The network model is a database model conceived as a flexible way of representing objects and their relationships.

Where the hierarchical model structures data as a tree of records, with each record having one parent record and many children, the network model allows each record to have multiple parent and child records, forming a lattice structure.

The chief argument in favour of the network model, in comparison to the hierarchic model, was that it allowed a more natural modeling of relationships between entities.

Although the model was widely implemented and used, it failed to become dominant for two main reasons.

Firstly, IBM chose to stick to the hierarchical model with semi-network extensions in their established products such as IMS and DL/I. Secondly, it was eventually displaced by the relational model, which offered a higher-level, more declarative interface.

Until the early 1980s the performance benefits of the low-level navigational interfaces offered by hierarchical and network databases were persuasive for many large-scale applications, but as hardware became faster, the extra productivity and flexibility of the relational model led to the gradual obsolescence of the network model in corporate enterprise usage.

In 1969, the Conference on Data Systems Languages (CODASYL) established the first specification of the network database model. This was followed by a second publication in 1971, which became the basis for most implementations.

Subsequent work continued into the early 1980s, culminating in an ISO specification, but this had little influence on products.