Vector database software stores embeddings and runs similarity search for retrieval, agents, and recommendation. It is not a general data warehouse. This page covers managed and open-source options a product team can price from a public page.
Every provider is described with the same fields: published price, free limits, the usage meter, an enterprise control, and the main tradeoff. The order is not a quality ranking. Providers are sorted by the public entry price we could verify: a $0 plan or the lowest published list price first, and quote-led plans last.
Compared at a glance
| Provider | Published pricing | Free-tier shape | Best for | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qdrant | Free forever cluster: 0.5 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 4 GB disk; Standard is usage-based; Premium has a minimum spend by quote | Open source is Apache-2.0; Standard SLA 99.5% | A prototype cluster with no card | Visit → |
| Pinecone | Starter $0; Builder $20/month; Standard $50/month minimum; Enterprise $500/month minimum | Starter storage up to 2 GB and 2 million write units | A managed index with a listed monthly minimum | Visit → |
| Chroma | Starter $0/month plus usage; Enterprise custom | Calculator lists written data at $2.50/GiB and stored data at $0.33/GiB | Usage-priced cloud on top of the open-source database | Visit → |
| Weaviate | Free sandbox, then Flex from $45/month; Premium contact sales, with a stated Premium minimum from $400/month in the FAQ | Free sandbox is 100,000 objects and 1 collection | A managed cluster with a published Flex minimum | Visit → |
Pricing checked on October 2, 2026 against each vendor’s public pricing or plan page. Figures are list prices in US dollars unless noted. Free means a standing free plan, not a time-limited trial. Quote means we did not find a public list price.
A free cluster with 1 GB of RAM is enough to prove retrieval. It is not a stand-in for a highly available production index.
How these prices are built
Vector vendors bill storage, compute, or dimensions, not seats. A quiet prototype can be $0. A production index is dominated by how many vectors you keep hot and how often you query them. Quote-led private cloud still exists, but the four products here all publish an entry price.
The 4 providers in detail
1. Qdrant
Free cluster
Best for: a prototype that needs a real cluster, not only a local Docker run
| Published price | Free tier forever; Standard usage-based on vCPU, memory, storage, backups, and paid inference tokens; Premium minimum spend on request |
| Free limits | Single node, 0.5 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 4 GB disk, plus free cloud inference on selected models |
| SLA | Standard 99.5%; Premium 99.9% single-AZ or 99.95% multi-AZ |
| Self-host | Open source available; Hybrid and Private Cloud are quote-led |
| Tradeoff | The free cluster is not highly available. Production HA is a paid Standard cluster |
- Qdrant’s pricing page lists a free-forever cluster at 0.5 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, and 4 GB disk, with no card required to start.
- Standard billing is hourly resource usage. The page does not print a single per-vector list price.
- SSO and private VPC links are on Premium, which requires a minimum spend and a sales conversation.
2. Pinecone
Listed monthly minimum
Best for: apps that want a managed index and a price that is public before a contract
| Published price | Starter $0; Builder $20/month flat; Standard $50/month minimum usage; Enterprise $500/month minimum |
| Starter limits | Up to 2 GB storage and 2 million write units a month on the pricing table |
| Standard meter | Pay as you go above the $50 minimum; storage listed at $0.33/GB/month |
| Controls | Standard adds RBAC, SAML SSO, and a HIPAA add-on |
| Tradeoff | A quiet Standard index still pays the $50 minimum |
- Pinecone’s pricing page lists Starter as free, Builder at $20 a month, and Standard with a $50 monthly minimum.
- Docs confirm the Standard minimum: usage under $50 is still billed at $50.
- Enterprise is listed with a $500 monthly minimum, not as an unpublished quote.
3. Chroma
Usage after $0
Best for: teams that already know Chroma from open source and want cloud without a seat fee
| Published price | Starter $0/month plus usage; Enterprise custom |
| Unit rates on the calculator | Written $2.50/GiB; stored $0.33/GiB; queried $0.0075/TiB plus $0.09/GiB out |
| Starter limits | 10 databases and 10 team members on the Starter card |
| Team note | The FAQ mentions a Team plan whose $100 of included usage does not roll over. A Team dollar fee was not printed on the plan cards we read |
| Tradeoff | Cost is usage, so a large write of embeddings can exceed a seat-priced rival in one month |
- Chroma’s pricing page lists Starter at $0 a month plus usage, and Enterprise as custom.
- The on-page calculator publishes write, storage, and query rates rather than a flat monthly fee.
- The FAQ says credit-card billing applies to Starter and Team, and that egress is straightforward because the database is open source.
4. Weaviate
Flex minimum
Best for: teams that want hybrid search in a managed cluster with a published floor
| Published price | Free sandbox; Flex from $45/month; Premium contact sales |
| Free limits | 100,000 objects and 1 collection; no high availability |
| Flex meter | Vector dimensions from $0.00465 per million and storage from $0.12/GiB, on top of the $45 minimum |
| Premium floor | The FAQ says the minimum is from $400/month on Premium |
| Tradeoff | SSO and a 99.9% SLA are on Premium, not on the $45 Flex plan |
- Weaviate’s pricing page lists a free sandbox, Flex from $45 a month, and Premium as contact sales.
- The September 2026 price-book note on the same page says backup rates changed for usage from 1 September 2026.
- Embeddings are separate: Snowflake Arctic Embed M v1.5 is listed at $0.025 per million tokens.
Kurums Match
Open the situation that matches the buyer. This is a fit map, not a score.
We need a cluster today and no card
Qdrant’s free tier is a single node at 0.5 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, and 4 GB disk.
We want a listed monthly minimum for production
Pinecone Standard has a $50 monthly minimum. Builder is $20 if you are still small.
We already use Chroma locally
Chroma Cloud Starter is $0 plus the published write and storage rates.
We want hybrid search and a published floor
Weaviate Flex starts at $45 a month. The free sandbox stops at 100,000 objects and one collection.
Buying tip: Price a realistic vector count and query rate in each vendor’s calculator before you compare the free tier. The free tier answers ‘can we try it,’ not ‘what will production cost.’
How this comparison was put together
We compared vector databases with a public pricing page on October 2, 2026: Qdrant, Pinecone, Chroma, and Weaviate. We did not invent a Team fee for Chroma that the plan cards did not print. Premium and private-cloud options that are quote-led are described as quotes. Order follows the public $0 entry. No badge or affiliate term set the sequence.
FAQ
Is a vector database the same as a data warehouse?
No. Warehouses are for tabular analytics. This page is for embedding search. See the cloud data warehouse comparison for that job.
Can we self-host?
Qdrant and Weaviate publish open-source engines. Chroma is open source. Pinecone’s page is for its managed database.
Does Pinecone Standard cost $50 even if we use less?
Yes. Pinecone’s docs say usage under the $50 minimum is still billed at $50.
Why is there no quote-only vendor last?
All four publish a $0 entry. Premium and Enterprise quotes are noted on the cards. Putting a quote-only brand first would break the sort rule.
Related comparisons
- Best cloud data warehouse software in 2026
- Best AI data analysis tools in 2026
- Best enterprise AI search software in 2026
Last updated October 2, 2026. Links to vendor sites use rel="sponsored nofollow". Kurums does not award Recommends, Top Pick, or Verified badges on this page, and affiliate availability did not set the order.
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