ChromaDB vs Milvus (2026)
A detailed comparison of ChromaDB and Milvus covering features, pricing, platform support, and more.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | ChromaDB | Milvus |
|---|---|---|
| Open-source embedding database | Yes | No |
| Simple Python/JS API | Yes | No |
| Metadata filtering | Yes | No |
| Local and server modes | Yes | No |
| Multi-modal embeddings | Yes | No |
| Automatic embedding generation | Yes | No |
| Vector search engine | No | Yes |
| CRUD operations | No | Yes |
| Similarity search | No | Yes |
| Scalable distributed | No | Yes |
| Multi-language support | No | Yes |
| YAML configuration | No | Yes |
| Kubernetes ready | No | Yes |
Pricing Comparison
| Detail | ChromaDB | Milvus |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Free Tier Details | Fully open source, self-hosted is free | Open-source self-hosted |
| Starting Price | Free | Free |
| Plan 1 | Cloud (coming soon): $0/month | Zilliz Cloud Starter: $0/month |
| Plan 2 | — | Zilliz Cloud Pro: $null/custom |