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Databases · head to head

Immuta vs Zilliz

Immuta logo

Immuta

Databases

Attribute-based access control and masking applied inside Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zilliz logo

Zilliz

Databases

Managed vector database and vector lakebase for AI applications

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Zilliz has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Immuta contracts commonly start around one hundred to two hundred thousand US dollars a year for mid-market deployments and exceed five hundred thousand at enterprise scale, which excludes most data teams without a regulatory mandate.; Zilliz pricing structure not publicly disclosed, requires sales contact
  • They diverge on capability: Immuta covers Attribute-based policy, Zilliz covers Vector indexing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Immuta and Zilliz actually diverge.

Attributes where Immuta and Zilliz differ
AttributeImmutaZilliz
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotecontact-sales
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, API, CloudCloud, Self-hosted
FoundedUnknown2017

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Databases).

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 Immuta

  • Attribute-based policy
  • Native enforcement
  • Dynamic masking
  • Row-level filtering
  • Purpose-based access
  • Sensitive data tagging
  • Audit logging
  • Multi-platform

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.

Immuta

  • A bank whose Snowflake estate has grown to tens of thousands of roles that no one can review before an auditnot Zilliz
  • A healthcare analytics team that must let researchers query patient data with identifiers masked unless a specific purpose is recordednot Zilliz
  • A multinational applying different residency and access rules per jurisdiction to the same tables without duplicating datasetsnot Zilliz
  • An organisation running both Snowflake and Databricks that wants one policy set rather than two divergent implementationsnot Zilliz

Zilliz

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

Where each one falls short

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

Immuta

  • Contracts commonly start around one hundred to two hundred thousand US dollars a year for mid-market deployments and exceed five hundred thousand at enterprise scale, which excludes most data teams without a regulatory mandate.
  • Policy is only as good as the data classification underneath it, so an organisation with poorly tagged columns will spend months on classification before Immuta enforces anything useful.
  • Native enforcement means capability varies by platform, and a feature available on Snowflake may be absent or behave differently on BigQuery, which undermines the promise of one policy set everywhere.
  • Adding an access governance layer creates a new dependency in the path to data: a misconfigured policy silently returns fewer rows rather than erroring, and analysts can act on incomplete results without noticing.
  • It governs cloud data platforms, so personal data in operational databases, files and SaaS applications sits outside its scope and needs separate controls, meaning Immuta is rarely the whole answer.

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

Immuta

On request
  • Immuta Platform$undefined/year
    • Attribute-based policy authoring
    • Native enforcement in supported data platforms
    • Dynamic masking and row-level security

Zilliz

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Zilliz review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Immuta if

  • You need attribute-based policy.
  • You work on Web, API, Cloud.
  • You also want native enforcement.
Immuta review

Choose Zilliz if

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

Questions people ask

Is Immuta or Zilliz better?
Neither clearly leads. Immuta starts at On request and Zilliz at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Immuta or Zilliz?
Zilliz has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Immuta and Free for Zilliz.
Does Immuta or Zilliz run on more platforms?
Immuta runs on Web, API, Cloud. Zilliz runs on Cloud, Self-hosted.
Can I use Zilliz for free?
Yes. Zilliz has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Immuta starts at On request.
What is Immuta best used for?
Immuta is most often used for a bank whose snowflake estate has grown to tens of thousands of roles that no one can review before an audit, a healthcare analytics team that must let researchers query patient data with identifiers masked unless a specific purpose is recorded, a multinational applying different residency and access rules per jurisdiction to the same tables without duplicating datasets, an organisation running both snowflake and databricks that wants one policy set rather than two divergent implementations. Of those, a bank whose snowflake estate has grown to tens of thousands of roles that no one can review before an audit and a healthcare analytics team that must let researchers query patient data with identifiers masked unless a specific purpose is recorded are not what Zilliz is typically brought in for.
What can Immuta do that Zilliz cannot?
Immuta covers Attribute-based policy, Native enforcement, Dynamic masking, Row-level filtering. Zilliz covers Vector indexing, Distributed architecture, SQL interface, Tensor support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Immuta: Does Immuta sit in the query path?

No. It compiles policies into the data platform's own native controls, so queries run at normal speed through your existing tools.

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
Immuta: What does it cost?

Not published. Market data suggests roughly 100,000 to 200,000 US dollars a year for mid-market deployments and considerably more at enterprise scale.

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
Immuta: Is Immuta still independent?

Yes. It remains independently owned, unlike several competitors in data access governance that have been acquired.

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
Immuta: Does it work across more than one warehouse?

Yes, one policy set can target Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery and Starburst, though enforcement capability varies by platform.

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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