Chroma suits developers building AI applications that need search and retrieval over stored data, with options for local, cloud, or customer-VPC deployment.
Free plan Free trial Open source From $250 a month AndroidiPhone & iPadWebWindowsMacLinux+2
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Best Vector Databases 2026
Facts read 20 Sep 2026 – 15 Oct 2026
Choosing a vector database means weighing how it will fit your application and development stack. Compared on deployment, index types and maximum dimensions, the entries also let you look at hybrid search, sparse vectors and metadata filtering. SDK languages help you consider integration, while free-plan availability and paid-from pricing add access and cost to the comparison. Chroma, Zvec and Pinecone are among the named options, alongside Qdrant and Vespa. Consider the kinds of vectors and filtering your retrieval work requires, and whether you prefer a cloud service or another deployment approach. The listed capabilities give you concrete points to weigh against those needs.
The standings: top 10
| Name | In a line | Record score | Price from | Try it free | Runs on | Facts read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Chroma | Chroma suits developers building AI applications that need search and retrieval over stored data, with options for local, cloud, or customer-VPC deployment. | 6.6 | $250 a month | Free plan | Android, iPhone & iPad, Web, Windows | 15 Oct 2026 |
| 02 Pinecone | Pinecone suits teams building AI applications that need semantic search, recommendations, or retrieval-augmented generation. | 5.8 | $20 a month | Free plan | Web, Mac, Linux, API | 15 Oct 2026 |
| 03 Vespa | Vespa is intended for teams building AI applications where search quality, ranking, fresh real-time data, or increasing retrieval traffic matter. | 5.8 | Free plan | Free plan | Web, Windows, Mac, Linux | 14 Oct 2026 |
| 04 Elasticsearch | 5.6 | $99 a month | Free plan | Web, Linux, API, Self-hosted | 30 Sep 2026 | |
| 05 Zvec | Zvec suits application developers who want local vector search for prototyping, development, embedded or edge applications, or production systems. | 5.2 | Free plan | Free plan | Android, iPhone & iPad, Windows, Mac | 8 Oct 2026 |
| 06 EmergentDB | EmergentDB may suit developers and teams building vector search who want automatic search-strategy selection and REST API access. | 5.1 | $29 a month | Free plan | Web, Linux, API, Self-hosted | 9 Oct 2026 |
| 07 Upstash Vector | Upstash Vector suits developers building search, recommendation, NLP, or retrieval systems through APIs and SDKs. | 5.1 | $60 a month | Free plan | Web, API | 3 Oct 2026 |
| 08 Weaviate | Weaviate suits developers building search, RAG, or agent systems who need a hosted or self-managed database. | 5.1 | $45 usage-based | Free plan | Web, Linux, API, Self-hosted | 30 Sep 2026 |
| 09 Qdrant | Qdrant suits developers building semantic search or recommendation systems who need vector storage, metadata filtering or hybrid retrieval. | 5.0 | Free plan | Free plan | Web, Windows, Mac, Linux | 2 Oct 2026 |
| 10 Epsilla | Epsilla suits teams creating domain-specific agents, knowledge-base assistants, or custom AI interfaces. | 4.9 | $29 a month | Free plan | Web, API, Self-hosted | 3 Oct 2026 |
02
Pinecone
Pinecone suits teams building AI applications that need semantic search, recommendations, or retrieval-augmented generation.
WebMacLinux+1 Record5.8 Visit
03
Vespa
Vespa is intended for teams building AI applications where search quality, ranking, fresh real-time data, or increasing retrieval traffic matter.
WebWindowsMac+3 Record5.8 Visit
04
Elasticsearch
WebLinuxAPI+1 Record5.6 Visit
05
Zvec
Zvec suits application developers who want local vector search for prototyping, development, embedded or edge applications, or production systems.
AndroidiPhone & iPadWindows+4 Record5.2 Visit
6
EmergentDB
WebLinuxAPI+1 $29 a month Record5.1 Visit EmergentDB may suit developers and teams building vector search who want automatic search-strategy selection and REST API access.
7
Upstash Vector
WebAPI $60 a month Record5.1 Visit Upstash Vector suits developers building search, recommendation, NLP, or retrieval systems through APIs and SDKs.
8
Weaviate
WebLinuxAPI+1 $45 usage-based Record5.1 Visit Weaviate suits developers building search, RAG, or agent systems who need a hosted or self-managed database.
9
Qdrant
WebWindowsMac+3 Free plan Record5.0 Visit Qdrant suits developers building semantic search or recommendation systems who need vector storage, metadata filtering or hybrid retrieval.
10
Epsilla
WebAPISelf-hosted $29 a month Record4.9 Visit Epsilla suits teams creating domain-specific agents, knowledge-base assistants, or custom AI interfaces.
12
Vearch
MacLinuxAPI+1 Free plan Record4.7 Visit Vearch suits AI teams needing a self-hosted vector database with metadata filtering, client SDKs, and several deployment methods.
13
Zilliz Cloud
WebAPI Free plan Record4.7 Visit Zilliz Cloud suits teams building vector search applications on managed Milvus.
15
KDB.AI
WebAPISelf-hosted Free plan Record4.6 Visit KDB.AI suits developers building AI applications that need vector search over real-time or multimodal data.
16
ZeusDB Vector Database
WindowsMacLinux+2 Free plan Record4.6 Visit ZeusDB suits developers building AI search, RAG, or recommendation systems who want self-hosted vector storage.
17
ManyVector
APISelf-hosted Free plan Record4.4 Visit It suits teams building search, recommendation, RAG, or agent-memory systems that want object-store-backed vector data.
18
Milvus
LinuxAPISelf-hosted Free plan Record4.4 Visit Milvus suits developers and teams building vector search into GenAI applications, with deployment options ranging from local use to Kubernetes clusters.
19
Cloudflare Vectorize
WebAPI Free plan Record4.3 Visit It suits developers building Worker-based applications that use vector search or need context for large language models.
21
LanceDB
LinuxAPISelf-hosted Free plan Record4.2 Visit LanceDB suits developers building and curating multimodal training datasets with searchable tables and versioned data.
22
Vald
LinuxAPISelf-hosted Free plan Record4.2 Visit Vald suits developers and infrastructure teams building vector search on Kubernetes or self-managed environments.
24
Vertex AI Vector Search
WebAPI — Record3.7 Visit It suits teams building search, recommendation, generative AI, chatbot, or multimodal applications through cloud APIs.
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