Chroma vs Milvus
Vector Databases pricing comparison · 2026
Chroma pricing ranges from $0–$250/month, while Milvus ranges from $0–$155/month. Chroma is typically 100% more affordable, though your actual cost depends on tier and team size.
VS
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 | $99 /month |
| Zilliz Cloud Enterprise | — | $155 /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
5 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)
Market Intelligence
Chroma
- Median annual cost
- $250
- Based on
- 81 deals
Milvus
- Median annual cost
- $450
- Based on
- 8 deals