Best Vector Databases for startups

Ranked by AI-assistant recommendations, with a free tier and low entry price weighted up. We ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot real buyer questions every hour and record which brands they name.

1. #1Weaviate

   100% AI citation rate(5 questions)

   From:

   $0/mo

   Free tier:

   yes

   Always free — 1 cluster per user · 100,000 objects, 1 GB memory · 1 collection, up to 3 tenants

   Easy entry with no credit card · Flexible pay-as-you-go model

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2. #2Pinecone

   100% AI citation rate(5 questions)

   From:

   $20/month flat

   Free tier:

   yes

   Integrations listed:

   3

   Fully managed infrastructure · Scales effortlessly · Pay-as-you-go pricing

   Free Starter plan available · Multiple usage tiers

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3. #3Chroma

   80% AI citation rate(5 questions)

   From:

   $0/month

   Free tier:

   yes

   Usage-based pricing · 10 databases for Starter plan · 10 team members for Starter plan

   Easy to start with free model · Flexible usage-based pricing

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4. #4Milvus

   100% AI citation rate(5 questions)
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5. #5Qdrant

   80% AI citation rate(5 questions)

   Free tier:

   yes

   Integrations listed:

   3

   Single Node Cluster · 0.5 vCPU / 1GB RAM / 4 GB Disk · Dedicated Resources

   Free tier for testing and prototypes · Flexible pricing based on usage

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6. #6Vespa

   60% AI citation rate(5 questions)

   From:

   $0.05/hour

   Pro-active remediation of issues · Unlimited support cases · Automated ops, deployments and upgrades

   Flexible pricing based on resource usage · Various support options available

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7. #7Marqo

   0% AI citation rate(5 questions)

   Purpose built for discovery · Multimodal by default · Built for scale

   Transforms search and discovery · Measurable ROI in 14 days

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8. #8MongoDB Atlas Vector

   0% AI citation rate(5 questions)
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9. #9Elastic Vector

   0% AI citation rate(5 questions)
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10. #10LanceDB

    0% AI citation rate(5 questions)

    From:

    $779/month

    Multimodal Lakehouse platform · Flexible data evolution features · Supports distributed vector search

    Scalable for large datasets · Optimized for vector search

    See LanceDB's AI visibilityClaim this listing