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

Weaviate vs Milvus

Vector Databases pricing comparison · 2026

Weaviate pricing ranges from $0–$400/month, while Milvus ranges from $0–$155/month. Weaviate is typically 42% more affordable, though your actual cost depends on tier and team size.

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See pricing on each vendor's site
Above-the-fold path — each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit Weaviate pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Visit Milvus pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Compare
2 products · Vector Databases
Side-by-side · live
Weaviate
Weaviate pricing starts at $45/month for the Flex plan and $400/month for the Premium plan
verified 27d ago
$450 $7.3K
View pricing →
Milvus
Milvus is an open-source, cloud-native vector database built for scalable AI applications,
verified 27d ago
$450 $7.3K
View pricing →
Verdict · Vendr median · year 1
Milvus saves $6.8K vs Weaviate · 25 seats
Cheapest $450
Spread 94%
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Usage-based
$0.0139 per 1M dimensions
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.
Median annual
$7.3K/yr
Vendr · n=3 · limited data
↓ Lowest median
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 13 sourced facts
9 hidden-cost · 3 contract · 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
4 documented
  • Multi-Axis Usage Scaling
    10-50% of base license costs
    2 sources
  • Embedding Model Choice Drives Infrastructure Cost
    10-100% of base license costs
    2 sources
  • Scaling Costs with Vector Count and Dimensions
    $369-$3,000
    3 sources
  • Infrastructure Overhead for Self-Hosting
    $50-$200
    2 sources
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
Evaluation and prototyping
Watch out
Managed cloud pricing becomes expensive at scale — $3,000/month for 50M high-dimensional vectors
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 Weaviate 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

Weaviate

$0–$400
/month
3 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
Vector Databases

Milvus

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

Weaviate 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 Weaviate Milvus
Free Trial Free /month Free /month
Flex $45 /month Free /month
Premium $400 /month $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.

Weaviate

5 scenarios
$45/month
Starter: Flex Plan Minimum
$400/month
Growing Team: Premium Plan
$0/month
Prototype / Evaluation (Free Trial)
See all 5 scenarios →

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

Weaviate

Median annual cost
$7,296
Based on
3 deals

Milvus

Median annual cost
$450
Based on
8 deals

Hidden Costs

Beyond the sticker price — what catches buyers off guard.

Weaviate 4 hidden costs

medium
Multi-Axis Usage Scaling 10-50% of base license costs
medium
Embedding Model Choice Drives Infrastructure Cost 10-100% of base license costs
high
Scaling Costs with Vector Count and Dimensions $369-$3,000
medium
Infrastructure Overhead for Self-Hosting $50-$200
See all Weaviate hidden costs →

Milvus 3 hidden costs

medium
Self-Hosting Infrastructure Costs $50-$400/month
medium
Opaque vCU Pricing Makes Cost Forecasting Difficult $99-$1,800/month
high
Extreme Scale Costs on Zilliz Cloud $23,000/month
See all Milvus hidden costs →

Continue researching

Weaviate

Milvus

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