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Developer Tools · head to head

Ona (formerly Gitpod) vs Zilliz

Ona (formerly Gitpod) logo

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

Developer Tools

Cloud development environments repositioned as a control plane for software engineering agents

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit Ona (formerly Gitpod)Full review
Zilliz logo

Zilliz

Databases

Managed vector database and vector lakebase for AI applications

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit ZillizFull review

The short version

  • Zilliz is free; Ona (formerly Gitpod) starts at $20/mo.
  • Only Ona (formerly Gitpod) lists ephemeral environments; only Zilliz lists vector indexing.
  • Where Zilliz falls short: pricing structure not publicly disclosed, requires sales contact.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ona (formerly Gitpod) and Zilliz actually diverge.

Attributes where Ona (formerly Gitpod) and Zilliz differ
AttributeOna (formerly Gitpod)Zilliz
Pricing modelPer month by compute unitContact-sales
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWSWeb, Self-hosted
CategoryDeveloper ToolsDatabases

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

Not yet recorded: founded for Ona (formerly Gitpod).

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 Ona (formerly Gitpod)

  • Ephemeral environments
  • Agent sessions
  • Bring your own cloud
  • Devcontainer standard
  • Compute unit budgeting
  • Enterprise identity

Only in Zilliz

  • Vector indexing
  • Distributed architecture
  • SQL interface
  • Tensor support
  • Real-time search
  • Cloud-native
  • Open-source compatible

What people use each for

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

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

  • Giving a large engineering team identical, disposable environments so onboarding is a link rather than a two day setupnot Zilliz
  • Running several coding agents in parallel against real databases and services instead of on a laptopnot Zilliz
  • Keeping source code off contractor and offshore laptops by moving the whole environment into a controlled accountnot Zilliz
  • Reproducing a hard-to-configure toolchain for a short-lived project without polluting anyone machinenot Zilliz

Zilliz

  • Build retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systemsnot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • Implement semantic search over documentsnot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • Create multimodal search with text and imagesnot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • Power recommendation engines with vector similaritynot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • Enable similarity search on user embeddingsnot Ona (formerly Gitpod)

Where each one falls short

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

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

  • Acquisition risk has already materialised: the company closed a sale to OpenAI on 10 August 2026 and now sits inside the Codex team, so nothing public guarantees pricing, continuity or neutrality between model vendors beyond honouring existing commitments
  • Two disruptive changes of direction inside a year, from development environments to agent orchestration and then from independence to acquisition, mean the product a browser IDE buyer originally chose no longer exists in that form
  • The Gitpod Classic sunset on 15 October 2025 required manual conversion of configuration, hand-moved secrets, self-rescued workspace data and a brand new account, which is the clearest available precedent for how the vendor handles deprecation
  • Community self-hosting is finished: the AGPL-3.0 repository is deprecated by its own README, and self-hosted now means a vendor-operated install in your AWS or GCP account, with no Azure, no on-premises and no air-gapped path
  • Pricing is difficult to model because it runs on a compute unit currency where subscription credits expire at the end of the month, the mapping from units to actual compute is not published on the pricing page, and Enterprise is quotation only

Zilliz

  • Pricing structure not publicly disclosed, requires sales contact
  • Operational complexity for self-hosted Milvus deployments
  • Learning curve for those unfamiliar with vector databases
  • Limited built-in analytics compared to some alternatives

Pricing, plan by plan

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 3 parallel environments
    • Machines up to 4 vCPU, 16 GB memory and 80 GB disk
    • Ona Cloud multi-tenant only
  • Core$20/mo
    • From 20 US dollars a month, up to 100 team members
    • Includes 80 to 2,200 recurring compute units a month depending on tier
    • Additional units from 10 US dollars per 40 units
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Single-tenant deployment in your own AWS or GCP account
    • SAML and OIDC single sign-on
    • Dedicated account management and forward deployed engineers

Zilliz

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Zilliz review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Ona (formerly Gitpod) if

  • You need ephemeral environments.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS.
  • You also want agent sessions.
Ona (formerly Gitpod) review

Choose Zilliz if

  • You need vector indexing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted.
  • You also want distributed architecture.
Zilliz review

Questions people ask

Is Ona (formerly Gitpod) or Zilliz better?
Neither clearly leads. Ona (formerly Gitpod) starts at Free and Zilliz at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ona (formerly Gitpod) or Zilliz?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) starts at Free and Zilliz at Free.
Does Ona (formerly Gitpod) or Zilliz run on more platforms?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS. Zilliz runs on Web, Self-hosted.
Can I use Ona (formerly Gitpod) for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Ona (formerly Gitpod) best used for?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) is most often used for giving a large engineering team identical, disposable environments so onboarding is a link rather than a two day setup, running several coding agents in parallel against real databases and services instead of on a laptop, keeping source code off contractor and offshore laptops by moving the whole environment into a controlled account, reproducing a hard-to-configure toolchain for a short-lived project without polluting anyone machine. Of those, giving a large engineering team identical, disposable environments so onboarding is a link rather than a two day setup and running several coding agents in parallel against real databases and services instead of on a laptop are not what Zilliz is typically brought in for.
What can Ona (formerly Gitpod) do that Zilliz cannot?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) covers Ephemeral environments, Agent sessions, Bring your own cloud, Devcontainer standard. Zilliz covers Vector indexing, Distributed architecture, SQL interface, Tensor support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ona (formerly Gitpod): Is Gitpod still called Gitpod?

No. It rebranded to Ona in September 2025, and gitpod.io now redirects to ona.com. The company was acquired by OpenAI in a deal that closed on 10 August 2026.

Zilliz: What is the difference between Milvus and Zilliz Cloud?

Milvus is the open-source vector database that you can self-host. Zilliz Cloud is the fully managed service built on Milvus that removes operational overhead and handles scaling automatically.

Source
Ona (formerly Gitpod): Can I still self-host it for free?

No. The AGPL-3.0 self-hosted project is deprecated by its own README. What is offered now is a vendor-operated single-tenant install in your AWS or GCP account on the Enterprise plan.

Zilliz: How many vectors can Zilliz handle?

Milvus and Zilliz Cloud can store and search billions of vectors through their distributed architecture that separates storage and compute layers.

Source
Ona (formerly Gitpod): What happened to Gitpod Classic?

Pay-as-you-go Classic was switched off on 15 October 2025. Migration required converting gitpod.yml to devcontainer.json, moving secrets by hand, downloading workspace data before the cutoff and creating a new account.

Zilliz: Is Milvus open-source?

Yes, Milvus is open-source under the Apache License 2.0 and is part of the LF AI & Data Foundation.

Source
Ona (formerly Gitpod): What does it cost?

Core starts at 20 US dollars a month and includes a monthly allowance of Ona Compute Units, with more from 10 dollars per 40 units. Subscription credits expire monthly. Enterprise is quoted.

Zilliz: What pricing does Zilliz Cloud offer?

Zilliz Cloud pricing is not publicly listed and requires contacting their team to discuss your specific scale and use case requirements.

Source
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