Softwr

Developer Tools · head to head

Hookdeck vs Zilliz

Hookdeck logo

Hookdeck

Developer Tools

Event gateway that receives, queues, retries and replays inbound webhooks

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit HookdeckFull 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; Hookdeck starts at $39/mo.
  • Only Hookdeck lists ingest and persist; only Zilliz lists vector indexing.
  • Where Hookdeck falls short: pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.
  • 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 Hookdeck and Zilliz actually diverge.

Attributes where Hookdeck and Zilliz differ
AttributeHookdeckZilliz
Pricing modelPer month by delivered event countContact-sales
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, WindowsWeb, Self-hosted
CategoryDeveloper ToolsDatabases

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

Not yet recorded: founded for Hookdeck.

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 Hookdeck

  • Ingest and persist
  • Automatic retries
  • Filters and fan-out
  • Transformations
  • Local development CLI
  • Rate limiting

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.

Hookdeck

  • A payments integration where losing a Stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfillednot Zilliz
  • Fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separatelynot Zilliz
  • Debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fixnot Zilliz
  • Receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnelnot Zilliz

Zilliz

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

Where each one falls short

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

Hookdeck

  • Pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries
  • Free-tier retention is three days, which is shorter than the time it typically takes to notice a failing integration, so the payloads needed for a replay are often already gone
  • It becomes a single point of failure in front of every third-party integration, and an outage there means every provider webhook queues or fails at once
  • The transformation layer runs JavaScript in a constrained environment, so anything that needs a database lookup or an external call has to happen downstream instead
  • For a team already running Kafka or SQS the value is mostly the console and the replay UI, which is a hard cost to justify against infrastructure they already operate

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

Hookdeck

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Up to ten thousand events per month
    • Three-day retention
    • One user
  • Team$39/mo
    • Ten thousand events included
    • Unlimited users
    • Pay as you go metering above the included events
  • Growth$499/mo
    • Ten thousand events included plus metered usage
    • Thirty-day retention
    • Uptime and latency SLAs
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Negotiated event volume
    • Custom retention
    • Dedicated support

Zilliz

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Zilliz review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Hookdeck if

  • You need ingest and persist.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want automatic retries.
Hookdeck 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 Hookdeck or Zilliz better?
Neither clearly leads. Hookdeck 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, Hookdeck or Zilliz?
Hookdeck starts at Free and Zilliz at Free.
Does Hookdeck or Zilliz run on more platforms?
Hookdeck runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows. Zilliz runs on Web, Self-hosted.
Can I use Hookdeck for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Hookdeck best used for?
Hookdeck is most often used for a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled, fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately, debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fix, receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnel. Of those, a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled and fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately are not what Zilliz is typically brought in for.
What can Hookdeck do that Zilliz cannot?
Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, Automatic retries, Filters and fan-out, Transformations. Zilliz covers Vector indexing, Distributed architecture, SQL interface, Tensor support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hookdeck: Is there a free plan?

Yes, ten thousand events a month with three-day retention and one user.

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
Hookdeck: How is usage counted?

By delivered events, so a single inbound webhook fanned out to three destinations counts as three.

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
Hookdeck: Can I replay a failed webhook?

Yes, individually or in bulk from the console, with the original payload.

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
Hookdeck: Does it work for outbound webhooks too?

Yes, the same queueing, retry and observability applies to webhooks you send.

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
Share

Related pages

More on Hookdeck

More on Zilliz

Keep looking

Other head to heads