Yatendra, your understanding is wrong, so let me explain.
You can freely use the free version of Neo4j Community Edition for a web application, but then you will not get the functions that you need for a 24x7 application, which is: clustering, high-performance cache, enterprise lock manager, hot backups and advanced monitoring. To get these features, you will need the Neo4j Enterprise Edition. Our philosophy with Enterprise implies the concept of "fair trade" that Stefan talked about. There are several lines in the Community Edition for the end user: you can use it to make money, and we are very glad that you do it for free. Enterprise Edition, on the other hand, has a company that fully supports it, that is, standing behind it under a contract, conducting all types of quality testing, supporting a separate stack of features and providing support. An enterprise is what we license on a commercial basis (that is, for money). However, we also love open source. Therefore, if you want to be generous and offer your application to the world, bringing it to the open source community, then this contribution will be enough. If you want to keep your application for yourself (hey, sometimes you also need to focus on making money), you can keep it closed source. Neo4j commercial licensing from Neo Tech will give you a separate commercial license that exempts you from the AGPL requirement, allowing you to keep your application closed source. (To be clear: a web-based application using Neo4j Enterprise without a commercial license from Neo Tech should be open under the AGPL.) In any case, do you share: source code with the world or financial contributions to help make Neo-4j possible . (Neo4j exists in large part thanks to its sponsor Neo Technology, who, at best or worst, must hire people, etc., which costs money, etc.)
A commercial license for Enterprise gives you access to a cluster of three machines. (You can always license more, but 3 you will get a very long way - this is a different way of thinking from other NoSQL technologies, where you may need 10 or 100 machines.) You are a startup, so the good news is that we have a couple of special programs made only for startups, with some moderate limitations, since we love startups and understand that this should be a launch:
- Startups “Three people in the garage”, which do not have external funding, can use the “Personal License”, which is free (yes, free). You do not get support with this, but it frees you from the AGPL requirement until you are big enough to walk with your two legs. There are some small marketing requirements, such as agreeing to provide Neo with your logo or providing a quote - but this ad is often desirable for startups, and there are enough options to make it win-win in almost all cases.
- For larger startups (up to $ 10 million in funding and 3M revenue - see the Neo website for more information) Neo has a special program that includes support (as well as a license that allows use with closed source code) for 12 thousand per year for a cluster out of three. For a 24x7 web application, the idea is that the Enterprise features, combined with support, create a lot of value, and also give you the opportunity to turn to when things go wrong.
Hope this helps! I would invite you to speak with the manager of Neo Tech for India, who you can contact through the "Contact Us" form on the Neo4j.com website.