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AI · head to head

Arize AI vs Milvus

Arize AI logo

Arize AI

AI

AI engineering platform for observability and evaluation of agents and LLM apps

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Milvus logo

Milvus

Machine Learning

Open-source vector database for scalable similarity search

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Arize AI the free plan caps trace spans at 25,000 per month with only 15 days of retention.; Milvus vector dimensions are capped at 32,768
  • They diverge on capability: Arize AI covers End-to-end tracing, Milvus covers Billion-scale vectors.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Arize AI and Milvus actually diverge.

Attributes where Arize AI and Milvus differ
AttributeArize AIMilvus
Platformsweb, apiLinux, Mac, Windows, Web
CategoryAIMachine Learning
FoundedUnknown2017

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (freemium), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Arize AI

  • End-to-end tracing
  • Evaluation framework
  • Prompt testing and improvement
  • Alyx AI engineering agent
  • Custom dashboards
  • Data warehouse integrations

Only in Milvus

  • Billion-scale vectors
  • Multiple index types
  • GPU acceleration
  • Hybrid search
  • Data partitioning
  • PyTorch
  • TensorFlow
  • Hugging Face

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Arize AI

  • Tracing and debugging production AI agentsnot Milvus
  • Running large-scale evaluations across traces and sessionsnot Milvus
  • Improving prompts before production rolloutnot Milvus
  • Storing and querying GenAI traces alongside a data warehousenot Milvus

Milvus

  • Self hosting a vector database for semantic searchnot Arize AI
  • Storing and querying embeddings for retrieval augmented generationnot Arize AI
  • Similarity search over images, audio or text at scalenot Arize AI

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Arize AI

  • The free plan caps trace spans at 25,000 per month with only 15 days of retention.
  • Self-hosted deployment and Data Fabric integration are restricted to the custom-priced Enterprise tier.
  • Pricing beyond the $50/month Pro plan requires a custom quote, making cost planning less transparent at scale.
  • Advanced compliance features like HIPAA are only available on Enterprise.

Milvus

  • Vector dimensions are capped at 32,768
  • A collection is limited to 64 fields, 1,024 partitions and 16 shards
  • Only 1 index is allowed per field
  • Search returns at most 16,384 vectors as top-k, and nq is capped at 16,384
  • Input and output per RPC is capped at 64 MB for insert, search and query
  • VARCHAR values are limited to 65,535 characters
  • Data loaded into query nodes cannot exceed 90% of available memory
  • An instance supports at most 65,536 collections

Pricing, plan by plan

Arize AI

Free
  • AX FreeFree
    • 25k trace spans/month
    • 1 GB storage/month
    • 15-day retention
  • AX Pro$50/month
    • 50k trace spans/month
    • 10 GB storage/month
    • 30-day retention
  • AX Enterprise$undefined/mo
    • Custom trace spans, storage, and retention
    • SaaS or self-hosted deployment
    • Managed agents and Data Fabric

Milvus

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Full features
    • Self-hosted
    • Community support
  • Zilliz CloudFree
    • Managed service
    • Free tier available

Which should you pick?

Choose Arize AI if

  • You need end-to-end tracing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want evaluation framework.
Arize AI review

Choose Milvus if

  • You need billion-scale vectors.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Mac, Windows, Web.
  • You also want multiple index types.
Milvus review

Questions people ask

Is Arize AI or Milvus better?
Neither clearly leads. Arize AI starts at Free and Milvus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Arize AI or Milvus?
Arize AI starts at Free and Milvus at Free.
Does Arize AI or Milvus run on more platforms?
Arize AI runs on web, api. Milvus runs on Linux, Mac, Windows, Web.
Can I use Arize AI for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Arize AI best used for?
Arize AI is most often used for tracing and debugging production ai agents, running large-scale evaluations across traces and sessions, improving prompts before production rollout, storing and querying genai traces alongside a data warehouse. Of those, tracing and debugging production ai agents and running large-scale evaluations across traces and sessions are not what Milvus is typically brought in for.
What can Arize AI do that Milvus cannot?
Arize AI covers End-to-end tracing, Evaluation framework, Prompt testing and improvement, Alyx AI engineering agent. Milvus covers Billion-scale vectors, Multiple index types, GPU acceleration, Hybrid search.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Arize AI: What does Arize AX cost?

Arize AX offers a free plan, a Pro plan at $50/month, and a custom-priced Enterprise plan, with pricing based on trace spans, storage, and retention needs.

Source
Milvus: How much does Milvus cost?

Milvus is open-source and free to use and modify. The self-hosted version has no licensing cost. Zilliz Cloud (the managed SaaS version) does not publish pricing on the website.

Source
Arize AI: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?

The AX Free plan includes 25,000 trace spans and 1 GB of storage per month with 15-day retention, plus unlimited users, evaluations, and experiments.

Source
Milvus: Is there a free or open-source version of Milvus?

Yes, Milvus is fully open-source and available for free. Milvus Lite is a lightweight option for learning and prototyping that can be installed via pip.

Source
Arize AI: What deployment options are available?

Free and Pro plans are SaaS-only, while Enterprise customers can choose SaaS or self-hosted deployment with custom SLAs.

Source
Milvus: Does Milvus offer a managed cloud service?

Yes, Zilliz Cloud is a fully managed Milvus cloud offering with serverless and dedicated cluster options. Pricing must be requested from the company as it is not listed on the public website.

Source
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