Is Zilliz or Weaviate better?

Neither clearly leads. Zilliz 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, Zilliz or Weaviate?

Zilliz starts at Free and Weaviate at Free.

Does Zilliz or Weaviate run on more platforms?

Zilliz runs on Cloud, Self-hosted. Weaviate runs on Linux, Mac, Windows, Web.

Can I use Zilliz for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Zilliz best used for?

Zilliz is most often used for build retrieval-augmented generation (rag) systems, implement semantic search over documents, create multimodal search with text and images, power recommendation engines with vector similarity. Of those, build retrieval-augmented generation (rag) systems and implement semantic search over documents are not what Weaviate is typically brought in for.

What can Zilliz do that Weaviate cannot?

Zilliz covers Vector indexing, Distributed architecture, SQL interface, Tensor support. Weaviate covers Vector and keyword search, Built-in vectorizers, GraphQL API, Multi-tenancy.

Databases · head to head

Zilliz vs Weaviate

Zilliz

Databases

Managed vector database and vector lakebase for AI applications

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Weaviate

Machine Learning

Open-source vector database

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

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

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Zilliz and Weaviate actually diverge.

Attributes where Zilliz and Weaviate differ
Attribute	Zilliz	Weaviate
Pricing model	contact-sales	freemium
Platforms	Cloud, Self-hosted	Linux, Mac, Windows, Web
Category	Databases	Machine Learning
Founded	2017	2019

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 Zilliz

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

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.

Zilliz

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

Weaviate

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

Where each one falls short

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

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

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

Zilliz

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Zilliz review.

Weaviate

Free

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

Which should you pick?

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

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 Zilliz or Weaviate better?: Neither clearly leads. Zilliz 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, Zilliz or Weaviate?: Zilliz starts at Free and Weaviate at Free.
Does Zilliz or Weaviate run on more platforms?: Zilliz runs on Cloud, Self-hosted. Weaviate runs on Linux, Mac, Windows, Web.
Can I use Zilliz for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Zilliz best used for?: Zilliz is most often used for build retrieval-augmented generation (rag) systems, implement semantic search over documents, create multimodal search with text and images, power recommendation engines with vector similarity. Of those, build retrieval-augmented generation (rag) systems and implement semantic search over documents are not what Weaviate is typically brought in for.
What can Zilliz do that Weaviate cannot?: Zilliz covers Vector indexing, Distributed architecture, SQL interface, Tensor support. Weaviate covers Vector and keyword search, Built-in vectorizers, GraphQL API, Multi-tenancy.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zilliz vs Weaviate

Zilliz

Weaviate

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Zilliz

Only in Weaviate

What people use each for

Zilliz

Weaviate

Where each one falls short

Zilliz

Weaviate

Pricing, plan by plan

Zilliz

Weaviate

Which should you pick?

Choose Zilliz if

Choose Weaviate if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Zilliz

More on Weaviate

Keep looking

Other head to heads