Softwr

Databases · head to head

RisingWave vs Zilliz

RisingWave logo

RisingWave

Databases

Streaming database that maintains incremental materialised views in SQL instead of Flink jobs

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zilliz logo

Zilliz

Databases

Managed vector database and vector lakebase for AI applications

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: RisingWave anything that does not fit SQL, such as custom windowing, complex event processing or heavy stateful logic, still needs Flink, so RisingWave often adds a system rather than removing one.; Zilliz pricing structure not publicly disclosed, requires sales contact
  • They diverge on capability: RisingWave covers SQL materialised views, Zilliz covers Vector indexing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which RisingWave and Zilliz actually diverge.

Attributes where RisingWave and Zilliz differ
AttributeRisingWaveZilliz
Pricing modelPer RisingWave Unit hourcontact-sales
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, CloudCloud, Self-hosted
FoundedUnknown2017

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

  • SQL materialised views
  • Postgres wire compatibility
  • Object storage state
  • Source connectors
  • Sink connectors
  • Iceberg tables
  • Watermarks and windowing
  • User defined functions

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.

RisingWave

  • A team with Kafka topics that needs continuously fresh aggregates for a dashboard without standing up a Flink clusternot Zilliz
  • A fraud or risk team maintaining rolling counters and joins across event streams expressed as SQL viewsnot Zilliz
  • A company doing Postgres CDC into a real-time denormalised view for search or servingnot Zilliz
  • An analytics group that wants streaming results landed directly into Apache Iceberg without a separate writer jobnot Zilliz

Zilliz

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

Where each one falls short

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

RisingWave

  • Anything that does not fit SQL, such as custom windowing, complex event processing or heavy stateful logic, still needs Flink, so RisingWave often adds a system rather than removing one.
  • The Apache 2.0 community edition excludes premium features behind a licence key, and which capabilities sit on which side of that line moves between releases, so a self-hosted plan can be invalidated by an upgrade.
  • Long-running materialised views accumulate state in object storage, and cost and recovery time grow with retention in ways that are hard to forecast before you are in production.
  • The Postgres compatibility is protocol level; it is not a transactional Postgres and using it as a general purpose database, with point updates or high write concurrency, goes badly.
  • It is a comparatively young venture-funded project competing with Flink, Materialize and warehouse-native streaming, and the ecosystem of connectors, operators and third-party expertise is much thinner.

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

RisingWave

Free
  • Community EditionFree
    • Apache 2.0 licence, self-hosted
    • Core streaming engine and connectors
    • Premium features excluded and require a licence key
  • Cloud Basic$0.227/hour
    • Billed per RisingWave Unit hour
    • Hosted on AWS, GCP or Azure
    • Capped at 64 cores
  • Cloud Pro$undefined/year
    • No core limit
    • Bring your own cloud option
    • Premium features included
  • Self-managed Enterprise$undefined/year
    • On premises or Kubernetes
    • Premium features unlocked by licence
    • Annual contract with SLA

Zilliz

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Zilliz review.

Which should you pick?

Choose RisingWave if

  • You need sql materialised views.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want postgres wire compatibility.
RisingWave 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 RisingWave or Zilliz better?
Neither clearly leads. RisingWave 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, RisingWave or Zilliz?
RisingWave starts at Free and Zilliz at Free.
Does RisingWave or Zilliz run on more platforms?
RisingWave runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud. Zilliz runs on Cloud, Self-hosted.
Can I use RisingWave for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is RisingWave best used for?
RisingWave is most often used for a team with kafka topics that needs continuously fresh aggregates for a dashboard without standing up a flink cluster, a fraud or risk team maintaining rolling counters and joins across event streams expressed as sql views, a company doing postgres cdc into a real-time denormalised view for search or serving, an analytics group that wants streaming results landed directly into apache iceberg without a separate writer job. Of those, a team with kafka topics that needs continuously fresh aggregates for a dashboard without standing up a flink cluster and a fraud or risk team maintaining rolling counters and joins across event streams expressed as sql views are not what Zilliz is typically brought in for.
What can RisingWave do that Zilliz cannot?
RisingWave covers SQL materialised views, Postgres wire compatibility, Object storage state, Source connectors. Zilliz covers Vector indexing, Distributed architecture, SQL interface, Tensor support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

RisingWave: Is RisingWave open source?

The community edition is Apache 2.0 and self-hostable, but a set of premium features requires a paid licence key.

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
RisingWave: What does the cloud cost?

It starts at 0.227 US dollars per RisingWave Unit hour on the Basic tier, which is capped at 64 cores.

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
RisingWave: Does it replace Flink?

For SQL-expressible transformations, often yes. For custom stateful processing and complex event handling, no.

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
RisingWave: Can I query it like Postgres?

Yes over the Postgres wire protocol, but it is an analytical streaming engine, not a transactional database.

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 RisingWave

More on Zilliz

Keep looking

Other head to heads