actively engaged but does not guarantee a time period by which a workaround or resolution will be provided for the reported issue. Within this time period Neo4j will endeavor to understand the technical and business impact of the issue, clarify what information is necessary to identify the root cause, and where possible to develop and communicate a plan to resolve or provide an acceptable workaround for the reported issue. Customers with a support offering that includes 24×7 Support Availability can expect a Neo4j engineer to remain engaged as long as useful progress can be made. Whilst a Severity 1 service request remains active, Neo4j will maintain designated points of contact to the customer, and within the customer’s business hours for any support offering that does not include 24×7 availability.

The customer is required to provide Neo4j with a technical contact that is reachable via email and phone, to assist with data gathering, testing, and applying fixes. The customer contact must have the access necessary (e.g. access to servers, instances, infrastructure, log files, etc.) to help Neo4j address the Severity 1 issue. If access cannot be provided to the technical contact or issues cannot be replicated in a timely manner, Neo4j is unable to guarantee the identification of root cause and cannot be held accountable for a delay in resolution.

Please allocate Severity 1 classification with great care, so that valid Severity 1 situations obtain the necessary resource allocation from Neo4j.

Severity 2

The user of the Software is experiencing a severe loss of service, where important features are unavailable, and no acceptable workaround; however, operations can continue in a restricted fashion. The operation is mission critical to the business.

Once a Severity 2 case is received Neo4j will use commercially reasonable efforts to review the case details and severity level, to facilitate the severity level qualification and/or gather additional information to begin analyzing relevant logs (if available) within the Service Level Target set forth below. The Service Level Targets are the maximum time period by which Neo4j commits to being actively engaged but does not guarantee a time period by which a workaround or resolution will be provided for the reported issue. Within this time period Neo4j will endeavor to understand the technical and business impact of the issue, clarify what information is necessary to identify the root cause, and where possible to develop and communicate a plan to resolve or provide an acceptable workaround for the reported issue. The hours of Support Availability are dependent on the customer selected Support Offering. Signature support provides 24×7 and Global support provides 24×5 for Severity 2 issues until the issue is resolved, downgraded or as long as useful progress can be made. For all other Support Offerings while a Severity 2 service request remains active, Neo4j will assign a designated point of contact to the customer, who will be available within Local Business Hours.

The customer is required to provide Neo4j with a technical contact, available within Local Business Hours and reachable via email, to assist with data gathering, testing, and applying fixes. The customer contact must have the access necessary (e.g. access to servers, instances, infrastructure, log files, etc.) to help Neo4j address the Severity 2 issue. If access cannot be provided to the technical contact or issues cannot be replicated in a timely manner, Neo4j is unable to guarantee the identification of root cause and cannot be held accountable for a delay in resolution.

Severity 3

The user of the Software is experiencing a minor loss of service. The impact is an inconvenience, which may require a workaround to restore functionality.

Once a Severity 3 case is received Neo4j will use commercially reasonable efforts to review the case details and severity level, to facilitate the severity level qualification and/or gather additional information to begin analyzing relevant logs (if available) within the Service Level Target set forth below.

Severity 4

The customer requests information, an enhancement, or documentation clarification regarding the Software but there is no impact on the operation of the Software. The user of the Software is experiencing no loss of service. The result does not impede the operation of a system. Once a Severity 4 case is received Neo4j will use commercially reasonable efforts to review the case details and severity level, to facilitate the severity level qualification and/or gather additional information to begin analyzing relevant logs (if available) within the Service Level Target set forth below.

Support Subscription Level Package Details


  ESSENTIAL REGIONAL GLOBAL SIGNATURE
Associated Product Bundle Business Bundle Discovery Bundle Enterprise Bundle AuraDB/DS a la carte Enterprise Bundle/AuraDB/DS a la carte Enterprise Bundle/AuraDB/DS
Support Contacts 5 10 20 30
Support Availability 9-6pm local business hours 24×7 Sev 1
9-6pm local business hours		 24×7 Sev 1
24×5 Sev 2-4		 24×7 Sev 1-2
24×5 Sev 3-4
Severity 1 4 business hours 1 hour 1 hour 30 minutes
Severity 2 4 business hours 4 business hours 2 hours (24×5) 1 hour
Severity 3 12 business hours 8 business hours 8 hours (24×5) 8 hours (24×5)
Severity 4 12 business hours 12 business hours 12 hours (24×5) 12 hours (24×5)
Chat Support Channel No No No Yes
Escalation Management No Yes Yes Yes
Annual Solution Audit Add-on Add-on Add-on Yes
Technical Acct. Manager n/a n/a Part time TAM Full time TAM
Customer Success Self-serve Self-serve Assigned CSM Assigned CSM
Technical Resources Self-serve Self-serve Assigned CSA Assigned CSA
Cloud Operations n/a Add-on Add-on Add-on
Training Subscription Add-on Add-on 10 LMS users + 32 hours of VILT 20 LMS users + 48 hours of VILT

*Local business hours are 9:00am to 6:00pm, Monday through Friday, excluding major holidays


First, Second and Third Line Technical Support


Guidelines for service request escalation from customer’s First Line Support to Neo4j’s Second and Third Line Support are the following Service Levels:


First Line Support:

Level 1: The customer is expected to manage First Line Support services for their own end users of the Software. First Line Support includes providing direct responses to all requests relating to performance, functionality and operation raised by users regarding the Software.

If, after reasonable commercial efforts, the customer is unable to diagnose or resolve problems or issues in the Software, the customer may then contact Neo4j for “Second Line Support” that includes Levels 2 and 3 below.


Second Line Support:

Level 2: A Neo4j Support Engineer receives information on an issue and analyzes the symptoms. They will engage in appropriate troubleshooting practices, and propose solutions or further investigative actions accordingly. Neo4j Support Engineers will, as needed, conduct advanced troubleshooting and analysis in collaboration with assigned customer resources. Investigative actions will be prioritized and managed in order to address the issue. The customer is required to provide a technical contact to help diagnose and reproduce the issue, assist with data gathering, testing, and applying fixes. The contact must have the access necessary to help Neo4j address the issue. If access cannot be provided to the technical contact or issues cannot be replicated in a timely manner, Neo4j is unable to guarantee the identification of root cause and cannot be held accountable for a delay in resolution.

Level 3: The most critical or complex issues are addressed at Level 3. All information and actions taken in Level 2 are shared with the Neo4j product engineering team, who engage in further research and analysis, provide Level 2 with feedback, guidance and when appropriate propose solutions to be developed and provide detailed estimates for delivery. For support requests of Severity 1 and 2, reasonable commercial effort will be made to provide compatible updates to any current LTS and/or the current Release. When a compatible update is not available, the customer will be provided assistance in preparing their system(s) for upgrade to a recent stable Software release.

Escalation Guidelines


Escalation between service Levels 2 and 3 will be made at the discretion of Neo4j, based on the results of the investigation into the issue.

Changes to Neo4j Product & Support Terms


Neo4j reserves the right to change, alter, replace or otherwise modify the Neo4j Product & Support Terms at any time but no such change(s) shall materially reduce or diminish the Support Subscription Level Package provided during an existing Software Subscription Term to the Customer. The date of last modification is stated at the end of the Neo4j Product & Support Terms.

Last modified: June 17, 2024