Chroma vs Milvus: Vector Databases Pricing (2026)
Compare / Chroma vs Milvus
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Team size
25 seats

Chroma vs Milvus

Vector Databases pricing comparison · 2026

Chroma pricing ranges from $0–$250/month, while Milvus ranges from $0–$197/month. Chroma is typically 100% more affordable, though your actual cost depends on tier and team size.

Visit
See pricing on each vendor's site
Above-the-fold path — each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit Chroma pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Visit Milvus pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Compare
2 products · Vector Databases
Side-by-side · live
Chroma
Chroma is an open-source vector database for AI applications, available as a self-hosted l
verified 9w ago
$250 $1.8K
View pricing →
Milvus
Milvus is an open-source, cloud-native vector database built for scalable AI applications,
verified 5w ago
$250 $1.8K
View pricing →
Verdict · Vendr median · year 1
Chroma saves $1.6K vs Milvus · 25 seats
Cheapest $250
Spread 86%
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Usage-based
$2.5 per GiB
see vendor pricing for volume tiers
Zilliz Cloud Enterprise
$59K/yr
year 1 license · $197/seat
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
↓ Lowest median
Median annual
$250/yr
Vendr · n=81
Median annual
$1.8K/yr
Vendr · n=3 · limited data
REF · 01

Sources & confidence

Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.

Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources 2 sourced facts
1 hidden-cost · Vendr median
Last verified 2mo ago
Confidence Medium confidence
Sources 11 sourced facts
10 hidden-cost · Vendr median
Last verified 1mo ago
Confidence Medium confidence
REF · 02

Plans at a glance

Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.

Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 03

Hidden costs

Each cost is severity-ranked, with the dollar range quoted from its source (Vendr, Reddit, TrustRadius, BBB, official docs) — never our estimate.

Beyond the sticker
Severity-ranked, sourced
1 documented
  • Self-Hosting Server Infrastructure
    $50-$200
    1 source
5 documented
  • Self-Hosting Infrastructure Costs
    $50-$400/month
    2 sources
  • Opaque vCU Pricing Makes Cost Forecasting Difficult
    $99-$1,800/month
    2 sources
  • Extreme Scale Costs on Zilliz Cloud
    $23,000/month
    1 source
  • Infrastructure Costs for Self-Hosted Deployment
    $50-$400/month
    2 sources
  • Scaling Costs at Large Vector Counts
    $1,400-$23,000/month
    2 sources
REF · 05

What users say

Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.

User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
No public ratings yet
Best for
Solo developers and small teams
Watch out
Seen as a prototyping tool rather than a production-grade database by parts of the developer community
No public ratings yet
Best for
Teams with DevOps capacity who want full control and no cloud costs
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit Chroma pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Visit Milvus pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats). Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges. Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
Vector Databases

Chroma

$0–$250
/month
3 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
Vector Databases

Milvus

$0–$197
/month
5 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →

Chroma and Milvus are both vector databases competitors. This page compares their list pricing tier by tier so you can see which is cheaper for your workload shape.

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan Chroma Milvus
Starter Free /month Free /month
Team $250 /month Free /month
Enterprise Custom $126 /month
Zilliz Cloud Enterprise — $197 /month
Zilliz Cloud Business Critical — Custom

Cost at Scale

Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.

Chroma

3 scenarios
~$50/month (VPS costs only; software is $0)
Self-Hosted Open Source
~$50/month (VPS infrastructure; Open Source (Self-Hosted) plan is free)
Developer Self-Hosted on VPS
$250/month (Team plan)
Team on Chroma Cloud

Milvus

7 scenarios
~$50/month (VPS only)
Developer / Prototype (Self-Hosted on VPS)
$0
Small Production (Zilliz Cloud Free + Standard)
free → $99/month on Zilliz Cloud Standard
~$400/month (infrastructure only)
Mid-Scale Production (Self-Hosted Milvus)
See all 7 scenarios →

Market Intelligence

Chroma

Median annual cost
$250
Based on
81 deals

Milvus

Median annual cost
$1,800
Based on
3 deals

Continue researching

Chroma

Milvus

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