kitio.aiWeaviate vs Milvus
A side-by-side look at pricing plans, free tiers, features, pros and cons, updated for 2026. Weaviate starts at $45/mo and Milvus starts at See pricing page. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
At a glance
Best for
Category
Pricing model
Starting price
Free plan
Made by
Based in
Rating
Key features
- Hybrid vector and keyword search
- Built-in vectorizer modules
- Multi-tenancy
- Generative search
- Weaviate Cloud
- Distributed architecture
- Many index types
- GPU indexing
- Hybrid search
- Milvus Lite
| Feature | Weaviate | Milvus |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Open-source vector database with hybrid search and built-in vectorizers | Open-source vector database built for billion-scale search |
| Category | Models & APIs | Models & APIs |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $45/mo | See pricing page |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Made by | Weaviate | Zilliz |
| Based in | Netherlands | United States |
| Rating | No ratings yet | No ratings yet |
| Key features |
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Pricing compared
Weaviate starts at $45/mo and Milvus starts at See pricing page. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
Free plan
Cheapest paid plan
Top plan
Free trial
3 plans
Free
Free
- 1 cluster, 100K objects
- 1 GB memory, 10 GB disk
- Basic support
Flex
$45/mo
- Starting price, pay-as-you-go
- Shared cloud cluster
- RBAC, 99.5% uptime
Premium
Contact sales
- Prepaid contract
- Shared or dedicated deployment
- Up to 99.95% uptime
Prices in USD, checked Oct 28, 2026 or later. Plans change often, so confirm on each tool's site before you buy.
Pros and cons
Weaviate
- Strong hybrid search
- Open source and self-hostable
- Good multi-tenant support
- Memory-hungry at scale
- Cloud pricing changed often
- Schema concepts to learn
Milvus
- Scales to billions of vectors
- Wide index choice
- Managed option via Zilliz
- Complex to run distributed
- Many components to operate
- Overkill for small apps
Which one should you choose?
Choose Weaviate if you want:
- Strong hybrid search
- Open source and self-hostable
- Good multi-tenant support
Watch out: memory-hungry at scale.
Choose Milvus if you want:
- Scales to billions of vectors
- Wide index choice
- Managed option via Zilliz
Watch out: complex to run distributed.
Weaviate vs Milvus FAQ
What is the difference between Weaviate and Milvus?
Weaviate: Open-source vector database with hybrid search and built-in vectorizers. Milvus: Open-source vector database built for billion-scale search. Both are models & apis tools.
Is Weaviate or Milvus cheaper?
Weaviate starts at $45/mo and Milvus starts at See pricing page. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
Do Weaviate and Milvus have free plans?
Weaviate: Yes. Milvus: Yes.
Who makes Weaviate?
Weaviate is made by Weaviate, based in Netherlands.
Who makes Milvus?
Milvus is made by Zilliz, based in United States.
Which should I choose, Weaviate or Milvus?
Choose Weaviate if you value strong hybrid search and open source and self-hostable. Choose Milvus if you value scales to billions of vectors and wide index choice.