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Databases · head to head

Vespa vs Weaviate

Vespa logo

Vespa

Databases

Distributed AI search platform for retrieval, ranking, and inference

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Weaviate logo

Weaviate

Machine Learning

Open-source vector database

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Vespa pricing not publicly listed, requires contacting sales; Weaviate the free tier caps at 100,000 objects, 1 GB of memory and a single collection
  • They diverge on capability: Vespa covers Vector search, Weaviate covers Vector and keyword search.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Vespa and Weaviate actually diverge.

Attributes where Vespa and Weaviate differ
AttributeVespaWeaviate
Pricing modelcontact-salesfreemium
PlatformsCloud, Self-hostedLinux, Mac, Windows, Web
CategoryDatabasesMachine Learning
Founded20232019

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Vespa

  • Vector search
  • Text and structured search
  • Machine-learned ranking
  • Real-time serving
  • SQL interface
  • Automatic scaling
  • Open-source

Only in Weaviate

  • Vector and keyword search
  • Built-in vectorizers
  • GraphQL API
  • Multi-tenancy
  • Hybrid search
  • OpenAI
  • Hugging Face
  • Cohere

What people use each for

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

Vespa

  • Build RAG systems with semantic search over documentsnot Weaviate
  • Power e-commerce search with ML rankingnot Weaviate
  • Create recommendation engines for personalizationnot Weaviate
  • Implement real-time search for news or feedsnot Weaviate
  • Deploy private semantic search over sensitive datanot Weaviate

Weaviate

  • Running a vector database for semantic and hybrid searchnot Vespa
  • Generating and storing embeddings alongside the objects they describenot Vespa

Where each one falls short

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

Vespa

  • Pricing not publicly listed, requires contacting sales
  • Steeper learning curve compared to simpler search tools
  • Operational complexity for self-hosted deployments
  • Smaller ecosystem compared to cloud-native alternatives

Weaviate

  • The free tier caps at 100,000 objects, 1 GB of memory and a single collection
  • Billing is per million vector dimensions rather than per record, so wider embeddings cost proportionally more for the same object count
  • Premium is a prepaid contract starting at $400 a month rather than pay as you go
  • Storage rates do not fall consistently with tier, and Premium Dedicated is $0.1505 per GiB against $0.12 on the cheaper Flex plan
  • The Query Agent is metered separately, free to 1,000 requests a month and $30 a month plus overage beyond

Pricing, plan by plan

Vespa

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Vespa review.

Weaviate

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Full features
    • Self-hosted
  • ServerlessFree
    • Managed service
    • Auto-scaling

Which should you pick?

Choose Vespa if

  • You need vector search.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Cloud, Self-hosted.
  • You also want text and structured search.
Vespa review

Choose Weaviate if

  • You need vector and keyword search.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Mac, Windows, Web.
  • You also want built-in vectorizers.
Weaviate review

Questions people ask

Is Vespa or Weaviate better?
Neither clearly leads. Vespa starts at Free and Weaviate at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Vespa or Weaviate?
Vespa starts at Free and Weaviate at Free.
Does Vespa or Weaviate run on more platforms?
Vespa runs on Cloud, Self-hosted. Weaviate runs on Linux, Mac, Windows, Web.
Can I use Vespa for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Vespa best used for?
Vespa is most often used for build rag systems with semantic search over documents, power e-commerce search with ml ranking, create recommendation engines for personalization, implement real-time search for news or feeds. Of those, build rag systems with semantic search over documents and power e-commerce search with ml ranking are not what Weaviate is typically brought in for.
What can Vespa do that Weaviate cannot?
Vespa covers Vector search, Text and structured search, Machine-learned ranking, Real-time serving. Weaviate covers Vector and keyword search, Built-in vectorizers, GraphQL API, Multi-tenancy.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Vespa: Is Vespa open-source?

Yes, Vespa is open-source under the Apache 2.0 license. The code is available on GitHub, and you can self-host or use the managed cloud service.

Source
Weaviate: What pricing options does Weaviate offer?

Weaviate provides a free tier with usage-based pricing, plus enterprise options. Visit the pricing page for detailed information on plans.

Source
Vespa: What latency can Vespa achieve?

Vespa is designed for sub-100 millisecond latencies with thousands of queries per second, suitable for real-time search and recommendation applications.

Source
Weaviate: Does Weaviate offer customer support?

Yes, support is included with Weaviate's cloud offerings. Enterprise customers receive first-class support from their global team of experts.

Source
Vespa: Does Vespa support vector search?

Yes, Vespa provides native vector search capabilities alongside text, structured data, and tensor operations for building comprehensive search and AI applications.

Source
Weaviate: Can I deploy Weaviate on my own infrastructure?

Yes. Weaviate is open source and deployment-agnostic. You can run it in your own cloud environment or use their managed cloud service.

Source
Vespa: What is the pricing model for Vespa Cloud?

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

Source
Weaviate: What data security features does Weaviate provide?

Weaviate includes security & governance, RBAC, SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance, along with multi-tenancy and high availability for enterprise requirements.

Source
Weaviate: How do I get started with Weaviate?

Sign up for their cloud tier, create your first dataset, connect an LLM, and build your AI app. Documentation and quickstart guides are available for Python, Go, TypeScript, and JavaScript.

Source
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