Chroma vs Milvus: Vector Databases Pricing (2026)
Compare / Chroma vs Milvus
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Team size
25 seats

Chroma vs Milvus

Vector Databases pricing comparison · 2026

Chroma pricing ranges from $0–$250/month, while Milvus ranges from $0–$155/month. Chroma is typically 100% more affordable, though your actual cost depends on tier and team size.

Visit
See pricing on each vendor's site
Above-the-fold path — each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit Chroma pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Visit Milvus pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Compare
2 products · Vector Databases
Side-by-side · live
Chroma
Chroma is an open-source vector database for AI applications, available as a self-hosted l
verified 27d ago
$250 $450
View pricing →
Milvus
Milvus is an open-source, cloud-native vector database built for scalable AI applications,
verified 27d ago
$250 $450
View pricing →
Verdict · Vendr median · year 1
Chroma saves $200 vs Milvus · 25 seats
Cheapest $250
Spread 44%
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Usage-based
$2.5 per GiB
see vendor pricing for volume tiers
Zilliz Cloud Enterprise
$47K/yr
year 1 license · $155/seat
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
↓ Lowest median
Median annual
$250/yr
Vendr · n=81
Median annual
$450/yr
Vendr · n=8 · limited data
REF · 01

Sources & confidence

Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.

Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources 2 sourced facts
1 hidden-cost · Vendr median
Last verified 3w ago
Confidence Medium confidence
Sources 6 sourced facts
5 hidden-cost · Vendr median
Last verified 3w ago
Confidence Medium confidence
REF · 02

Plans at a glance

Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.

Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 03

Hidden costs

Each cost is severity-ranked, with the dollar range quoted from its source (Vendr, Reddit, TrustRadius, BBB, official docs) — never our estimate.

Beyond the sticker
Severity-ranked, sourced
1 documented
  • Self-Hosting Server Infrastructure
    $50-$200
    1 source
3 documented
  • Self-Hosting Infrastructure Costs
    $50-$400/month
    2 sources
  • Opaque vCU Pricing Makes Cost Forecasting Difficult
    $99-$1,800/month
    2 sources
  • Extreme Scale Costs on Zilliz Cloud
    $23,000/month
    1 source
REF · 05

What users say

Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.

User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
No public ratings yet
Best for
Solo developers and small teams
Watch out
Seen as a prototyping tool rather than a production-grade database by parts of the developer community
No public ratings yet
Best for
Teams with DevOps capacity who want full control and no cloud costs
Watch out
vCU pricing model is opaque and difficult to estimate costs before running actual workloads
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit Chroma pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Visit Milvus pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats). Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges. Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
Vector Databases

Chroma

$0–$250
/month
3 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
Vector Databases

Milvus

$0–$155
/month
5 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →

Chroma and Milvus are both vector databases competitors. This page compares their list pricing tier by tier so you can see which is cheaper for your workload shape.

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan Chroma Milvus
Starter Free /month Free /month
Team $250 /month Free /month
Enterprise Custom $99 /month
Zilliz Cloud Enterprise — $155 /month
Zilliz Cloud Business Critical — Custom

Cost at Scale

Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.

Chroma

3 scenarios
~$50/month (VPS costs only; software is $0)
Self-Hosted Open Source
~$50/month (VPS infrastructure; Open Source (Self-Hosted) plan is free)
Developer Self-Hosted on VPS
$250/month (Team plan)
Team on Chroma Cloud

Milvus

5 scenarios
~$50/month (VPS only)
Developer / Prototype (Self-Hosted on VPS)
$0
Small Production (Zilliz Cloud Free + Standard)
free → $99/month on Zilliz Cloud Standard
~$400/month (infrastructure only)
Mid-Scale Production (Self-Hosted Milvus)
See all 5 scenarios →

Market Intelligence

Chroma

Median annual cost
$250
Based on
81 deals

Milvus

Median annual cost
$450
Based on
8 deals

Continue researching

Chroma

Milvus

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