Chroma vs Zilliz: Vector Databases Pricing (2026)
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Team size
25 seats

Chroma vs Zilliz

Vector Databases pricing comparison · 2026

Chroma has a free plan, then $250/mo, while Zilliz has a free plan, then $126–$197/mo. Zilliz is typically 35% 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 Zilliz 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 11d ago
$250 $2.4K
View pricing →
Zilliz
Zilliz Cloud is the fully managed vector database built on open-source Milvus, operated by
verified 7d ago
$250 $2.4K
View pricing →
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
Enterprise (Dedicated)
$2.4K/yr
year 1 license · flat plan price
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
Median annual
$250/yr
Vendr · n=81
No Vendr data
—
Not in Vendr's deal flow
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 4 sourced facts
1 hidden-cost · 2 contract · Vendr median
Last verified 1w ago
Confidence Medium confidence
Sources 25 sourced facts
23 hidden-cost · 1 contract · 1 review platform
Last verified 1w 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
  • Storage Minimums & Suspended Charges
    1 source
  • Idle Compute Charges
    ~$7,000/month
    1 source
  • Data Transfer Fees
    1 source
  • Audit Log Resource Consumption
    1 source
  • Embedding & Inference Fees
    1 source
REF · 04

Contract terms

The fine print, surfaced. Green = buyer-friendly. Each clause backed by a quoted source.

Chroma
Zilliz
Auto-renewal
—
—
Cancellation
30 days for material revisions; written notice required for subscription order cancellation.
any time for pay-as-you-go via AWS Marketplace
Commitment
$10/month for Pro plan; Custom annual contract for Enterprise.
Free tier offers 5 GB storage, 2.5 million vCUs per month, and up to 5 collections; Serverless and Dedicated models are pay-as-you-go.
Price escalation
—
—
Can downgrade
—
—
Based on 3 verified sources (Vendr · TrustRadius · BBB)
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
G2
4.7out of 5 (65)
Best for
Learning and personal projects
Watch out
Pricing: Some users find the pricing to be high, especially for extensive storage needs or for smaller projects and individual developers.
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 Zilliz 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

Free plan; paid $250
/mo
3 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
Vector Databases

Zilliz

Free plan; paid $126–$197
/mo
5 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →

Chroma and Zilliz 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 Zilliz
Starter Free /month Free /month
Team $250 /month Free /month
Enterprise Custom $126 /month
Enterprise (Dedicated) — $197 /month
Business Critical — Custom

Contract Terms

Term Chroma Zilliz
Auto-renewal — —
Cancellation 30 days for material revisions; written notice required for subscription order cancellation. any time for pay-as-you-go via AWS Marketplace
Minimum commitment $10/month for Pro plan; Custom annual contract for Enterprise. Free tier offers 5 GB storage, 2.5 million vCUs per month, and up to 5 collections; Serverless and Dedicated models are pay-as-you-go.

Continue researching

Chroma

Zilliz

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