Is Chroma or Cody better?

Neither clearly leads. Chroma starts at Free and Cody at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Chroma or Cody?

Chroma starts at Free and Cody at Free.

Does Chroma or Cody run on more platforms?

Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.

Can I use Chroma for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Chroma best used for?

Chroma is most often used for prototyping retrieval-augmented generation where the priority is having a working index in minutes rather than choosing a permanent store, agent memory in a single application process, where an embedded store avoids adding a network dependency, a departmental search application under roughly ten million records where one server is sufficient and simplicity is worth more than headroom, local and ci testing of retrieval code with the same client library used in production. Of those, prototyping retrieval-augmented generation where the priority is having a working index in minutes rather than choosing a permanent store and agent memory in a single application process, where an embedded store avoids adding a network dependency are not what Cody is typically brought in for.

What can Chroma do that Cody cannot?

Chroma covers Embedded mode, Single-node server, Distributed architecture, Vector search.

Databases · head to head

Chroma vs Cody

Chroma

Databases

Apache 2.0 vector and full-text search engine that runs as an embedded library, a single server or a distributed cloud service.

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Visit Chroma Full review

Cody

Developer Tools

AI coding assistant powered by code search

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Visit Cody Full review

The short version

Cody is free; Chroma starts at $250/mo.
Where Cody falls short: sourcegraph now publishes a single Enterprise plan starting at $16K, with no free or individual Pro tier listed on the pricing page.
Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Chroma and Cody actually diverge.

Attributes where Chroma and Cody differ
Attribute	Chroma	Cody
Pricing model	Usage-based	Freemium
Category	Databases	Developer Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web).

Not yet recorded: founded for Chroma.

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 Chroma

Embedded mode
Single-node server
Distributed architecture
Vector search
Full-text search
Metadata filtering
Consistent API across modes
Multi-language clients

Only in Cody

Nothing recorded that Chroma does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Chroma

Prototyping retrieval-augmented generation where the priority is having a working index in minutes rather than choosing a permanent storenot Cody
Agent memory in a single application process, where an embedded store avoids adding a network dependencynot Cody
A departmental search application under roughly ten million records where one server is sufficient and simplicity is worth more than headroomnot Cody
Local and CI testing of retrieval code with the same client library used in productionnot Cody

Cody

Code completion and intelligent autocomplete in IDEsnot Chroma
Developer chat with codebase context awarenessnot Chroma
Automated debugging and error identificationnot Chroma
Customizable prompts for workflow automationnot Chroma

Where each one falls short

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

Chroma

On a single node, available memory sets a hard upper bound on collection size, roughly 245,000 records per gigabyte of RAM at 1024 dimensions, so capacity planning is a memory purchase and the ceiling arrives without warning
Single-node queries parallelise only up to the number of vCPUs, after which requests queue and latency rises linearly with concurrency, so throughput problems appear as a slow application rather than as errors
The distributed deployment behind Chroma Cloud is a different architecture from the embedded library, so latency, consistency and failure behaviour observed in a local prototype do not predict production behaviour
The open source server has no built-in authentication or multi-tenancy worth relying on, so a self-hosted deployment needs its own auth proxy and network controls before anything untrusted can reach it
The project has moved quickly through major internal rewrites and version changes, so upgrades have historically involved data migrations and client changes, and pinning versions is necessary rather than cautious

Cody

Sourcegraph now publishes a single Enterprise plan starting at $16K, with no free or individual Pro tier listed on the pricing page
sourcegraph.com/cody redirects to the documentation rather than a Cody product or pricing page
AI features are metered as credits included per user, and exceeding the allocation requires buying a higher volume bucket
Volume credit buckets are sold as an add-on rather than included
A customer success manager and premium support are optional paid extras on top of the Enterprise plan
Standard support is 24x5 rather than 24x7, with round-the-clock coverage sold as an upgrade
The published $16K figure is a starting price that scales with team size, so the actual cost is quoted rather than listed

Pricing, plan by plan

Chroma

Free

StarterFree
- 10 databases
- 10 team members
- Community Slack access
Team$250/mo
- 100 databases
- 30 team members
- $100 in included credits
EnterpriseOn request
- Unlimited databases
- Unlimited team members
- Dedicated support

Cody

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Cody review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Chroma if

You need embedded mode.
You want to start without paying.
You also want single-node server.

Chroma review

Choose Cody if

You want to start without paying.

Cody review

Questions people ask

Is Chroma or Cody better?: Neither clearly leads. Chroma starts at Free and Cody at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Chroma or Cody?: Chroma starts at Free and Cody at Free.
Does Chroma or Cody run on more platforms?: Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Chroma for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Chroma best used for?: Chroma is most often used for prototyping retrieval-augmented generation where the priority is having a working index in minutes rather than choosing a permanent store, agent memory in a single application process, where an embedded store avoids adding a network dependency, a departmental search application under roughly ten million records where one server is sufficient and simplicity is worth more than headroom, local and ci testing of retrieval code with the same client library used in production. Of those, prototyping retrieval-augmented generation where the priority is having a working index in minutes rather than choosing a permanent store and agent memory in a single application process, where an embedded store avoids adding a network dependency are not what Cody is typically brought in for.
What can Chroma do that Cody cannot?: Chroma covers Embedded mode, Single-node server, Distributed architecture, Vector search.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Chroma: Do I need to run a server?

No. Chroma runs embedded in your process with persistence to a local directory, which is how most projects start. The server and distributed modes exist for when multiple clients or larger collections require them.

Cody: Is Cody free?

Cody offers a free tier for individual developers via VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, and the web app. Unlimited free usage is available for solo developers.

Source

Chroma: How large can a single node get?

The project puts single-node deployments at fewer than about ten million records across a handful of collections, with collection size bounded by system memory at roughly 245,000 records per gigabyte at 1024 dimensions.

Cody: What does Cody Enterprise cost?

Cody Enterprise pricing is custom and requires contacting Sourcegraph sales. It is available for Sourcegraph Enterprise customers and must be quoted based on your deployment and usage needs.

Source

Chroma: Is Chroma Cloud the same software?

It is the same API and project, but the distributed deployment is a different architecture, using independent services, object storage and SSD caches rather than a single process. Behaviour under load differs accordingly.

Cody: What LLMs does Cody use?

Cody uses the latest large language models for code completions, chat, and debugging. It leverages Sourcegraph's advanced Search API to pull codebase context from local and remote repositories.

Source

Chroma: How does it compare with pgvector?

pgvector keeps vectors in a Postgres database you already operate, with SQL, joins and transactions. Chroma is a dedicated retrieval engine with a lower setup cost and a retrieval-shaped API. If you already run Postgres, pgvector removes a system; if you do not, Chroma removes a decision.

Chroma: What licence is it under?

Apache 2.0, which permits self-hosting and embedding in commercial products without a competing-use restriction.

Chroma vs Cody

Chroma

Cody

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Chroma

Only in Cody

What people use each for

Chroma

Cody

Where each one falls short

Chroma

Cody

Pricing, plan by plan

Chroma

Cody

Which should you pick?

Choose Chroma if

Choose Cody if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Chroma

More on Cody

Keep looking

Other head to heads